My phone rang. “It’s him.” I showed them the phone and then answered, putting it on speaker.
“What’s taking you so long?” He sounded agitated. “Don’t you know that you’re on a deadline?”
“I came here to grab the money and then come to you. I’ll be there in forty minutes.”
Caleb snatched the phone from me. “I’m coming with her. Someone needs to drive the children home while you get your money.Plus, she told us about you.” He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, “And since you wantherto sort out your issues?—”
“Wow! The love died quickly after she told you about me,” Jeremy sniggered on the phone. “No, she needs to come alone. Just her, or else?—”
Sandra grabbed the phone. “It will be her,onlyher.”
“Make no mistake, Mrs. Evans, if I so much as hear a rustle or the slightest whiff of someone else, you will be responsible for what will happen next.” He hung up.
“I’m not letting you go alone,” Caleb said, holding me firmly by the shoulders.
I looked up at him and placed my hand on his chest. “I’ll be fine. I’ll take care of this. This is my mess and my mistake, so I will clean it up. I won’t let anything happen to the girls. I promise.”
I saw the bags of money on the counter. Everyone followed me to the car as I grabbed one bag, and Caleb grabbed the other. His family watched as we put both bags in the trunk.
Sandra walked up to me. “I’m sorry about what I said before,” she said, sniffling. “Please... just get my girls back.”
I promised her I would and hugged her. I went to open the door of the car, but Caleb stopped me.
“Come back to me, Nyah!” he whispered. It wasn’t a request, but a plea. “Promise me,” he said.
I nodded ever so slightly, hoping I wouldn’t break that promise. The pain of his betrayal still bothered me.
But seeing him defend me against his family—against his mother—raised questions in my mind.
Can the trust between us be rebuilt?
Can we go back to how we were?
I looked at him, trying to present myself as strong as I could, but I felt so weak inside as I sat in the car, dreading what was to come.
In the rear-view mirror, after I got into the car, I could see everyone I cared about, including the man I loved, as I drove off toward the person I hated the most.
42
NYAH
Driving toward Mount Seymour Provincial Park, I used my burner phone and messaged Alex the location. My fingers clutched the phone as I typed. He’d warned me not to call in case the car was bugged, and I obeyed, even though every instinct screamed to hear another human voice. Seconds later, his reply came through—he had tracked the GPS on my car and was now following me.
Good. Stay close. Please stay close.
Half an hour later, while I was on the Trans-Canada Highway, my phone rang.
“I see you’re fifteen minutes away,” Jeremy said.
My heart dropped straight into my stomach.Son of a bitch. How did he know?Alex had swept the car for bugs and found nothing. I had watched him do it myself, methodical and thorough. That meant Jeremy must have installed one recently. The thought made my skin crawl. I silently thanked Alex for his precautionary advice.
“There is a cabin inside the park,” Jeremy continued. “I’m sending you the exact location. Follow it.”
The call ended.
I exited Main Street and kept driving. When I reached the park, Icrossed Lynn Creek and passed the main picnic area, forcing myself not to look around like I was already being hunted. I drove deeper into the park, trees closing in on both sides, until a clearing appeared ahead.
A wooden cabin sat about a hundred feet away.It was rustic—a log cabin that looked almost peaceful. A quaint little cottage in the middle of nowhere, the kind of place people would call charming. The kind of place no one would hear screams from.
