“Did they try to take her back home?” “I went to them first. It was the first time I had laid eyes on Eliza Brooks in ten years, and the only reason I did was to show her the results of the rape kit I’d had done a decade earlier. I told her if she so much as sent either of us a text, I’d file charges in a heartbeat. I was sure the threat would be enough.” The last words were no more than a whisper. She had to clear her throat before she could continue. “I planned to move my things to the new place so Amelie wouldn’t be alone, but I was so busy working on a new collection that I kept putting it off. I’d worked so hard building a career for myself that it consumed me. Plus, I wasn’t used to looking out for someone else. I’d been on my own for so long. And besides, everything seemed to be wor
