Page 22 of Break Me Not

She motioned to the folder. I closed it slowly.

“I’ve seen his type before,” I said, trying to keep the rage in check. “But Claire, she… doesn’t know about this? She’s never mentioned it.”

Liz looked down at the desk.

“This is why it can’t leave here. I… I lied to her. She knows nothing about who he truly is. She knows about the divorce, but she thinks it was amicable. I tried to keep the worst from her. As far as she knows, he is far away in some country backpacking, which is why he never visited. He’s out, living his life. And I told her we sold the house, even though he's still there. He never cared about being a father. If anything, he was happy to leave. His parents were the ones who forced us together after we found out about the pregnancy⁠—”

She stopped herself and looked up at me with eyes I couldn’t decipher.

“You don’t need to know all of that.”

“The more I know, the better.” I leaned forward to catch her gaze as it tried to run away from me. “I won’t judge anything you say.”

“I thought it would be better to tell her he died, but just in case I—” She took a deep breath. “I told her he had decided to move. And the craziest thing was that she was happy. She took it in stride, and then we just… moved on.”

As Claire's best friend, I knew that she knew more about her father's bad behavior than Liz knew she did. Claire was extremely observant. To a fault. I knew she had grown up watching her father and mother’s relationship, so I knew growing up with a father like that had affected her.

It had to have affected the woman in front of me too.

She seemed to have everything together. The pinnacle of a successful, self-made woman.

But I knew there was something lingering behind her words. The same thing that matched the haunted look in her eyes.

“Are you scared of him?”

Her eyes shot to me, and she let out a shaky breath. It sounded like a laugh, but her true feelings were starting to show. Her face scrunched and her eyes glistened with unshed tears, which she blinked away quickly.

“He won't hurt Claire.”

I leaned forward, unsure if I should grab her hand, though I desperately wanted to.

“That's not what I asked.”

Her fingernails tapped the desk. There was a new woman in front of me, one who was turning in on herself. One who was taking every bad thing happening around her and internalizing it. It felt like she was shrinking in front of me.

I didn't like it. Didn't like that a man could make her feel like this.

“He's becoming reckless,” she whispered. “He's mad at me. And he does this thing where he spirals. I just… I think it's going to get worse. If I'm being honest… yes. His spiraling combined with his impulsiveness is a bad combination.”

I nodded. She was right to think so. It would only take a little thing to set off a man like him, and he might become unstoppable.

“So we do the perimeter. I've already set up a team for you. I'll have you meet them later. They'll follow you, watch out for you even when you sleep. If you need anything, we'll be a text away.”

She was nodding along with everything that I was saying, but her eyes still looked far away.

“Is there something else?”

She let out a sigh.

“He's watching my apartment. I don't know how, but he knows when I come and go and…” She leaned back and clicked her tongue. “He insinuated knowing I slept with someone that night. And I think it made him jealous, which is why I think he decided to break in here.”

I was very good at not panicking in my line of work, but her words made my chest tighten.

Jealous men and messy divorces were never a good combination.

“Okay, slight change of plans. Or just an addition. I'll put you in a safe house⁠—”

“No.”