Chapter 14

It all makes so much sense now.

That dreaded feeling in my gut that never left me alone while I was working at the diner, always telling myself that it was going to be okay, that he couldn’t find us. But it was never going to be okay. Colby found me long before I became aware of his presence outside Marie’s daycare. He set the diner on fire. He must’ve known that our children were in there with me.

Oh, God, I wanna throw up.

But I can’t. I need to keep it together until I get Luna and Sammy out of daycare and to safety.

My heart is beating so hard, so fast, I can barely breathe. Panic threatens to take over, but my survival instincts have always been stronger in the face of danger. I ran away from Colby once, and I will do it as many times as I need to until he’s so far removed from our lives that we will finally have the peace and safety that we deserve .

Sammy and Luna deserve to grow up in a nurturing and loving home, not in one where they have to deal with Colby’s violent fits over the smallest thing. They deserve to go to school without having to worry about what Daddy is doing to Mama at home.

I’m sobbing in the back of the yellow cab, trying to be as quiet as possible, as the driver pulls over just around the corner as I asked. I can see the daycare center from here. I pay the man and get out, wiping away my tears as I brace myself for the toughest moment yet to come—having to tell my children that we are going away again.

The vacation idea won’t do. I’ve confused them enough already. We’re going, we’re staying, we’re safe, we’re gonna be safer somewhere else. Luna and Sammy may be young, but they do need to understand my role as their mother. As their protector.

As much as it pains me, they understand that Daddy is a bad man. They know he isn’t safe, that we aren’t safe with him around.

My phone rings. It’s Eric. I switch it to silent mode and slip it back into my pocket, then make my way around to the back entrance, keeping my head down.

A man steps out in front of me.

I bump into him, then instantly jump back. “I’m so sorry,” I say, trying to go around him but he blocks my path. “I need to—” I look up, and everything shuts down inside of me. The process is automatic and out of my control.

“Long time no see, babe,” Colby says, a sneer slitting his face.

This can’t be happening. No! This is a nightmare. Maybe if I pinch myself hard enough, I’ll wake up in Eric, Chase, and Wyatt’s loving arms. It’ll be a lazy Sunday morning, and my past will be nowhere to be found.

“Cat got your tongue?” Colby asks, his beady brown eyes never leaving mine.

“Colby… how did you find me?” I can’t breathe anymore.

My knees are Jell-O, the rest of my body frozen in place. Tight as a bow about to release an arrow.

“I will always find you, Helena,” he says, his tone cocky and confident.

He looks awful. Dark shadows are under his eyes, thickening stubble along his jawline. He has lost some weight, and I can tell from the red threads in his gaze that he’s been abusing some sort of drug, or drugs, since I’ve been away. His suit, however, is a custom-tailored Ferretti, dark navy with a pale blue shirt and burgundy tie. He seems to have stepped out of a fashion catalogue, ever the charming bastard.

But I know better.

That smile. That piercing glare. Those good looks. It’s all for show. Colby Nash is rotten on the inside, rotten to his core, and there is no healing the kind of monster that lurks within him. This man is unrepentant in his hatred and obsession, and his mother has done nothing but facilitate his sick habits and horrific behavior. Over and over again, at the cost of my health and safety. What Colby did was unforgivable.

Had I not run away when I did, I would’ve ended up just like that man in our living room.

All that blood.

Oh, God .

“How? How did you find me?” I ask again.

Finally, my feet are moving, inching backward, ever so slowly.

“The minute you filed those divorce papers it was easy to track you down,” Colby replies, downright satisfied by his own sleuthing. “I took my time once I found you, watching you trying to make it on your own.”

“You set the diner on fire,” I hiss, my voice trembling with rage.

“You got the message, didn’t you?”

There’s not a hint of regret anywhere on this man’s face.

“Our children were upstairs.”

“Come home, Helena. It’s time,” Colby says, ignoring my statement.

“Did you hear me?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to show you, to prove to you that you’re helpless without me.”

“My God,” I gasp, realizing precisely how delusional he is. How insane. How cruel. “Colby, I would rather die a thousand deaths than ever come back to you. Get the fuck away from me!”

I try to run but he catches me by the throat, pulling me close. Too close.

“Dammit, Helena, don’t make this harder than it already is,” he hisses, his grip tightening against my windpipe. I struggle against his hold, trying to pry his hands off me, kicking and gasping for air .

“Let… me… go…”

“You’re coming home, babe. We’ll come back for the kids later, don’t worry,” he says.

“NO!”

I see a shadow move out of the corner of my eye. A gust of air brushes past my face. The fist clocks Colby right in the side of the head, hard enough to make a cheekbone crack and to get him off me.

I cry out, finally free of his grip.

Chase stands between us, towering like a deadly, angry giant, clad in black jeans and a black tee shirt.

“Who the fuck are you?” my ex-husband snarls, keeping his distance as he cautiously touches his reddening cheek.

“I’m the man who’s gonna put you six feet under if you don’t leave Halle and the kids alone,” Chase replies, his voice as cold as his glare. He gives me a quick glance over the shoulder. “Are you okay, Halle?”

“I think so.”

Colby looks at me with pure hatred in his eyes. “We’re not done here, Helena. You will come home with me, one way or another.”

“You are absolutely done, you piece of shit. Unless you want me to break the rest of your face, right here, right now,” Chase says.

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.