Dirty Letters(59)

On the drive back that night, I couldn’t wait to get to her. I’d had the entire evening planned. We’d order some of the best pizza in New York—with pineapple on top of course—open a bottle of wine, and then just “Netflix and chill” all night. Tomorrow, I had no obligations. We’d have the entire day to just lounge around. That was my idea of heaven—a lazy Sunday.

“Honey, I’m home,” I announced upon entering the brownstone.

The place was quiet. Hmm. Perhaps Luca was sleeping?

I yelled out, “Luca? I’m back!”

Still nothing.

After thoroughly searching the first level, I could see she was nowhere to be found.

“Luca?”

I headed upstairs to find that she wasn’t in bed. My heart started to speed up a bit. She wouldn’t have gone out on her own, would she?

“Luca?” I repeated.

It was then that I heard a sound coming from the bathroom that was located off our room.

Her voice sounded weak from behind the door. “Griffin? Griffin . . . help me.”

I ran to open it only to realize it was locked. She’s locked inside.

“Open the door, Luca.”

She was sobbing. “I can’t. It won’t open.”

Fuck!

“What do you mean it won’t open? You didn’t lock it yourself?”

“No. It’s broken. It locked behind me. I can’t get out. I’ve tried everything. It won’t open.”

“What the fuck? How did this happen?”

I shook the doorknob with all my might. It wasn’t budging. I was going to have to break the door down. But I knew the bathroom was small and I didn’t want to hurt her.

Think. Think. Think.

Taking a deep breath in, I said, “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to need you to stand at the far edge of the tub. I’m going to kick the door in.”

She wasn’t responding, but I could hear her whimpering.

Leaning my head against the door, I asked, “Are you with me, baby?”

“Yes . . . yes,” she said through tears.

“Okay . . . tell me when you’re ready.”

After a few seconds, she said, “Okay. I’m standing on the edge of the tub.”

“On the count of three, I’m going to kick the door in as hard as I can. Stay back and cover your head, just in case it goes flying toward you.”

She didn’t answer.

“Luca . . . answer me.”

“I hear you,” she finally said, her voice trembling.

“Alright. Here we go. On the count of three. One . . . two . . . three.” Boom! I kicked the door with all my might. It opened but fell off the hinges. It was now leaning against the tub. Luca came out from behind it, thankfully safe and sound.

We’d gotten lucky. The bathroom was so small that I could have seriously injured her in the process of breaking the door down. The only light was coming from the bedroom. I now knew why she was so panicked. There was no light in the bathroom. It had been pitch-black while she was locked inside.

Luca was shaking as she fell into my arms. She then burst into tears.

How the fuck did this happen?

“How long were you in there, baby?”

She shook her head over and over before speaking. “I don’t know. Maybe a half hour. I lost any concept of time. All I’d tried to do was go pee. I shut the door behind me thinking the light switch was inside the bathroom, not remembering it was outside the door. There was no light. I tried to kick the door down but wasn’t strong enough. I didn’t have my phone with me. Thank God you came home when you did.”

I wrapped my arms around her. “You’re okay. It’s okay. You’re safe.” Leading her to the bed, I cradled her as we lay against the headboard. “God, I thought there was nothing that could possibly go wrong in this place, that I could leave you with no problems. I never imagined something like this would happen. I would have never left you had I known.”

“It’s not your fault. Anyone else probably could have handled it. I can’t handle anything, Griffin, least of all being trapped in any way.”

“Don’t blame yourself. Anyone would be freaked out to be stuck in a tiny, dark bathroom with no windows, even if they didn’t have a panic disorder. You had no idea when I’d be back. Your reaction is completely understandable.”

She wiped a tear. “I just kept praying the whole time, praying that you’d come home. Eventually you did.”

After Luca calmed down a bit, I ended up calling the owner of the property to give him a piece of my mind for having a door that could trap someone in the first place. That was a major hazard. After taking out my anger on him, I drew a bath for Luca and myself in the other bathroom and ordered takeout.

Holding her in my arms as we watched a movie that night, I vowed to do whatever it took to make the rest of the trip a positive experience for her. After all, how much worse than tonight could it get?



After a stop in Detroit, the rest of the trip had been uneventful until we got to the last destination—Chicago. The original plan was to stay at a bed-and-breakfast just outside of the city. Then the owner called to say a pipe burst and that we wouldn’t be able to stay there. It had been late when we got that news, and no one was returning my calls for last-minute Airbnb vacancies. Somehow I’d convinced Luca to stay with me in the penthouse suite of a high-rise hotel. I’d stayed there several times in the past and knew it offered a private elevator for penthouse guests. I figured it was the best option for us in the city and offered the least opportunity to be noticed.