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To think that I had been so foolish.
But I had, and if I knew one thing, it was that the only person I could rely on, the only person who would protect me and my baby, was me.
Like always, I sent a thank-you to whatever guardian angel had left me that cash, and promised myself I would do whatever I needed to do to keep us safe.
* * *
Amethyst
“So I hearyou’re leaving us,” Chris said a few days later.
“Yeah. I found a short-term rental across town that’s cheaper,” I said.
All lies, because I was leaving this city and never looking back.
He frowned, his unlined, dark brown skin crinkling around his mouth. “I’m sorry to hear that, Jennifer. But maybe we could get coffee or something sometime to keep up?”
He waited a moment, and then raised his hands in placation.
“I’m not looking for anything. Just want to be a friend. You seem like you need one.”
I smiled, and he laughed.
“I don’t mean that in a bad way,” he said.
I laughed again. “I know.”
I should have told him no, but I didn’t have it in my heart to.
“Let me think about it, Chris,” I whispered, feeling like a giant asshole.
Chris had been kind to me, the only bright spot in the weeks of running. It wasn’t nice to be dishonest, but I couldn’t risk telling him I was leaving. I was searching for middle ground.
“That’s great,” he said, brightening.
The irony of this wasn’t lost on me.
There had been a time when I would have been excited about this.
Maybe the friendship Chris, or someone like him, offered could have grown into something else.
Of course, that was off the table now that I’d gotten knocked up by the second son of an Armenian crime family.
Worst of all, I doubted Chris or anyone else could hold a candle to him.
Even now, after all that Davit had done, the lengths that I had gone to stay away from him, I still wanted him.
Which said things about me I didn’t even want to consider.
I looked at Chris, listening as he chatted about the side of town I’d told him I was moving to, wondering if maybe I could stay.
I’d been running for a while.
Had a new name, one that would be hard to trace. And I was living almost completely off the grid. I had prepaid credit cards, a prepaid phone, no internet presence.
Davit probably wasn’t even looking for me.
I knew my father wasn’t.
And Carol wouldn’t even know where to start. So, maybe I could—
“Amethyst.”
Even though Chris was talking and my thoughts were spinning, there was no doubt about what I’d heard.
I turned around slowly, my heart pounding as Davit walked toward me.
