Max swore under his breath. “This is crazy. This isn’t some little scratch, Savannah. She’s been getting her face stitched back together for hours. She can barely see out of her left eye.”
That was it. The tears broke loose, running hot down my face. “I just want our baby to be born in a happy environment, with people who love him—not people who fight like this.” I paused as silent tears gushed out. “Nora said she would bury me in court, Max. She said once my baby is born, I’d never see himagain.” The weight of it all crashed down on me. I gasped for breath.
“Yeah,” said Max. “Nora seems pretty dead-set on pressing charges, Savannah. I’m doing everything I can to try and persuade her against it.”
My breath caught in my throat. I pressed a hand to my mouth, but I couldn’t hold back any longer. I choked, and sobs racked my body.
“Look—I think we just need a little distance right now. To let Madison heal and calm down a bit,” he said.
“Max—I’m due to give birth in just a few weeks,” I gasped. “We have to figure things out.”
“I know, Savannah, but I need to be with Madison right now.”
I hung up in frustration.
For the next hour, I swung between devastation and primal rage—between believing I’d be alone for the rest of my life, reduced to only seeing my child every other weekend, and fantasizing about strangling Madison, and watching as the life drained out of her, and her eyes went dead. Or maybe I could just run—leave the state or the country. I could almost see it: just me and my baby, living together happily, far away from the Clarks and Hunters.
Then the social media messages started rolling in.
“You are such an evil witch … Who raised you? I can’t believe a grown woman would act like that! … If I didn’t know Madison would be such a great mom to that baby, I’d wish your baby was dead … You’d better hope I never run into you again … Once that baby is born, you’d better watch yourself—you’ll be fair game then.”
I finally powered my phone down. For about the twentieth time in the past month, I desperately wished I could down an entire bottle of wine, all by myself.
I have to get some sleep.
CHAPTER22
ELLIE WAS DEFINITELYshaken when she heard what happened. Given that the police still didn’t have any leads on finding her attacker, we were both more on edge than ever.
We decided the best course of action was to lie low. Ellie had Sunday off, so we stayed in. She made us a dynamite breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, and we lounged in our pajamas, binge-watching true crime shows. We called Jenna to invite her, but couldn’t get a hold of her.
Late morning, the officer looking into Melanie Daniels called. I snatched my phone off the coffee table and answered eagerly.
“Ms. Mitchell, I wanted to update you,” the officer said. “Unfortunately, we’ve had no luck so far in tracking down Melanie Daniels.”
My heart sank.
“She hasn’t shown up for any of her shifts at Starbucks this week. Someone must have tipped her off. According to her employment file, she lives with her mother and sister in the Sausalito area. We went by the house, but she hasn’t been home in a few days. Her car is gone, so she may have skipped town. We’re monitoring her phone records to see if she calls or texts anyone.We’re also monitoring her bank account and credit cards, but there’s been no activity so far. She may be lying low with a friend somewhere.”
I sighed. I had been desperately hoping that they would be able to get her to flip on Madison.
“Don’t worry, we’re going to keep looking for her. We have a BOLO out on her car’s license plate.”
“Okay. I appreciate the update.”
I hung up. Ellie squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry, Savvy—she can’t hide forever.”
“Yeah … I was just really hoping they’d find her quickly so I could nail Madison before this baby is born.” I rubbed my belly thoughtfully.
Don’t worry, baby boy—I’m not going to let anything happen to you.
Before bed that night, I reviewed my presentation a few dozen more times. Sam said the famous chef himself was going to be in attendance the next morning. That news, plus agonizing over whether Madison and Nora still planned to press charges, and I was a ball of pure anxiety—but I was determined to keep it together and deliver my absolute best.
My mom called to wish me luck and to say she looked forward to seeing me in a few days—I’d nearly forgotten, the baby shower she and Ellie had been planning for the past few months was scheduled for the following Sunday afternoon. It was hard to believe I was nearly thirty-seven weeks pregnant.
Ellie had the lunch shift at the bistro Monday, so she walked with me down to the garage as I left for work. Sam had graciously given up his highly coveted manager’s parking spot in the garage below the office for me to use during the remainingweeks of my pregnancy, so I wouldn’t have to walk or waste money on Ubers. He was such a sweetheart.
“I’m so nervous!” I squeezed Ellie’s arm. “But I’m also really excited. I know I can do this. I just hope I don’t act like an idiot and get all tongue-tied in front of Pedro Torres. I’ve never worked with a celebrity before.”
