Crazy = Genius

Chapter 4: Trouble

'I'm in too deep, I sold my soul, I'm out of reach and I can't let go, I'm in trouble'

Don't tap the glass. Don't tap the glass. Don't tap the glass.

That line had replayed in Lilianna's head since she left Vendetta's cell two hours ago. She was curled into a ball on the jet, her eyes unfocused as she stared into space. Her fingers tapped anxiously on her leg.

After everything that had happened in the last few days, she was starting to think that maybe Vendetta was playing more than one angle. Being a genius made her smart but she knew that even her intelligence didn't make it possible to read minds. She had spent her whole life studying the criminal mind and Vendetta's criminal mind was unlike any that she had encountered before. Was he lying or telling the truth- she could never tell where one started and the other ended.

"Lilianna!"

She was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when Hardy yelled her name. She blinked up at him, her eyes focusing on him as he waved his hand around to get her attention.

"We've landed. Stop daydreaming." He told her as he stepped off the private jet. She took a deep breath and quickly slung her bag over her shoulder before following him onto the tarmac.

"Lilianna, wait!" Hardy called. She turned before she could unlock the car door, and watched as the doctor handed her a white box. She opened it to find a new phone, the latest edition of her preferred brand.

"Oh, thank you, Hardy. You didn't have to get me something so nice." She assured him.

"If an old man like me can have one, you can too." He smiled, patting her shoulder. She continued to look at the shiny new screen of the product. "What did he say to you in there today? You're very out of it."

"He said-" She stopped herself, unsure of how to phrase the saying "Don't tap the glass." It could mean anything if you thought about it long enough.

"What?" Hardy encouraged her to finish her sentence.

"Well, it was the way he said it. It was almost like he was warning or threatening me even. It was strange." She tried to explain through her confused state.

"What did he say?"

"Before I left, he said, 'Don't tap the glass.' What do you think he meant by that?" She asked the professor.

Hardy paled at her words. Nothing about Lilianna's interactions with Terrence Vendetta had been normal since the second she stepped foot in his cell. Terrence was different around her, and as much as it was proving Wallon's theory true, he hated the risk he was taking by putting her within reaching distance of someone so deadly. For a second, he felt that the words "don't tap the glass," were meant for him. Don't interfere with what he and Lilianna have started.... Or Terrence will end it in a way no one will like.

"Anna, I don't know. But please, be careful around him." He cautioned her. She could tell he wanted to say more, his eyes unable to hold hers as he chewed on his cheek out of nervous habit.

"I know Hardy. I will be." He nodded once, squeezing her shoulder.

"Thanks for the phone, Hardy!" She yelled before getting ready to drive away. He laughed and smiled back at her, waving as he sped to his funded place in his shiny 1979 Corvette.

The drive back to her place was slow. Lilianna couldn't stop mumbling the phrase to herself repeatedly while trying to decipher the hidden meaning of Vendetta's words. It was cryptic and sent chills down her spine the longer she pondered the possibilities.

Lilianna arrived home and walked towards her front door while she kept her head down, rummaging through her purse to find her keys. Her head suddenly shot up, the feeling of being watched crawling over her skin. Upon her first quick glance, no one was watching her. She looked back at her purse for her keys, still feeling uneasy as she stood on her porch, vulnerable. Once she found them, she finally let her eyes survey her surroundings. Nothing was out of the usual, besides a giant black Range Rover parked across the street.