Black Listed(16)

No, not a blob.

Ants.

Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands.

Her gaze fell upon her wrist.

Black ants crawled over it.

Slapping at her hand, she backed out of the room until she slammed into a solid form.

A person.

She screamed as she spun around and punched the intruder in the gut. She was raising her leg, preparing to knee him in the nuts, when she realized his identity.

Sawyer.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, noticing he’d changed from his suit into jeans and a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled, exposing his forearms.

The timing of his arrival tonight and this break-in couldn’t be a coincidence.

Was that why he’d left the wedding reception early? To ransack her condo and terrify her as a means of revenge?

Sawyer bent at his knees, and the next thing she knew, he had her airborne and hanging over his shoulder in a fireman hold as he stormed down the hallway. “I think the more important question is what the hell is going on? Who did this?”

The nerve of him! Who did he think he was coming in here and playing hero? It set her nerves on edge.

She tried wiggling off him, but he smacked her butt and held her tighter. “Why don’t you tell me? I’ve lived here quietly for the past several years without incident, and in one night, I run into you and then come home to this.” Her dress slid up her thighs. If he didn’t put her down soon, she’d flash her neighbors.

He brought her outside and practically dropped her on her feet. “You think I had something to do with this?”

Slightly dizzy from hanging upside down, she leaned on the brick wall of her condo for support. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Well, believe me when I tell you this.” He tipped up her chin, forcing her to look at his face. “I had nothing to do with it. And to prove it to you, I’m going to call 911, like you should’ve done as soon as you realized someone had broken into your place.” He stepped away from her and pulled a phone from his pocket.

Panic surging, she grabbed his wrist. “No, don’t call the police.”

“Are you serious?” He covered her hand with his own. “Annaliese—”

“Stop calling me that. My name is Lisa now.” She couldn’t handle the way her body reacted when he said her real name. As if it belonged in his arms. Preferably naked. She had to stay detached if she was going to save them both.

His jaw tightened. “You’ll always be Annaliese to me, and right now, you’re still my wife. So that makes you my responsibility.”

His wife in name only. She’d never truly belonged to him, and she never would. “I’m no one’s responsibility but my own. I’ll deal with this mess. You can go now.” She whipped her hand away from him and gestured to the parking lot.

He squinted at her arm. “What is up with the ants crawling on you?”

Smacking the ants off her, she shuddered. Even if she managed to kill all the bugs, she’d still feel them on her skin until she showered. “Check the bed. Someone left them as a present for me. I hate ants. Always have.”

He paused, folding his arms across his chest, and glared, assessing her. “This isn’t random, is it?”

In her view, nothing was random. Everything had its reason, and everyone had a motive. “No. Whoever did this wanted to scare me.”

And it had worked, although she’d never admit it out loud, even to Sawyer. Especially to Sawyer. If she gave into her urge to turn to him for comfort, she wasn’t sure if she could ever make herself leave again. But she wasn’t the submissive Annaliese anymore, the girl who’d worshipped the ground Sawyer walked upon. She was Lisa. Cool. Collected. Capable. “It’s someone from my past.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he left a note.” Damn, she’d left it inside on the floor of her room. “All it said was ‘gotcha,’ but I think I can safely assume this wasn’t a random break-in.”

“Pissed off a few people, have you?” He casually rubbed the blond scruff lining his jaw, but there was nothing casual about the fire in his eyes.

Good. At least it was something. She couldn’t stand the dispassionate blankness his gaze had exuded at Benediction. If she was going to figure out how to get rid of him, she needed to be able to read him well, like she had all those years ago. She need him riled up. Angry at her. “Did you think you’re the only one I conned in my lifetime? There’s at least a half dozen people who would pay to kill me.”

He stalked toward her and grabbed her shoulders, backing her up against the wall. “And how many of them did you marry?”