The nurse writes Hope's name down on a piece of paper on her desk and gestures to an envelope.
“I found this on the desk after your other friend was escorted out by security. I didn’t see who dropped it; a patient had pressed their call button, so I was seeing to them. Can you give this to one of the Summers?”
The envelope hasHarlow Stubbs, Care of the Summers Familywritten on it. I frown as she passes it to me. “That’s actually me.” A quick flip back and forth gives me zero clues, no return address or any identifying information on it, and my heart rate increases as I realize who this might be from.
Thanking the nurse, I turn and hurry back down the corridor to the private waiting room. I can’t resist checking it out before I join the others, wanting to know just what I’m getting us into. With a quick slide of my finger under the flap, the envelope opens, revealing a note and a picture inside. The image is of Holden on the ground with Thomas beside him, his mouth set in a grim line as he tries to control the bleeding. The note says,Next time, I won’t miss.
The door flings open, and Poppy sticks his head out, his frown easing when he sees me standing near the door. “Ah, there you are, Hally. I was wondering where you had gotten to. What have you got there?” He moves away so I can walk inside the room, and I can’t put it off any longer. It’s quite spacious, with a couple of big sofas, a coffee table, and a little kitchenette that has a coffee machine and a fridge. The walls are painted in a light mint green color. I guess it’s supposed to be soothing, but I’m still shocked about the note, so it does nothing to calm my now erratic heartbeat. Poppy must get impatient because he takes it out of my hand before I’m able to stop him.
“Fucking hell.” The words rip from his mouth, and I flinch. I haven’t heard Poppy use that kind of language before.Not even the time he got caught in the crossfire of a paintball fight Max and I had been having in the backyard. He did look pretty covered in neon yellow and pink paint. “Declan, call the detective in charge of Harlow’s stalking case. We need to update him on what has happened, and now we also need to give him this as evidence before we send him out to the farm. I’m not feeling very optimistic, but maybe they’ll be able to find some kind of evidence left behind.”
Dad had been sitting on one of the sofas, his eyes crinkled with worry, when I walked in. But at Poppy’s outburst, he jumps to his feet and storms over, snatching the envelope and its contents out of Poppy’s hand. His eyes blaze with fury, and he whirls on me.
“Harlow, this is getting out of hand.” There’s no disguising the unconscious flinch that his quick movements and palpable anger trigger. Even though my mind knows that Dad wouldn’t hurt me, my body remembers these clues as a sign of pain to come. “Oh, honey, no!” he blurts out immediately, holding up a hand like he’s trying to calm a wounded animal. “I’m not blaming you, and I’m so sorry it came across like that.” By the end of his sentence, Dad looks as wrecked as I’m feeling, his face pale and eyes wide. All I can do is close my eyes and take a breath, willing my body to calm down and reminding myself that I don’t have to be on the defensive. When I’ve got my fight or flight instinct settled, I manage to give Dad a nod.
Declan moves over and takes the piece of paper out of Dad's hand before passing it to Thomas. It makes its way around all of the siblings before it gets to Nana, and the sob that leaves her mouth when she reads it has my heart breaking.
“I think it might be better if you returned home.” Dad’s eyes cloud with sadness as he slowly reaches out, grabs me, and pulls me against his chest, holding me tight. “Safer is what I mean. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you. We’re just lucky that Holden was only shot through the shoulder.”
I pull away from him. “Is he okay? Have you heard anything?”
“The doctors confirmed it was a through and through, and he’s going to be fine. He may need some PT on his shoulder, but he wasverylucky. They were worried about swelling on the brain from hitting his head, but the CT scan has cleared that. He’s got a big lump and a bad concussion, but they’re expecting him to wake up soon.”
The wave of relief that flows through my body has me shuddering, and Dad gathers me close again. The affection and warmth I’m still getting from this man when I’m the one responsible for one of his other kids being shot is mindblowing and what finally breaks the dam holding back my emotions. I start to sob into his chest embarrassingly loudly, but he just croons to me, softly rubbing his hand up and down my back.
The room is silent while I have my breakdown, and I squirm self-consciously at the thought that everyone’s watching. My mind races with information overload and panic, but the one thing it latches onto is that I think Dad is right. I know what Kai said earlier, and there’s part of me that still thinks he has a valid point, but if even Dad is saying I should go… Maybe that’s best? Finally, I pull away, wiping my face on the edge of my shirt.
“I’m going to call Chuck and tell him what’s been going on and ask if he can arrange for a truck to come and get the horses. Then I’ll call Alex and ask him to come and get me and take me back to the estate. I’ll pack up my things, and once the truck comes tomorrow, I’ll catch a flight home.” My voice hitches at the end in disappointment. I can’t believe it’s all come to this.
I dealt with Jacinta’s jealousy and survived her best effort to chase me off, kept a strong face despite the Summers men playing their weird game of hot and cold, and had a real family right outside my reach. Now I’m going to be chased away by some nameless asshole who’s decided to make my life hell. By the time I get to that last thought, I’m starting to feel more anger than resignation. Why should I give all of this up? I want to see what my life with the Summers could become, damn it!
“Now, hang on a moment.” Kai jumps up from next to Nana. “How do we know this will stop if she goes home? What if they follow her and she’s on her own with nobody to protect her? Plus, maybe the stalker won’t like her being around the Bostons any more than they like her being around us. We might be putting Chuck, Melinda, and Max in danger when we could’ve kept the problem centralized here with us.” My wannabe knight in shining armor, Kai’s expression is so intense, you’d think one of them was revealed to be my stalker. He looks like he’s ready to fight anyone and everyone who dares suggest I go home.
“If she stays here, we can assure someone is with her at all times.” He looks at Jacinta. "You probably shouldn't go anywhere alone either. It was your likeness that had the bullet through its skull. You’re obviously a target as well. In fact, maybe we should all go to Hawaii for the weekend. We all agreed that was a good strategy because it’s a safe bet that the stalker doesn’t have the same resources we do. Nothing that’s happened changes that fact, so we should stick with that plan.”
“I'm going to have to agree with Kai,” Thomas adds. In fact, all the brothers are nodding their agreement, as is Nana, and holy crap, even Jacinta.
Before we can reach a final decision, the door opens and a doctor in blue scrubs walks in. “Holden has been moved to a private room if you would like to go in. We’re just waiting for him to wake up. Normally, we limit how many can sit with patients, but itisa private room, and it’s got plenty of seating, so you can all go in if you wish.”
“Thank you,” Dad says before he quickly follows the doctor. I let the others go in front of me. Maybe I can just slip out without anyone noticing.
Just when I think my plan has worked, a manicured hand lands on my arm. “Oh no, you don't. I know what’s running through your mind. I won’t let you slip away and get hurt, or worse,dead. You’re not going to upset Dad like that because you think you're being all noble and shit. You’re coming with us even if I have to get Oliver to use his handcuffs on you.” Jacinta's mouth is pursed in the annoyance that seems to be a requirement when she’s talking to me, but I can see worry in her eyes as she drags me out the door and after the others. “And don't think I don’t know that you’d probably like being handcuffed by Oliver.” She snorts in amusement like she can’t help herself but quickly tries to hide it with a cough.
Damn it, why can’t she just stay the vicious cold bitch she has been? I was just getting used to that version of Jacinta. I didn’t like bitchy Jacinta, but at least she was predictable enough that I could work around her or just ignore her when I needed to. The Jacinta who cares whether I’m dead or alive and almost teases me about my attraction to her brothers…thatJacinta is unpredictable and far more dangerous. “I thought you wanted to get rid of me.”
She stops dead and turns, brows drawing down as she looks me in the eyes. “Not like this.Neverlike this. Humiliating you is one thing, but actually hurting someone, that’s just unforgivable. I might not always do the nicest things, but I only do what I know I can live with in the end.ThatI would not be able to live with.” Her eyes blaze with intensity before she rapidly blinks, calming some of that fire and looking at the ground like she needs a moment. Without another word, she starts dragging me down the corridor once more.
I’ve officially entered the Twilight Zone.
* * *
Jacinta
Harlow earned herself some points when she stopped Cecelia from getting through earlier. So when the doctor comes in and lets us know we can see Holden, I jump up just as quickly as everyone else, but then I stop. As much as I want to see my brother, to make sure he’s okay with my own eyes, I wait. Because if Harlow is anything like me, and I’m suspecting more and more that she is, she’ll try to do the noble sacrifice thing and disappear while everyone is distracted.
I could let her go and be happy that she’s out of our lives, but with the stalker around, she’d probably end up hurt or dead. And that’s not what I want. I would never want Dad to hurt like that. Before my last therapy appointment, my head had been whirling, and I had put a lot of thought into whether I deserved to die because of the horrible way I’ve treated Harlow. Now, I know that I deserve some humbling, and I need to apologize at some point even if it feels like that option will kill me. But if I don’t deserve death when I’ve been such an awful bitch, then Harlow definitely doesn’t deserve it. I don’t know when I’ll be able to say this out loud to anyone butmaybemy therapist, but she hasn’t actually done anything wrong.
All I really wanted was some distance. I didn’t want my family life to be disrupted and thrown into chaos like it was when I let my mother get too close. Or every time one of my brothers trusted someone that betrayed them. I didn’t want this new person shoved down our throats, but in reality that’s not what’s happened. In fact, the more I see her and the more I watch her, I think maybe, just maybe, I’ve made a horrible mistake.
