There was a rustling sound and Mara’s heart sped up. She was coming closer. What if she turned the corner and saw her? Avery had already proven herself to be on the wrong side of the crazy train but what if she was violent? Mara clutched her phone tighter, ready to use it like a weapon if need be.
But Avery’s footsteps went in the other direction. She heard the click-click of her heels on the floor and then the elevator doors closed again.
Mara scrambled up and then raced back to the bedroom. All the stuff she’d been contemplating taking with her, she ignored it and just zipped up her case. She’d asked Ernesto not to tell Trent that she was here but what if he mentioned something to Avery? She had to get the hell out of there now.
She turned around and the figure in the doorway was so unexpected that she let out a startled shriek. The other woman dropped the towels she was holding and screamed, too. After a harrowing few moments when Mara wasn’t sure if her heart would ever leave her throat, she got control of herself and peered closely at the other woman. Older. Graying. Grandmotherly.
“Bianca?” she asked in disbelief.
The other woman nodded quickly, clearly terrified.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were here.”
Bianca answered her back in a small voice. She had an accent that sounded faintly Slavic. “I change the linens. Then I hear that one. I don’t like that one.”
Mara realized that she must be talking about Avery. Bianca had been doing the same thing she had been, hiding out somewhere in the house while Trent and Avery were fighting.
“No, I don’t like that one either.” She knelt and picked up the towels on the floor. “I’m very sorry I scared you. I’m on my way out.”
“Be careful, miss. That one is not so nice.” Bianca backed away, the towels clutched to her chest.
When she disappeared into the bathroom, Mara walked to the kitchen and called down to the front desk. “Walter, I need a cab waiting for me out front.”
She rode down the elevator, wrestling with her two suitcases, her carry-on and her handbag. As soon as the elevator doors opened Ernesto appeared and helped her wheel the suitcases to the curb.
“Enjoy your trip, Miss.”
“Thank you. For everything.” On impulse, she hugged him and then ducked into the cab. As they pulled away from the curb, she pulled up the recording app. When she pressed playback, Avery’s voice came out loud and clear.
She was mad at Trent, yes. But she still loved him and there was no way she was going to allow Avery to spread lies about him or trick him. She forwarded the voice file to Sophia and then decided it was out of her hands.
From now on, she was on her own.
Chapter Twenty
SOPHIA OPENED THE door flanked by his two nephews. Despite how crappy his day had been so far, Trent couldn’t help but smile when he found his arms full of laughing boys.
“Come on in. They’ve really missed you.” Sophia moved aside so he could enter.
Trent was bombarded anew with shame as he realized that in all his visits to help out Avery, he hadn’t made more of an effort to see Sophia and to hang out with his other nephews. It was almost impossible to believe how much they’d grown while he hadn’t been paying attention. Tommy, the oldest, was so big it was hard to lift him now. At five, he took after his father and was tall, thin and dark-haired. The youngest, Chase, watched him from Sophia’s arms while chewing on his pacifier. His small tuft of blond hair stood straight up on his head.
“What are you feeding these kids? I swear he shouldn’t be this big already.”
Sophia smiled down at her son, wiping his chin with his bib. Trent held out his arms and she transferred the baby to him. “They eat everything in sight. This one doesn’t even have all his teeth but that doesn’t seem to matter.”
He followed her to the interior of the house, setting Chase down in his playpen. When he stood, Sophia hugged him. It took him off guard, and then he had to blink to ward off the burning sensation at the back of his eyelids.
“I’m so sorry for how I’ve been acting. And you shouldn’t have to be in the middle of any of this. James came by this morning. We talked. It’s all going to be okay.”
“Good. That’s really good.” She wiped her own eyes and knelt to move a baby toy before he stepped on it.
“How did Mara sound to you? Did she sound okay?”
“She did. We talked about everything. She told me what Avery did. God, I should have done more to warn you away from her.” Sophia made a face. “Hindsight, I suppose.”
“Where is Mara? Her brother called but he wouldn’t tell me where she was.”
“She was staying at The Carlyle.”