She thrashed and bucked to free herself from the man on top before he could crack her rib. “Get off me!” she screamed.
The man with the ice blue eyes placed a gloved hand on Grace’s throat as he reached behind his back with his other arm and brought forward a massive knife. Pressing his knees hard against Grace’s side to keep himself stabilized, he removed his hand from her throat to set the blade there. He used his free hand to cover her mouth. The other attacker, still holding Grace’s arms above her head, dug his fingers into the bones of her wrists, sending sharp, shooting pain down her arms.
“You bite me, I’ll slice you,” said Blue Eyes. “Stop screaming.”
She thought: I’m going to be raped. Paralyzing fear hollowed her out. Try as she did, Grace couldn’t move a muscle.
How many times had she watched a movie, or read a book and thought: If it were me, I would have … But it was her, on the floor of her own house, no longer fighting her attackers because the knife to her throat had changed everything. She saw Rachel Boyd’s throat slashed open, reimagined the gruesome wounds Rachel had suffered to her body. She went numb, all sensation blocked as she waited for a tug on her pants that didn’t come.
The man on top leaned in close. She knew those eyes. They had watched her once, hadn’t they?
Rapino. He works for Vince Rapino.
“You stop now,” the man said in a whispered voice. “Stop looking in places you don’t belong.”
“Keep going and it gets ugly for you fast,” the man holding her arms warned as Blue Eyes removed the hand covering her mouth. “Next time, we don’t leave you breathing. Do you understand what we’re telling you?”
“Yes … I understand…” Grace croaked out the words.
With each hitched exhale, her throat pushed against the meaty part of the knife’s blade. “Please … don’t … hurt me,” she pleaded.
“Say it,” said the man holding her wrists.
“Yes … I’ll stop. No more.”
“You don’t know us,” said Blue Eyes. “One cop stops by—and we mean one—and we’ll be back here to finish you off. That clear?”
“Please, just go,” pleaded Grace. “I won’t cause any more trouble, I promise.”
Blue Eyes pressed the full weight of his body against Grace, still keeping the blade to her throat. He whispered, “If you do it, I’ll have fun with you first.”
At last, he got off her and she could breathe again. The pressure on her wrists let up, and she could move her arms freely.
“Call the cops, and we’ll know,” said Blue Eyes. “And we’ll be back. Stay on the floor for ten minutes. We’ll set a kitchen timer. Don’t be a hero.”
She heard them in the kitchen, heard them set a spring-wound timer. They left through the front door, and Grace waited a few minutes, not ten, unable to move even if she wanted to. Finally, she got up, her legs supporting her like stretched rubber bands. She staggered to the front door and secured the deadbolt. Her shaky hand managed to push the correct buttons on the alarm, setting it to Stay mode. Anyone coming in or going out would alert the police.
You call the cops, we’ll know.
They had gloves. They had masks. She had Detective Jay Allio. He might help her. Probably not. She went to the kitchen and picked up her phone. The timer went off. She sank to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. She keyed in a number from memory.
Annie answered. “Hello?”
Grace couldn’t speak.
“Hello? Grace, are you there?”
A sob escaped Grace’s throat as tears of relief came pouring out.
“Grace?”
“Come … here … now…”
Three words, the only words she could manage between choking sobs, but it was enough. Family understood.
“I’ll be right there,” Annie said. “I’m calling the police.”
Grace got out one more word.
“Don’t.”
CHAPTER 44
ANNIE AND GRACE SAT together at the kitchen table with an open bottle of wine, now half gone. They’d exhausted talk about Grace going to the hospital for an exam （not going to happen） and getting the police involved （also not going to happen）。 The feeling of dissociation that Penny knew so well, that Grace had experienced during the attack, persisted as if she were in a dream—or a nightmare—from which she couldn’t awaken.
“So, what do you want to do now?” asked Annie.