It was a miracle that Tony didn’t get into an accident on the way to Kendis’s house. He suspected Jarvis was the only reason he made it to Burbank in one piece. It was Friday night, and the traffic was bumper to bumper on the I-405.

Various worst-case scenarios played over and over in his brain. Was Kendis hurt? Possibly bleeding out. With Kendis’s fake identity and her reaction to that black envelope, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was running from something.

His mind thought back to their last encounter. There had been anger, rage, and terror glimmering in her bright green eyes. And Tony had been surprised at his sudden need to comfort and protect Kendis.

Tony Stark didn’t do comfort and certainly didn’t make it a habit of rescuing damsels in distress. His past disastrous attempts at relationships had made it perfectly clear to him that getting any more involved with Kendis would not end well.

Tony shoved his conflicting feelings aside as he pulled up in front of her shop.

The first thing he noticed was that there was a lack of police. Instead, there was a light blue van parked in front of Kendis’s house. This made him feel uneasy and only added to his building anxiety. Grabbing his keys, Tony rushed out of the car and quickly pushed the button on the security box.

“Hello?” Kendis called out.

“It’s Tony,” he announced. “Let me in.”

There was a long silence, and then there was a buzz and the gate slid apart to allow him inside. Tony ran across the courtyard, past the bike shop to Kendis’s house. He hurried past the van and up the stairs to the door.

The door was yanked open and standing in the doorway was a pretty hot East Asian man with long hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and had a blue ribbon wrapped around his forehead. He was impeccably dressed this late in the night in a starched white button-down shirt and tan chinos.

“Move,” the man ordered curtly. Tony opened his mouth to argue, but then he spotted two other men carrying Kendis’s dog on a stretcher. He grimaced when he noticed the dog’s torso was covered in white bandages.

Clearly, someone had tried to go through the dog to get to Kendis. The dog gave a pitiful whine; her snubbed tail wagging pathetically as she stared at Tony with her pain-filled dark eyes.

Tony watched as they carried Kendis’s cane corso (Tony may or may not have done some research after nearly getting his face ripped off the last time) into the van that he noticed had a painting of a mountain with some clouds and a rabbit perched next to it with the words: Misty Heights Animal Clinic written in bold over it.

As Tony stared at the van, he was nearly run over by Kendis, who was carrying an obviously bubble gum pink knitted blanket.

“Dr. Lan!”

“Kendis,” Tony called out, and took a step forward. Yet, his jaw dropped as Kendis ran past him and over to the hot veterinarian. 

The man turned and waited patiently as she handed him the blanket. “This is her favorite blankie.”

“Thank you,” Dr. Lan replied, blandly. “I’ll make sure to give it to Alke.”

“Is Alke really going to be okay?”

“She will need surgery,” the man said. “But it’s likely that she will have a full recovery.”

“Thank you so much, Dr. Lan,” Kendis replied with a sigh of relief. “I’ll see you at the clinic.”

With a bow, he hurried into the back of the van, then it started up and drove towards the gate. Kendis clicked on the remote button and the gate pulled back to let the van through.

Now alone, Tony felt both foolish and ridiculous in his earlier panic. Clearly, she had her own Doctor Feel Good here, and Kendis didn’t need him to rush to the rescue. He did his best to ignore the rush of jealousy he felt.

He spun around, ready to bolt back to his car, when a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned around, and suddenly he had his arms full of his spouse. Clutching each other on her front porch, he held her as Kendis began to cry.

Tony didn’t know what to do or say. He was not really the emotional type, but in the end, he simply held her. Time seemed to stretch on, and his mind was going a million times a minute as he stood there and tried his best to comfort Kendis.

“Thank you,” She said after she had calmed down. Tony’s hands fumbled in his pockets and, to his surprise, there were a few napkins in there. He handed them to her, and she gave him a watery but thankful smile.

“What happened?” Tony asked. “Were you injured?”

Kendis shook her head. “No, Alke managed to stop him before he could do more damage.”

“Him?” Tony asked. “Kendis, what’s going on?”

Kendis’s face was red, her eyes swollen, and her messy hair was all over the place. She looked broken and tired, and his arms ached to embrace her once more. Kendis closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Chester Coil,” she answered with a shaky breath. “My stalker.”

Do you know what happens to people who get close to me? They end up dead.

“He killed your last partner,” Tony said, putting the pieces together.

“Josefa,” Kendis choked out, her eyes swimming with tears. “God, she was so beautiful, Tony! She had a long thick afro, dark ebony skin, and curves I would kill for. And was so clever and funny.” Kendis wrapped her arms around herself. “She would crack the most awful dad jokes, but they would always make me laugh even on my worst days.”

“Josefa was only twenty-three years old when she was murdered. She had an apprenticeship with the best tailor in Britain and her whole life ahead of her. And Chester snuffed her out like she was nothing.” Kendis shook her head as tears fell down her cheeks.

“Kendis—” Tony said as he took a step towards her. He didn’t know what to say, but he couldn’t just stand there and watch her fall apart. Maybe I am getting soft.

“You don’t get it!” Kendis shouted, her eyes blazing electric green. “Everyone I love dies!” And then suddenly, the lights in the house started to flicker, and the windows shattered. Tony pushed Kendis to the ground, covering her body with his own as the glass fell around them.

Tony screamed as he felt glass slicing into his upper left shoulder and his arms. But he still held his position throughout the onslaught.

As the glass stopped falling, Tony dared not to move amid the spreading silence. He opened his eyes, and the porch was a complete disaster zone. There were broken parts from Kendis’s patio furniture scattered amongst the shards of glass from her window.

Tony winced as he sat up and examined the cuts on his arms and back. Then he looked down at Kendis, who gazed up at him with wide terrified eyes.

“Holy shit!” Tony barked out a hysterical laugh. “I married a witch!”