He pulled me in, arms tight, voice low and rough against my hair. Pierre stepped out onto the porch; his expression carved from stone. Eric didn’t look at him. His focus stayed locked on me; hands steady on my waist like he could anchor me in place.
His voice dropped to a low, unshakable vow.“Whoever this was… they just crossed a line.”
The cold from the road seeped into my bones, deeper than the night air. Tonight wasn’t an accident. It was a message.Whoever was hunting me had finally stepped out of the shadows.
CHAPTER 34
Eric
By morning, the whole house felt wound tight. Not frantic. Not panicked. Just like we were all bracing for impact. Dad moved through the kitchen with that quiet, deliberate focus he reserved for cases right before they turned serious. Becket sat at the table with two laptops open and enough printouts spread across the wood grain to qualify as a mobile command center. Even Asher, who usually stomped around like the floor personally offended him, carried himself with a simmering, coiled stillness.
And Harmony…
She sat at the kitchen island wrapped in one of Mom’s old knit cardigans, fingers curled around a mug she hadn’t taken more than two sips from. Her eyes were swollen from lack of sleep, but what scared me more was the way she kept staring at nothing, as if it was some internal threat only she could see. I’d already told Dad I wasn’t leaving her today. Elise covered the orchard store. Angela and Dominic handled the bakery. The brewery and festival crowd kept Phoenix’s world running, and Dad had added officers to the property overnight. Maple Valley drew bigger numbers this time of year with families, tourists,and the early fall crowd swarming the brewery lawn. It gave the illusion of safety. But it was also the perfect cover for someone who didn’t want to be noticed.
Harmony looked up when I came down the hallway, her eyes flicking toward me like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to look relieved. I crossed the room in a few long strides and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. She let out a shaky breath that stabbed straight through my ribs.
“How’re you feeling?” I whispered.
“Like I ran a marathon in my sleep,” she murmured.
“You didn’t sleep,” I reminded her gently.
Her lips twitched. “Semantics.”
I slid onto the stool beside her and rested a hand on the back of her neck, brushing slow circles with my thumb. She leaned into it just enough to tell me she was still trying to be stronger than she felt.
Dad cleared his throat. “Becket traced what footage he could from last night. There’s nothing on the cameras leading toward the property. Whoever followed you turned off the road before the ridge.”
Harmony straightened, clutching her mug tighter. “So, they didn’t follow me all the way here.”
“No,” Dad said. “But they wanted you to think they did.”
A thin shiver moved under my hand.
“I lost visual at the turnoff,” she said quietly. “That’s when they cut their headlights…”
Becket’s tone was low and controlled. “Cutting headlights while pursuing someone isn’t amateur behavior.”
Harmony swallowed hard. “So they’re trained.”
“Or they grew up around people who were,” Becket said before Dad shot him a warning look.
But Harmony didn’t flinch. She just nodded once, like she’d reached that conclusion alone at three in the morning, while trying not to shake the bed.
I leaned closer. “Sunshine… you don’t have to spiral right now. We’re on this.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I just hate waiting for the next move.”
Dad set down his mug. “Waiting doesn’t mean nothing is happening. I made calls this morning. There’s a cruiser stationed at the entrance to the property. Another looping Main Street until closing. The festival crowd gives us cover to increase patrols without raising questions.”
Harmony blinked. “Does Sandy know?”
“I told her we’re running rounds because of the festival weekend,” Dad said with steady reassurance. “She doesn’t need more than that.”
Becket didn’t look up from his screen. “I’ve been in contact with Poirier, my friend in Montreal. He’s checking on Marcel’s appeal status and watching court filings. Nothing new yet, but he’ll call as soon as something shifts.”
Harmony’s jaw tightened. “So we’re… in a holding pattern.”
