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It’s enough to get Colby moving. He curses under his breath, hand still cupping his injured cheek as he rushes away from the building. I watch him disappear behind the corner, and it is only when he is out of sight that I’m able to breathe again.
Chase turns around and measures me from head to toe. “Halle—”
“What are you doing here?” I cut him off before he can say anything else, the adrenalin gradually wearing off. The tremors that replace it make it impossible for me to focus. My teeth are clattering as I struggle to cope with what just happened.
“I was inside with Mom and the kids. As soon as we found out about Colby, I came over to keep an eye on them,” he says. “Eric called me just now and told me that you were coming here. I didn’t see his car parked outside but I spotted him creeping his way up the street. It wasn’t a coincidence, he was waiting for you to show up.”
“Oh, Chase. I can’t thank you enough,” I reply, giving him a sad look. “I don’t deserve any of this kindness.”
“But you do,” he says, his brow furrowed as he comes closer. “Halle, for fuck’s sake, you can’t keep running from this bastard, that much is obvious.”
“I can. I just need to get away from here,” I say, determined to finish what I started. “I’ll take my kids and we’ll get out of your hair. You and your brothers don’t need the kind of trouble that Colby Nash brings with him. He will never stop looking for me, no matter where I go.”
“Halle, stop for a second.”
“No, Chase. I already stopped for a second and he found us. He tried to kill us! He knew where I was, and he bided his time. It was calculated. It wasn’t an accident. And his mother’s lawyers will keep him out of prison, again and again and again. There is no fighting this man or his family in court.”
Chase cups my face and kisses me. For a moment, I am tempted to lose myself in his arms, to breathe him in and let his dominant darkness envelop me. I have always felt safe with him and his brothers. I also felt safe because Colby wasn’t around. When he was still just a ghost looking for me, unable to find me. Little did I know...
“Halle enough is enough. I’m done letting you think you can handle this on your own,” Chase says. I’m about to object when he kisses me again, this time harshly enough to make my lips hurt slightly. “Mom is taking the kids out of here. She’ll make sure that nobody follows her and she’ll keep them safe for a couple of days.”
“Chase, I can’t be without Sammy and Luna!”
“It’s for their safety and yours, at least until we figure out what we’re going to do next. We don’t have enough evidence to convict Colby for the diner fire yet, and if the DA comes at him now, they risk him slipping through their fingers. We need to be smart about this.”
“I don’t understand.”
He takes a look around. “You’re coming home with me. Sammy and Luna are staying with our parents tonight at the vacation house of a friend from the Navy. You and I need to talk, Halle. The four of us need to talk.”
He saved me from Colby just now so I can’t really fight him on this. Colby was going to drag me away from my children. He would’ve resorted to terrible things in order to keep me under his control. He’s done it before, and after everything I witnessed, everything I endured while I was married to him, I know that he is capable of much, much worse.
While I hate to admit it, Luna and Sammy probably will be safer with Chase’s parents tonight. Colby is gunning for me. To my utter shock and despair, he seems to have no interest in our children. He’s too fixated on me, for now anyway.
I have no doubt I will be safe with Chase, Eric, and Wyatt. But the cat is out of the bag. They know about Colby, they know about my past, and they’re obviously and understandably upset. I kept a huge secret from them and I put them at risk. Marie, too. Nobody else deserves to suffer because I didn’t have the clarity to spot Colby’s red flags when we first got together.
“Let’s take it one day at a time,” Chase says, then firmly grabs my hand and pulls me away from the daycare.
I’m speechless, weak, and exhausted as I let him take me to his car. Mere moments earlier, I was ready to fight to the death if push came to shove. Now, I can barely keep my head up as Chase loads me into the passenger seat. He fastens my seatbelt as I stare at him with tired, stinging eyes. “I’m so sorry,” I manage.
“We’ll handle apologies later,” Chase replies as he gets behind the wheel. “Right now, I gotta make sure I get you home without a fucking tail. I know Colby Nash’s type.”
“He’s relentless, Chase. You can’t stop him.”
“I can kill him.”
The way those words roll off his tongue turns my blood to ice. I’ve never seen this side of him before. He appears calm on the outside, but there are countless layers of violence and wrath waiting to be unraveled underneath this façade. I can tell by the way his jaw muscle twitches as he keeps one eye on the road and one eye on the rearview mirror, driving us away from the daycare.
For a moment, I’m tempted to imagine a future where Colby no longer exists, but I shake the thought away, guilt quick to set in. It’s an awful thing to wish harm upon anyone. He may deserve it, but I am not the judge nor the executioner. And neither is Chase.
There has to be another way.
I can’t become the monster I’m trying to get away from.
15
Halle
With Luna and Sammy in Marie’s care safely away from the city, away from Colby, my mind feels clearer. I can breathe easier.
