"Good morning, pretty flower," Seth said.
Floretta sat up fast and almost smashed her head into his as he was about to lean down for a kiss.
"Wow, where's the fire?" He asked.
"Sorry," she said.
She looked at her phone and for the third morning in a row, it was upside down. She grabbed it and opened the gallery. She placed a hand above her mouth and nearly dropped the phone when she saw the pictures.
"What is it?" He asked.
She handed him the phone so he could see for himself. This time the pictures weren't of her. They were of him. Someone was holding their biggest kitchen knife close to his face while taking the pictures.
"Did you take these?" He asked.
"No," she whispered.
"Then who...?" He started.
She placed her hand over his mouth to stop him from talking. She moved a finger to her lips and nodded her head towards the door. He got up and followed her outside.
"I installed a camera yesterday," she said.
"Without telling me?" He asked.
"I had to make sure it wasn't you messing with me," she said.
"It sucks to know you would even think that little of me but I understand with everything you went through in the past," he said.
"You can say his name," she said.
"I'd rather not," he said.
They both knew who he was referring to. Her ex Corey Graves that she had a hard time escaping years ago.
"Forget about that loser," she said.
She clicked her way into the recording from the camera so they both could see what had taken place during the night. She fast forwarded a couple of hours before there was suddenly movement.
"What the fuck is that?" He asked.
He pointed to the corner of the screen. They had wall closets built into the bedroom wall. A bigger closet with two doors below, and a smaller closet with two smaller doors on top of it. It was one of the small doors on top opening. There wasn't much up there. A couple of extra blankets if they ever needed one. They never opened that closet.
"Is someone in there?" He asked.
They watched as a person snaked his way out of the small space, placed his foot on the dresser to the left of the closet, and made his way down to the ground.
"Corey," she shivered. "It's fucking Corey."
Corey left the bedroom and came back a minute later with a kitchen knife. He grabbed her phone, took some pictures, and placed everything back where he took it. Then he left the room again and was gone for a few hours doing whatever he wanted in their house before returning and climbing back into the small space the same way he came out.
"What the fuck is he doing in our house?" He asked.
"He swore he would never let me go. I knew he wasn't lying. I let my guards down when I hadn't seen him in over a year. I met you and I allowed myself to start believing in a brighter future. I allowed myself to fall in love and be happy. This is my fault. I brought him into your life. I put you in danger, Seth. You need to leave. Leave me and find someone else," she said.
"Hey!" He nearly growled. "I'm not leaving you and that's not up for discussion."
He pulled her into his arms and placed a kiss on her forehead.
"He's in there right now so let's call the police," he said.
"It never worked in the past. He's connected," she said.
"We can't go back in there when we know he's there," he said. "Fuck, I got that work trip today too. I'm gonna cancel."
"Don't cancel," she said.
"You can't for one second think I'm gonna leave you home alone with that psychopath in our house," he said.
She looked him in the eyes and managed to look as convincing as possible.
"Listen to me, Seth," she said. "We're gonna go back in there and pretend like everything is fine. We're gonna leave together. You're gonna go on your work trip and I'll go to work. I'll drive to Charlotte and Andrade after work and spend the night there."
"Fuck! I don't like this," he said.
"Neither do I but we need to be smart about this. Calling the cops will somehow end up bad for us. Trust me. I know how he works. Tomorrow we'll come up with a plan together when you're back home," she said.
He pressed his lips against hers in a hard kiss.
"I love you, Floretta," he said. "I won't let that psychopath hurt you again. I don't care if I have to kill him to stop him. He'll never get close enough to you to lay a finger on you again."