Color Her Red by Crystal Shaw

the look of regret crosses his face.  “She sat down and just stared at me.  I didn’t say anything.  I didn’t know what to say.  The last time I saw her she was in the hospital.  She tried to kill herself because of me.  I don’t know what she expected me to say.”
                  “What happened Thomas?”  My voice hurts now; I try to swallow to ease the pain.
                  “She started talking about how she loved working for my office. I was hoping she was going to ask for a reference and that would be the end of it, but then she lost it.  She started crying hysterically and talking about how she should be my wife.”  My entire body tightens and I struggle to breathe.  His grasp twists around the leather wheel and from the corner of my eye I can see his body tense.  She wants to be his wife?
    “I didn’t know what to do.  I had to call security.  As soon as she left , I had Michael look into her history.  Apparently, she was let out of the institution after about a year, a few weeks later she was readmitted.  Michael is still gathering all the details.  She’s on some serious meds or at least she should still be on them.  She was released last week.  I don’t know why and given her condition she should be readmitted.”  He looks in the rear view mirror again.  “Michael is trying to get in touch with her psychiatrist now.”
                  “So she’s completely psychotic?” Kate mutters in the back of the car. 
                  Thomas looks down at the wheel, gripping onto it, and finally turns off the road pulling into The Gramercy Hotel parking lot.
                  “Why was she readmitted?  Did she contact you when she got out the first time?”  I don’t want to know, but the words fall out of my mouth.  My eyes dart at him, measuring his reaction.
                  “No she didn’t.  I don’t know why all of this happened. I never could’ve guessed,” his voice trails off. 
                  “So she is the one that leaked those photos then?” Kate comes to the realization before me.  I completely forgot about the photos.  I breathe in deep and let out a long dismal breath keeping my eyes closed. 
                  “I imagine it was her.”  He puts the car in park, and stares down at the stick shift.  “I don’t even remember those pictures being taken when I was with her.  I don’t know who took them.” 
                  “Does she know where we live?  Is that why we are here?”  I ask the questions in a low defeated voice, not making eye contact, just staring out the window.  I lean my head against the cold glass, my knees to my chest, as I try to calm myself.  After everything today, I just want to crawl into my bed and hide.
    “She came to our house earlier today.   When I got home I could see her in the window.” My head jerks in disbelief and I gape at him.  My heart feels like it is being ripped out of my chest. She was in our house, in our house? 
    “Rose?”   Her name escapes my lips as a whisper.  Rose is our housekeeper; I can’t imagine what she would have done. 
    “She’ d gone for the weekend already.  I called her; she had no idea.”  He closes his eyes.
    “How did she even get in?”  The question leaves me just as I think of it.
    “I’m an idiot, Emma.  I used the same security password that I had at my old place.” 
    My eyes widen.  The thought of that woman in my house is too much for me to bear. I can’t believe she just walked into my house.  She wants to be his wife.  She was waiting for him. 
    She might have been waiting for you.
    Shock and terror grips me, holding me still against the leather, as I come to that realization.  Thomas can see it in my face.  He makes a move to touch me, but stops when I glare at him. 
    I hesitantly ask, “What did she want?”
    “I don’t know.  I called