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But my voice is gone. Steam rolls from my parted lips, yet not a sound comes out.
Daniel watches me, that smug smile making my skin crawl. It’s him. And I’m all alone out here. Nobody walking by is aware of what a monster he is.
“Avery! I thought you were working on the Masons’ house?” Helen’s voice pulls me out of my living nightmare and I glance over to my left.
I’m shaking like a leaf as I see her coming down my side of the street.
I look back at the café, but Daniel is gone.
Relief and terror wash over me at once. I burst into tears, quivering and sobbing as I realize precisely how vulnerable I still am where this man is concerned.
“Oh, honey, what’s wrong?” Helen yelps and rushes over.
I’m crying my heart out as Helen reaches me in the blink of an eye, hands on my shoulders as she tries to comfort me.
“He’s here,” I manage between broken hiccups. “He’s here.”
“Who’s here, Avery?”
“Daniel. He’s here.”
Helen stills for a moment, then straightens her back and carefully looks around, up and down the street. “I don’t see him anywhere, honey, are you sure?” she asks.
“I’m sure. I saw him. I know it was him. I’m not going crazy.”
“No one said you’re going crazy, Avery. Please, take a deep breath.”
“I need to call Kellan. He needs to know. My girls…” I pause and give her a horrified look. “Where are my girls, Helen?”
“They’re with Luke, back at the house, remember? He said he was taking the day off to spend some time with them,” she says, trying to sound as reassuring as she possibly can.
I know I’m a fucking hot mess right about now, but I can’t help it. My hands are shaking so bad that I can’t even fish my phone out of my coat pocket without dropping it on the frozen ground. “Shit, shit,” I curse under my breath.
“I’ll call him, honey. It’s gonna be okay,” she says.
But I think we both know that’s not true. Daniel found me. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, or for how long he’s been here, but he found me. And that number he just pulled outside the café was completely intentional—he wants me scared.
His campaign of terror has begun.
20
Avery
I’m pacing the study like a caged lioness, constantly huffing and puffing and monumentally failing to keep myself together. My moment of semi-peace and safety has come to an end. My paradise is crumbling, the dream I built here gradually unraveling. It’s exactly what Daniel wanted. I suspect he’s been around for a while, watching and waiting for me to get comfortable enough before showing his face.
“I’m not safe anywhere, my girls aren’t safe,” I say, stopping by the window to look outside again. It’s a ridiculous thing to say within the confines of the mansion and I know it. This place is under heavy security and constant video surveillance. The property is virtually impenetrable if you don’t have an access card for the front gates, and there are sensors mounted everywhere. Not even a fox can come in without triggering them.
Kellan comes over, resting his hands on my shoulders. “Avery, take it easy. You are absolutely safe here, and so are the girls.”
“They just started school,” I almost start crying again. “It’s not fair if I have to pull them out.”
“You don’t have to do that,” he says. “You can’t just hide in your shell and isolate them from the rest of the world whenever Daniel shows up. You need to keep their lives as normal as possible.”
“How can you say that?” I whirl around, letting the fury of the situation get the better of me. “I’m trying to keep my daughters safe and away from that monster!”
“I know, but you are also isolating them, which can make it harder later on for you to hold up a case against Daniel in court,” he replies firmly. “The school is one of the most secure places in the entire county, and I will make sure we have operatives watching the building twenty-four seven, doubling the security while the girls are there. Helen will keep an eye on them here, along with the security staff, and you need to keep working on that house.”
I’m genuinely confused. The guys have been talking for the past thirty minutes but I’ve been too busy panicking and spiraling out of control, so I haven’t exactly paid attention to what was actually being said.
