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I wonder if they knew that I was at the cabin. Were people watching me while I was at the hospital? Are they watching now? The paranoia claws at my guts, each thought like one of a thousand little rats trying to tear me apart from the inside out. It makes me sick. I want to hurl.
I suck in the fresh air when we finally get to the house. I’m the first one out of the car and I don’t even say goodbye to Marcus and Dante. I feel a little bad about it; it’s not their fault that Reese betrayed me so badly. But right now, I can’t think about them and their feelings.
I have to think about myself and this baby.
In everything, the life inside of me is the most important thing. I have to protect it, and to protect him or her, I’m starting to realize that I need to set some ground rules for Reese.
When we’re inside, I turn on him. Before he can say anything, I start in. “You said that you had some things you needed to tell me.” I look him in his eyes. He has to know in no uncertain terms that I may have agreed to come with him—but it means absolutely nothing if I can’t have his honesty.
“Yeah… I did say that.” He looks like he’s regretting that choice. Not exactly top-tier words of comfort right there.
“Well, for starters, you can tell me how you knew I was at Mama’s.” It hasn’t escaped me how easily he found me. With the lies, I can’t just brush it under the rug like it was a lucky guess.
And sure enough, something drops in the pit of my gut as he answers. “I have a tracker on your phone. I put it on there not too long after things started kicking off.”
My blood boils. I try to keep it under control. There will be time for that later. Facts first. Emotions second.
“You put a fucking… tracker… on my phone?” I snarl through gritted teeth. If I thought that the cabin was a betrayal, this goes through the roof.
He’s man enough to look me in the eye, at least. “I wanted to make sure I could always find you.”
I want to yell. Scream, kick, anything. I have to be the responsible one, even if Reese isn’t.
“That’s fucked up.”
Understatement of the goddamn century.
“I know. I should have asked before I did it.”
“You’re damn right you should have!” I pull my phone out of my pocket and chuck it at him. He catches it out of mid-air with a look of surprise, like he didn’t expect me to be so furious about it. “Keep the fucking tracker on it. But you turn my fucking service back on, too.”
He looks like he’s going to protest and then thinks better of it. “Alright,” he says quietly. “I can do that.”
“Good. Anything else I need to fucking know?”
Pregnancy has made me feisty. It feels so good to drop so many f-bombs in one sitting. I’m setting new Olivia Carter Personal Records here.
“There is—yeah, there’s more. Your theory about Holly being behind this? I believe you.” A muscle in his jaw twitches. “In fact, I know you’re right. She’s, ah… been in contact with me. I’ve seen her.”
If the first confession made me angry, this one leaves me dumbfounded. I stare at him, rooted to the spot, trying to understand and failing miserably. My brain just will not compute.
“You… She… How long have you known? What do you mean, she’s ‘been in contact’ with you? You’ve met with her?” I frown. “… Alone?”
He puts his hands up. “Not like that,” he says vehemently. “I swear, nothing has happened between me and Holly. But I started getting these weird texts from an unknown number. Got some mild threats. Directions to a place. She basically pulled some villain super scheme bullshit with me. She’s trying to get me to be with her and she’s using Violet and that bogus marriage license as a way to do it.” He stands a little taller. “But we know the license is a lie and, even if she is Violet’s mother, Elliot’s pulling up shit on her?—”
“Stop. Pause.” I hold up a finger in his face. “How deep does this shit go, Reese?”
It’s then he tells me everything. He shows me the texts, everything Elliot has shared with him. He tells me about Elliot’s suspicions and how his P.I. is looking into something ‘big’ about Holly. He lays it all out there.
He’s been running a whole secret sting behind my back.
And this whole time I thought I was crazy, trying to pin this shit on her with no evidence.
I feel my throat constrict. Hot tears well in my eyes. “Were you going to keep this from me until everything was resolved? Or until something happened to me? To my mom? You knew this whole time who was fucking with us and you said nothing!”
“I didn’t want to worry you!” he grits out.
“Well, that fucking failed, Reese! I’m pretty goddamn worried not knowing if I’m overthinking that your baby mama might be trying to fucking stalk me! I’m worried about strangers following me and Violet at the park! I was worried while you stuck me out in fucking Middle of Nowhere Prison Camp without a way to find out if you were ever coming back! Knowing that there was a solid answer to who was doing this would have actually been very good to ease my worry!”
