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“I’ll see you soon, little bug. Be good for your daddy, okay?”
“Okay. Love you!”
I froze solid as he turned back to his movie like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on me. I knew I held a special place in his heart, and I already loved him with everything I had, but that was the first time he’d said it to me. Up until that very moment, Laeth was the only one who’d gotten that from him.
“I-I”—I cleared the frog from my throat and tried again—“I love you too, Cash,” I said in a husky, emotional voice.
He seemed oblivious to the thundering emotions raging inside of me, but when I stood tall and turned around, I could tell by the look on Laeth’s face that he understood how monumental that was for me.
“What can I say?” he murmured as he tilted my chin up to meet his gaze. “My kid’s got great taste. He takes after his dad.”
“I love you too, you know,” I whispered, fighting down the emotion so I didn’t walk into book club a teary-eyed, blubbering mess.
“I do know. And I love you right back. Now get out of here. The sooner you start, the sooner you can finish and come back home to us.”
With one last kiss, I headed out.
There was a lightness to my steps as I walked through town, returning smiles and greetings with the people I passed. I was a part of the community. Everyone in Redemption had welcomed me with open arms as a part of the fabric that made this incredible town.
I’d spent so many years dreaming of escaping the Fellowship and being a part of this. Now, here I was, only it was so much better than I possibly could have imagined. I had friends, I had a makeshift family. I had a man I loved who loved me back with every beat of his heart. I’d been the girl no one wanted who’d grown into a lonely woman, clinging to hope to get her through each day.
Now I had so many blessings in my life, it was difficult to keep count. I barely recognized the woman I’d once been. And I couldn’t help but wonder if my mother was looking down on me, smiling at what I’d become.
It was on that thought that the creeping, crawling sensation between my shoulder blades returned.
I stopped in place and scanned my surroundings. I’d been so lost in happy thoughts, that I hadn’t realized that the shortcut Iusually took to the library was empty, with the exception of me. I’d passed the busy streets and was now all by myself, feeling like someone was watching me.
I clutched the strap of my purse tighter. Lifting it up and preparing to dive inside for the pepper spray as I took one last look over my shoulder.
But the voice that broke the eerie silence came from a few feet in front of me.
“Hello, Deva. It’s been a while.”
“Mathias,” I gasped, my eyes going wide as I placed a hand over my wildly beating heart. “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He had his hands clasped behind his back. His face was completely expressionless, a blank mask I couldn’t get a read on. However, as he took a step closer, a voice in the back of my head started to scream that something was very wrong.
“What—what are you doing here?”
A smile curled across his face that sent a shiver down my spine. “I’m taking back what belongs to me, of course.”
I took a step back, prepared to turn and run. But it was too late.
His arm came out in a lightning-fast swing and in the next second, everything went black.
Chapter
Thirty-Two
LAETH
“Daddy, I hungwy,”Cash informed me.
“You’re hungry, huh? Okay. How about a sandwich? That sound good?” He nodded eagerly. “All right. What do you want, PB&J or turkey?”
“Peanut buttew!” he declared, like he always did.
“Okay, pal. Peanut butter it is.” I stood from the couch, leaving him to finish his movie as I headed for the kitchen to make us both some lunch. If Deva had been here, she would have given me shit about stepping foot in the kitchen. After the debacle that was supposed to be the breakfast I’d attempted to make her, she’d declared the kitchen her domain.
