Chapter 2
Palm Beach
Florida
Jenifer D’Angelo startled awake with a gasp, bolting upright. Eyes on the baby, then darting across her room, she sat for a moment and let her breath slow—until she realized it was something besides her normal anxiety that had awoken her. She stiffened; lights in the driveway.
She tapped her phone and saw ten missed calls from her dad, and a few—strangely—from Samantha Gilchrist. Wow, she thought.
Sam. This must be serious. Jenny hadn’t spoken with Sam since, well, since before she’d run into Stan in Palm Beach the spring before last. Her dad must have reached out to her old friend, which meant that something big was up.
With no time to go there, Jenny focused on the emergency at hand, jumping quickly from her bed and going first for the baby.
She’d never known how much she could love something, or someone, until she found out she was pregnant.
Little Hayden was the best thing that had ever happened to her; she loved how warm he always felt, and his small, but comforting weight against her chest.
Now, she settled him into the crook of her neck and brushed her lips across his soft little head as she waved her free hand in front of the artwork that hung between his crib and her bed.
Silently, the secret compartment behind it opened, and Jenny grabbed her gun.
Best purchase she’d ever made. The artwork, that is.
She’d had a hidden box recessed into the wall, and the painting lay flush in front of it, working like a charm to hide the weapon she wasn’t thrilled about the need to keep, anyway.
She’d spent days at the shooting range trying out every pistol available until she got comfortable enough with one of them to make the purchase. It was only a slight consolation that it was the safest of the lot, even with a chambered bullet.
Jenny hated to admit it, but she’d gotten the gun to quell her nagging fear that her ex-husband, John, was looking for payback.
And she knew from her instructor’s drilling that the seconds it took to insert the magazine, and chamber the first round, could mean the difference between life and death.
Jenny hated the gun, but she was determined to be prepared, and it made her feel like she had a fighting chance.
At the very least, he’d never be able to force her into another vehicle again.
Cradling Hayden in one arm, she used the muzzle of the gun to pull back the drapes. Jenny’s TV cop impersonation surprised even her, but when she saw two SUVs idling on the street, she was grateful she was ready. In an instant, she decided that whatever was going on, she wasn’t waiting upstairs.
Stand and fight, or cave.
She would not cave.
She crossed the foyer, glancing at the lights on the alarm pad, which still blinked “Armed,” meaning no one had tried to enter.
Hmm. Maybe she was overreacting. The SUVs could easily be waiting to pick up a client, be a car service called for an early-morning flight, or be dropping someone off after a late night out.
Still, suspicion prickled Jenny’s neck. A feeling that was validated when she peered out the glass of her front doors to get a better look and saw two more SUVs pull into her drive and circle the fountain. It was go time.
“Alexa—dial nine-one-one,” she commanded, keeping her voice low. Unable to see through the tinted windows of the SUVs in her drive, Jenny started backing away from her door, just as she heard the dispatcher greet her through her Alexa speaker.
“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“My name is Jenifer D’Angelo, I’m alone with my six-month-old son. I think my ex-husband found me. I’m armed. I have a baby.”
“Dispatching officers now, Ms. D’Angelo.”
Come and get me, you dirtbag. Your days of messing with me are over.