A Humble Heart (Hollywood Hearts 1)

She answered the phone. “Ms. Mathews, this is McGuire Security. Are you okay?”

“No, a man is inside my house!”

“The police are already on the way, ma’am.”

“I have to call Edward and stop him from coming inside,” she said to herself.

“I have him on the other line, ma’am. He added himself to the account a few days ago. He’s on his way now.”

“Tell him not to come inside until the police are here. Tell him I’m safe in the office bathroom.”

“One minute, ma’am. Hold while I relay that message.”

Dana sat on the tile floor. She could hear the man tearing through her office. He sounded frustrated. She heard the office door slam shut. Whether or not it was a trick or the guy was really gone, she had no plans of finding out.

She heard a click followed by the operator's voice. “Mr. Pierce stated and I quote ‘you better keep your ass in that room or he’ll wring your neck’”

She chuckled while tears streamed down her face. “I’m staying, don’t worry about it.” She sat quietly on the floor for several minutes trying to hear what the man was doing.

“Ms. Mathews?” a woman’s voice said beyond the door.

“Ma’am, I’ve just been informed that the police are there,” the operator said.

“Thank you for everything.” Dana pulled herself to her feet and hit the button to open the door. It slid open. Four officers were standing in the trashed office.

“Are you okay?” the female officer asked.

Dana tightened her towel when she caught the male officers checking her out. “Yes, I’m fine. Did you get him?”

“Yes, he was searching the house for you,” one of the men said.

They heard screaming and rushed out of the room. Dana followed them. She could hear Edward screaming.

“You f**king piece of shit! I’ll f**king kill you!” Edward yelled. Dana came in the room to find Edward being restrained by three officers and a na**d intruder pinned to the floor ten feet away.

“Edward,” Dana gasped. Edward took one look at her in the towel and flipped out more.

“I’ll f**king kill you! You break into my house go after my fiancé? My f**king kids live here, you stupid shit!”

“They weren’t here. I saw them leave earlier,” the man said as if that would make Edward feel better.

“Get the f**k off me! I’m going to kill him!” Edward fought against the officers harder.

“Cuff him!” the officer near Dana said.

The officer yanked Edward's hands behind his back and cuffed him. “What are you doing?” Dana demanded.

“Don’t worry, it’s just to keep him from doing something he’ll regret later.” the officer said.

“Fuck that! I won’t regret shit!” Edward pulled against his cuffs.

“Calm down, man,” Seth said.

“He was going to rape her!” Edward roared.

Seth's jaw clenched as he stared at the man on the floor for a long moment. Then he looked at Dana who was on the verge of breaking down and back to the man. He lunged at the man and punched him several times in the ribs and the side of the face before he was pulled off.

“Put him in another room!” the female officer ordered.

The man on the floor gasped for air. “He attacked me!”

“I didn’t see a damn thing,” the woman said.

Bret moved past the police and put an arm around Dana. “Come on, Dana, you don’t need to see this.”

“Get her out of here! And you tell Tyler he’s f**king fired!” Edward yelled.

“Edward-” Dana began to say.

“You mean the guy who was here before? I left the property when he came. I waited until he left before I came back.”

“Are you on f**king crack? What’s wrong with you?” Edward demanded.

“I love her,” he said.

“Shut up, you sick f**k!” Edward snapped.

“Get her out of here,” one of the officers said.

Seth pulled her out of the room. She went into her room and pulled on her clothes and came back out to see the man was gone and Edward was sitting on the couch, still cuffed, panting heavily.

“Let him calm down,” Seth said. He put an arm around Dana’s shoulders and led her into the kitchen. Bret was sitting down with several officers, drinking coffee. They nodded to her.

Seth released his hold on her and began sweeping up the glass. “I called a twenty-four hour glass repair service, Dana. They’ll be here within the hour,” Bret said.

“Thank you, Bret.”

She moved around the kitchen, trying to keep busy. “H-how was the game guys?”

“It was good, Dana. Thanks for the tickets,” Seth said, solemnly.

She nodded as she pulled everything out of the fridge to make sandwiches. She made up a bunch of sandwiches and placed them on the table. After a few minutes the guys began eating.

“Ma’am, I need a sworn statement,” the female officer said.

“Of course,” Dana said. She looked around to find all eyes were on her. They wanted to know what happened. “Um, can we talk about this in another room?”

“Sure, let’s step out onto the pool patio,” she said. Dana nodded and followed her.

Dana explained swimming and admitted to skinny dipping. Her face was burning when she explained that part. The woman smiled warmly and told her she completely understood. Then she told her about catching the man and what happened after that.

“I don’t see a problem with his arrest. I think he’s going to end up in a psychiatric unit for a while.”

“As long as he’s off the street,” Dana said.

“I’ll be filing for an emergency restraining order on him for you.”

“Thank you,” Dana said absently. Her eyes were locked on the gate where the man first approached her. God, if the kids had been home she didn’t know what she would have done.

“Can I ask something? If my kids were here that wouldn’t have stopped him would it?” Dana asked.

The officer shook her head. “No, he admitted to having plans to um,…he had a plan to rape you undisturbed,” she said nervously.

Dana felt her heart speed up. Her head became foggy. “He was going to kill them, wasn’t he?” she asked slowly.

The officer nodded slowly. Dana’s hand shot to her mouth and she stumbled away. She fell to her knees and began vomiting.