“Toby what are you doing?” she yelled.
“Maggie don’t-”
“Toby, look out!” she shrieked. Light glinted off the blade the man suddenly pulled out of somehere. He looked insane, on his back, waving a knife around as his last line of defense. I pinned the arm and threw the knife across the room.
I heard a stampede of feet coming into the room and someone called my name. Calvin and his team, right on time. I stayed on the man until he was restrained.
Finally, I scanned the room for Maggie. She was against a couch, pale and trembling. I went over to her.
“What did he do to you?” I demanded, harsher than I wanted to. She was scared and I knew I sounded frantic but I was. The guy, Paul, had trapped her here. I didn’t want to think what he could have done if I hadn’t shown up when I had. I didn’t want to know what had happened already but I had to ask.
“Nothing. He didn’t hurt me. He was just trying to scare me,” she said. I touched her face, the first time I’d touched her in what felt like years.
Had I almost lost her?
I had almost lost her.
I held her. I knew she was shaking but I was too. In the commotion, the sound of sirens in the distance just registered. Cops. That meant questioning. Maggie wasn’t doing that right now. She didn’t need an interrogation right after being attacked in her home.
“Come on, let’s sit,” I said as we waited for the cops to arrive. I told her to stay put while Calvin and I took care of the police. Introducing himself and his team, he presented what they knew about the guy and his association with Maggie.
“Can we talk to the person who lives here?” one of the cops asked.
“Talk to me,” I said.
“Sir, we need to know about the details of the break in,” he insisted.
“Look, she’s pregnant and she’s scared, do you really need to hear all this now?” I asked.
“We need a statement,” he said.
“First of all, she tried to get a restraining order against that man and it clearly didn’t work. You’ll get one. I’ll deliver her to the precinct myself okay? But when she’s ready.”
I closed the door finally, unable to lock it because I busted through the lock earlier. It didn’t matter, she wasn’t staying the night here. As far as I was concerned, she wasn’t staying the night anywhere that wasn’t my penthouse. I went back to the couch.
32
Maggie
“What can I get you?”
I looked up, noticing Toby walking towards me after basically chasing the cops away. I didn’t even know you could do that. He came and sat on the couch.
I started shaking. It was like everything up to that point had happened to somebody else and I was just watching. Sitting there, realizing what had taken place, I felt myself start to crumble.
“Maggie, Maggie, tell me what’s wrong,” he said to me. His arms were around me one second, and then he was bundling me into his lap. I buried my face in his chest and cried. I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t even scared anymore, I was relieved. I was happy too. Finally, Paul had been marched out of my life in handcuffs. I could be sure that for at least the foreseeable future that he wasn’t going to bother me again.
I wasn’t sure that I would be able to see Toby again. The last several days had been so hard. With him ignoring me, I had started to get comfortable with not hearing from him. That wasn’t what I wanted and now, it felt like I had been afraid for nothing.
“Let me get you a glass of water,” he said. I sniffed and wiped my face. I wasn’t sure how long we had been sitting there with me crying into his clothes. I must’ve looked a mess. I muttered that I was sorry and sat on the couch. He went to the kitchen and then came back with some paper towels and a glass of water.
“Can I get you anything?” he asked me, handing me the water. I took some grateful sips.
“No, I’m okay.”
“You’re not okay Maggie, when I walked in here the guy was practically strangling you. Did he hurt you? Do we have to go to the hospital?”
“No, none of that is necessary. He didn’t actually manage to do any damage.”