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At the top of the road, the milk delivery vehicle turned, and an idea sprang into my mind. I tore open the envelope, extracting the clipped-together pieces of paper. Probably fifty sheets, stapled in groups.
A quick shake released the tiny tracking disc—one anyone could buy online—and I scrunched it back into the empty envelope, checking that there wasn’t a second in the paperwork.
The milk van cruised past my hiding place. Taking aim, I tossed the balled-up envelope onto the back of the vehicle. It landed neatly between crates.
As solutions went, it wasn’t perfect. If the delivery driver had other houses in the local area to go to, that didn’t give us much breathing space to get away. But it would distract the people following us and was better than nothing.
Adapting a plan on the go was my sweet spot.
At a guess, we had minutes to get clear of the area. If I were the one staking out Molly’s property, I wouldn’t ignore the tracker moving away, but I’d have eyes on the moving target as well as the original one. Mia had mentioned two brothers.
Finding my phone, I called her.
“Drive my car around to Molly’s,” I ordered.
This wasn’t what we’d discussed, but the lass shifted, her car door clunking open. “What happened?”
“The envelope hid a tracker. I got rid of it, but we need to move.”
She took a rushed inhale. “On my way.”
We’d lost the element of surprise, so I paced down the path and secured Molly’s gate open. My tap at her door was opened quickly, a wide-eyed lady on the other side taking me in.
“What’s your name?” she challenged.
“Valentine.”
She gave a single nod then tipped her head at the room behind her. “All the bags on the rug are theirs.”
“Thank ye. Mia will be here with the car in a moment. Please go fetch the bairn.” I moved past her to the darkened living room.
In the tidy space, a pile of belongings sat on a circular rug, and I stooped to collect them in two big handfuls of carrier bag handles. A completely out-of-place pang hit my heart. This was their worldly belongings. Everything else had been left behind when they’d fled their home. All their furniture, any bigger items.
Where the hell had that sentimentality come from?
I had no space for emotional shite. It wasn’t going to help us any now. I adjusted my grip to put the paperwork into a bag, then carried it back into the hall.
On the road, my car drew to a halt, Mia reversing and parking neatly. I jogged out, and she was there, opening the boot and helping me shove everything inside.
“They’re trying to track me?” she said, her voice tight. “I can’t believe it. I mean, I can, but that’s horrible.”
“Grab your girl and we’ll get out of here,” I replied, just as gruff.
A second later, a little voice sounded in the dark. “Mama!”
Mia gripped my arm then sprinted away. In the doorway, her friend handed over the girl, a soft blanket bundled around her. Somewhere in the background, a baby wailed while the women hugged it out.
Mia’s daughter sobbed.
Another wave of emotion hit me, something poignant and fucking cloying in my chest. So strong I rubbed my knuckles against the ache. Once, I’d wanted kids, but that had been a long time ago. I couldn’t imagine it now. The heartache of trying to be everything for someone who relied on me and my partner. The panic and fear that went with the responsibility. Of how it all could implode and fuck up a child’s life.
That’s all it was.
A warning that my life had changed. It was better this way. I was free to help people like Mia and Tobi. Free, and single, anddefinitely not in any way fucked up from seeing a lass and her bairn reunited.
I closed the boot with a low clunk and opened the back door. Mia whispered goodbyes to her friend then fled back to me, hurrying to get seated. I climbed in the front, and with a backward glance to be sure they were clipped in, drove us away.
For several minutes, Mia and Tobi kept their heads down, Mia whispering reassurance to her daughter. Though there were few other people around, we were far from out of the woods. I kept my attention on the road, scanning for the milk van I’d sent off with the tracker, as well as every dark street that we passed.
