He rolled onto his back again.
The image wouldn’t leave him—Grace standing in her doorway, hair loose, eyes guarded. The way she’d saidI don’t need you.
That had been the worst part.
Not the man inside her house.
Not the sedan.
Not Mercer’s words.
That.
He pressed the heel of his hand into his eye socket and let out a slow breath.
She walked to school every morning.
The realization washed over him with a chill of fear.
He sat up.
Grace walked.
Rain or shine. Twenty minutes there every morning, twenty minutes back every afternoon. Same sidewalks. Same streets. Same stretch of Maple where the houses thinned out just enough to feel exposed.
Someone had already been watching her house. They would know her routine. And they would know her route.
Luke swung his legs over the side of the bed and planted his feet on the floor.
That walk was a long time to be alone when someone had taken an interest in you.
The thought made something hot and sick twist low in his gut.
He wasn’t assigned to her case.
He wasn’t welcome at her door.
She’d made that very clear.
But this?—
This was about her safety.
Luke rubbed a hand over his face.
She would be furious.
He accepted that.
Anger he could live with.
Grace in danger, that he couldn’t allow.
CHAPTER 19
Grace
Grace sawhim before she left the house.
