Not only to soothe my son, but myself. Also, hoping my unborn baby could hear me, I began to sing softly.
The sound of someone clapping interrupted the lyrics. Isnapped my head up from where it had rested on my son’s head to find the source of the female voice.
“Well now, isn’t that annoyingly precious.”
I stiffened at the sound of Sloane’s condescending, fake, and very venomous tone. With her foreboding presence and as her dark tone sunk in, the moments before I landed in the ditch came rushing back to me.
This wasn't an accident.
Hugging my baby tighter to my chest, I tried to drag in a deep breath. A minute earlier, someone had come up beside us in the other lane and swerved into the passenger side of my car—and I had reacted. I didn’t have time to think about who it was or why they’d done it, never imagining for a second it was intentional.
But now…
Blinking, I took in the woman glaring at us. She looked nothing like the rich, put-together person that she normally did. No, Sloane was now unkempt, frazzled, and her gaze seemed… unbalanced.
I realized after her next words that “unbalanced” was a kind way of putting it; deranged was a better adjective to describe her right then. Especially when she pulled a small handgun from her purse and began tapping it against her thigh.
“You always did think you were better than all of us,” she spat.
Was she serious right now?Me?
I wasn’t the one who was wealthy in high school, wore designer clothes, and had an expensive car from mommy and daddy, or who walked around like everyone else was beneath her. That was her and her friends. They’d only let me hang out with them because Chaz had brought me into their circle. When he was done with me, so were they.
“Bitch,” Sloane snapped. “Are you listening to me?”
My son trembled in my arms, and I wanted to smack her for scaring him more than he already was.
When I didn’t answer, she grew more agitated.
“You deserve everything that’s coming to you after the problems you caused me.” The gun thumped faster against her leg as her words quickened. “That brat!” she screamed, bringing the gun up, and pointing at Griffin, her hand shaking in rage.
Instinct automatically kicked in. I shifted my son in my arms and twisted my body as much as I could so the delusional woman in front of us was as far away from him as possible.
It wasn’t enough.
Griffin burrowed further into me, hiding his face against my body, his tears soaking my shirt. How could someone be so demented to orchestrate something like this and want to threaten a child? I wanted to ask the question, but I couldn’t afford to provoke her into spiraling any more than she already had.
Not when my children’s lives were at stake.
Pressing my lips together so hard it was almost painful, I cocooned my son the best I could to shield him from her vile wrath, hoping it was enough to protect him until someone could find us. And while I hoped for my husband, anyone who could help us would be a blessing.
“Tell him to shut the hell up.” Sloane stepped closer and my body shook with two very dominating emotions: fear and fury. ”If he doesn’t shut up, I will shut him up.”
I rocked my son and whispered in his ear, “Shh, take a deep breath.” I softly brushed my hand over the top of his head. “I got you, sweet boy.”
His sobs gradually quieted, but his body still trembled like a mini volcano against me. I had never been one to projectnegative feelings like hate into the universe. I’d tried not to even do it with Chaz, but this was different.
She wasthreateningmy innocent child and my unborn baby.
Right then, I wanted nothing more than to unleash on her and make her pay for the trauma she was inflicting. Sloane deserved something I didn’t want to articulate because I refused to be as evil as she was.
“Why are you doing this?” I stroked my son’s back. “Griffin is innocent. He’s donenothingto you.”
The woman let out a sinister laugh.
“No. You did.” She pointed the gun at my face, and I flinched. “You ruined my whole life because you couldn’t give Chaz what he was entitled to as a father. Now he’s decided he has no use for me. We were never going to create our perfect little family like we planned. He’s dismissed me and wants a divorce!”
Her eyes were dilated and filled with so much hostility that it petrified me to the core. I had no clue how to deal with someone who seemed completely out of their mind. Where was River when I needed her?
