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The doorbell rings, saving me from having to respond. Even if we get Violet and Sophie out of Oregon, I can’t risk talking to Robyn again.
Troy goes to answer the door.
Zara, Avery, Simone, and Emily step into the kitchen soon after. One glance at me and their eyes widen in surprise and horror. Only Kellan knew I was here. Troy and I haven’t told anyone else what happened last night. Nor have we mentioned we’re back together. We were waiting until everyone arrived. Troy texted them this morning, inviting them for dinner.
“Oh, God. What happened?” Zara can barely choke out the words. She looks at Troy as if he has all the answers, but there’s another emotion in her eyes. The same emotion Avery and Simone share.
They know.
Or they suspect they know who was responsible for my bruises. Only Em is in the dark about them.
“We’ll tell you as soon as Troy’s brothers get here,” I share with the four women.
Male voices come from the foyer. The four men enter the kitchen a moment later where the rest of us are hanging out. Garrett and Lucas stop talking as soon as they see me.
“What the hell happened?” Lucas asks, not mincing words. His gaze darts to Troy.
He’s not the only one. Garrett’s also staring down his brother, silently demanding an explanation.
I look over to the living room window, which faces the street. It’s too early to shut the curtains without raising suspicion. “How do we know Chief Wilson or his goon isn’t out there watching the house?” My voice is a rough whisper, the memory of his threat last night distorting it.
God…if he even suspects we’re talking about him and what really happened instead of the twisted version he concocted, he’ll kill his wife and daughter. I don’t doubt that.
My heart pounds. And it feels like someone is holding a pillow over my mouth. I can’t get air into my lungs.
A hand rests on the curve of my spine. “Breathe, Jess. Look at me.” Troy catches my chin with a crooked finger and turns my face to his. “They aren’t parked on the street doing surveillance. Kellan and I have already checked. Wilson will hopefully believe you took his warning seriously. We’re having dinner with our friends. Nothing suspicious about that.”
“And what if he doesn’t believe it?” I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly cold.
“Then nothing you do will change that. He was always going to carry out his threat, no matter what you did.”
“Is someone going to explain what’s going on?” Garrett looks like he’s on the verge of pacing. He’s as wound up as I am, and he doesn’t even know what Troy’s talking about.
Troy slips his fingers between mine and leads me to the couch. We sit and everyone else takes a seat. Our fingers remain intertwined.
But even then, my heart rate refuses to slow to a normal pace. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something you can’t tell anyone. And I mean anyone.”
I spend the next several minutes getting Emily, Garrett, and Lucas up to speed on the past ten years of my life. My marriage and my daughter. The abuse, the murder conviction, the prison hell.
And I tell them about Violet and Sophie, about our plans to get them away from Maple Ridge and Oregon, and about what happened last night. About the threat Chief Wilson gave me should I attempt to help Violet again.
“Shit.” Lucas shoots Simone a look that says he can’t believe she didn’t tell him.
Garrett forces out a hard breath and shoots Zara an unreadable glare. Probably for the same reason.
“Violet and Sophie need to escape their situation,” I tell them. “But because her husband’s the chief of police, he knows how to work the system to his advantage.”
“How can we convince her to leave him again after what happened yesterday?” Emily asks. “She’s gotta be even more scared of him after she witnessed what he’ll do to make sure she doesn’t escape.”
“And even if we can get them away from here,” Troy says, sounding rather doubtful about that, “Violet will be wanted by the police, and possibly the FBI, for kidnapping a child. She’ll aways be looking over her shoulder.”
He lightly squeezes my hand, reminding me the constant looking over my shoulder hasn’t changed even now, and likely never will. I’ll always be wondering if one day someone will recognize me as the woman on the news.
I’ll always be wondering if they’ll see me as a cop killer, even though I’m innocent.
See me as someone who’s dangerous because I spent five years in maximum security.
See me as someone who they don’t want in their community.
