Chapter 30
“Are you nervous?”
Yes. “No.”
Polly shot her a glance from behind the wheel. “Liar.”
“I was so confident last night. After Ethan put Jay in her place, I knew I needed to do the same thing with Lilith. For closure, you know? And so that she understands she can’t speak to me like I’m dirt under her shoe.
But now that we’re almost there… I don’t know.
I think I’m scared.” There was no thinking about it. She was scared.
“Why?”
“She’s always had this hold on me. Maybe because she took me in when I was so young and vulnerable. I needed someone to love me. That someone was supposed to be her. But she never did.”
“If you want, I’ll wait for you to finish telling her what a horrible bitch she is, then I’ll kick her in the shin.”
Maggie grinned. “As appealing as that sounds, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Okay. Then I’ll pin her down while you take a few swings.”
“Again, super tempting, but I don’t want to resort to physical assault.”
“It always makes me feel better.”
“And,” Maggie continued, ignoring her friend because Polly had never assaulted another human in her life, “I’d like you to wait in the car.”
“What? And miss out on your aunt being put in her place?”
“Please, Polly. I love you, and I know you love me. Exactly why you’ll jump in and save me the second she throws her first grenade. But I need to do this myself.”
Polly huffed. “Fine. I’ll impatiently wait for you to report back.”
“Good.”
They pulled up in front of Lilith’s house, and her chest immediately felt tight. The kind of tight that made breathing hurt.
It would be fine. This would be like therapy.
Polly squeezed her thigh. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” She climbed out and crossed to the front door, every step feeling a bit harder.
You’ve got this, Maggie.
It took a few seconds to lift her hand to knock, but before her fist hit wood, the door yanked open.
“I saw you on the Ring camera,” Lilith said before Maggie could get a word in. “I was scared you’d break in again, so thought I’d just save you the hassle and come to the door.”
Well, hello to you too. “You said you had some things of mine?”
“Eleven years, Maggie. I’ve had your things for eleven years. I’m not a storage unit.” Lilith stepped back. “Well, come on.”
Maggie stepped inside but didn’t close the door and didn’t move past the hall.
Lilith frowned at her. “You’re staying there?”
“Yes.”
Her aunt huffed. “Guess I’ll go get it, like the servant you think I am.”
When Lilith left, Maggie glanced up at the photos above the staircase, her gaze catching on her mother’s picture, like it always did. She was young in the photo. Maybe sixteen. But the joy in her eyes—God, it was everything. She missed that smile.
Lilith returned with a closed box. “Here. Photos. Jewelry. A couple of stuffed toys.”
Maggie took the box. “Thank you.”
“I should have thrown it out. I’m not sure why I didn’t.”
“Because you loved my mother and my mother is a part of me.”
Lilith’s brows flickered. “Perhaps.”
“Before I go, I need you to know something. My mother didn’t kill herself. She wouldn’t have done that. I know that with absolute certainty. She was happy. And she loved being my mom. She was my best friend, and she never would have left me like that.”
“Then how do you explain her death?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” She swallowed, taking a deep breath before saying the next part. “But regardless of what caused my mother’s death, you were wrong to treat me the way you did.”
“I—”
“No. I’m speaking.”
Her aunt took a step back, shock plastered on her face.
“You never even tried to love me. You took me in out of duty, then treated me like this wasn’t my home and I wasn’t your child and I was a problem that couldn’t be solved.
I was hurting. I was going through the loss of the only person who’d ever loved me.
And you did everything possible to make it worse, just because you could. ”
A bit of color drained from her aunt’s face.
“I can’t change the person you chose to be,” Maggie said.
“But I need you to know that you can’t hurt me anymore.
Your words. The way you look at me. All of that’s on you, and you have to live with that.
I’ve found love and happiness despite you doing everything possible to make sure it didn’t happen. ”
For the first time ever, Lilith was silent. She didn’t say one word. And it wasn’t hate or annoyance on her face. It was shock and maybe a bit of guilt. But it was possible the latter was in Maggie’s head.
With the box on her hip, she turned and stepped out of the house, pulling the door closed behind her.
It was strange, but she actually felt lighter. Like her connection to Lilith had been this invisible weight on her shoulders, and she’d just set it down and left it right there in her aunt’s doorway.
She was halfway down the path when she noticed a woman leaning into Polly’s open window.
Maggie frowned. Nel?
She stopped behind her. “What are you—”
Nel spun and gasped, colliding with Maggie. Both the box and Nel’s handbag dropped to the ground.
Thankfully, the box remained closed, but the contents of the big purse spilled everywhere.
Maggie lowered to the ground and helped Nel put everything back into the bag.
“What are you doing here?” Maggie asked.
“I was just passing and saw Polly sitting in the car.”
Why did she sound nervous?
On Maggie’s next inhale, she realized Nel smelled familiar. Not like familiar perfume, more like…bodywash? The same peach scent that Maggie used.
When she lifted and turned over a tablet that had fallen from the bag, her hand froze.
It was her tablet. The one she hadn’t taken out of her packed boxes yet. And it was open to Facebook Messenger…with Ethan’s name right there.
Her skin turned to ice—and she looked up just as Nel pointed a gun right at her face.
The air in Maggie’s lungs froze. “Nel…what are you doing?”
“You’re going to leave that box in Polly’s car, then walk down the street to my blue Hyundai Kona.”
Her heart began to thump, her gaze going to the car, then back to Nel. “What about Polly?”
“Just do it. I don’t want to shoot you, Maggie, but I will.”
She swallowed, lifting the box as Nel picked up her bag, then they both rose.
Maggie’s lungs seized at the sight of Polly hunched over her wheel. “What did you do to her?”
“Move. She’s not dead, but mess with me and she will be.”
She didn’t want to leave her best friend, but the way Nel said it, Maggie believed her.
The last thing she saw was a folded piece of paper on Polly’s dashboard before walking down the street. Nel walked so close that the muzzle of the gun pressed firmly into Maggie’s side, making her heart beat that much faster.
What the hell was going on? All of the stuff that had happened to her, the stalker, the missing things—was all of that Nel?
They reached the Hyundai, and when Maggie tried to stop by the door, Nel jabbed the gun harder into her side. “Keep going.”
Dread pulled at her limbs as she continued to move, finally stopping at Nel’s trunk.
“Nel,” she tried, a shake in her voice. “Come on. Let’s talk about this.”
Nel popped the trunk open.
The gun disappeared from her back—and Maggie reacted on instinct, turning and throwing an elbow into Nel’s midsection.
She grunted, but before Maggie could run, Nel pistol-whipped her with the barrel of the gun, causing Maggie to fall forward into the trunk.
Ethan sped toward Lilith’s house. Maggie wasn’t answering her cell. And neither was Polly.
Worst-case scenarios were spiraling through his head, and fuck, he couldn’t stop them.
Had something happened? Was her aunt involved in this just as Nel was?
Nel. Jesus. He’d done a background check on so many people in this town, but not her. Why?
But he knew the answer to that. Because she hadn’t crossed his mind as being a possible threat. Not once.
She’d crossed Jay’s mind though. And what Jay had found was so fucking shocking that Ethan could still barely wrap his head around it.
A restraining order. Dismissed misdemeanor charges. Documented mental health episodes. The list was endless.
Nel’s full name was Janelle. J—just like every fake account that was created to follow and harass Maggie.
Jay’s research had also revealed that, while living in Bozeman, Nel had become obsessed with a woman. So much so that she’d begun to stalk her life on social media. Nel had learned where the woman lived, then taken things from her home, including photos. Sent the woman messages from fake accounts.
There’d been no jail time though, just a temporary restraining order that had later been extended to a two-year civil protection order.
The misdemeanor trespassing and harassment charges were filed but dismissed in exchange for six months of court-mandated therapy, a no-contact agreement and proof of mental health treatment compliance.
After that, Nel moved back here. And outwardly, she’d seemed fine. Kept a low profile. No one had suspected a thing.
But everything she’d done to the woman in Bozeman matched what had been done to Maggie. It was her. It had to be her.
Was that why she’d dated Ethan? Because she knew Maggie had dated him?
He turned onto Lilith’s street at the same time Joel pulled in from the other end.
Joel got there first, jumping out of his car and racing to Polly’s vehicle.
Ethan arrived in time to hear Joel curse before opening the driver’s-side door and crouching beside Polly. The woman was hunched over the wheel, unmoving.
Joel touched her pulse. “She’s alive.”
More people pulled up on the street. Ryan. Connor. Zac. His entire team was here.
Zac helped Joel with Polly as Ethan’s gaze caught on something inside the car.
A folded piece of paper on the dashboard.
He moved to the passenger side and grabbed it, quickly scanning the writing.
Polly, I’m so sorry for Tasering you, but I knew if I didn’t, you wouldn’t let me leave. You wouldn’t let me do what I need to do. This town, my aunt, it’s suffocating me. Thank you for being a good friend. Maggie.
He studied the handwriting. At first glance, it looked like Maggie’s. But it also didn’t. The letters weren’t quite as smooth. Like someone had written this too slowly. Too carefully. Maybe with a slight shake in their fingers.
“She was Tasered,” Ethan called to the guys.
“Then knocked out.” Joel lifted Polly against his chest. “I’m taking her to the hospital.”
“I’ll come with you,” Zac said.
Joel and Zac rushed to his truck, while Ethan raced up the path to Lilith’s house, Ryan and Connor not far behind.
He banged on the door, patience so fucking low he didn’t stop knocking until the door opened.
“Ethan.” Lilith’s fingers were white around the doorframe. “What is the meaning of this?”
“I need to see your camera footage.”
Lilith’s head reared back. “Excuse me?”
“Maggie’s gone. She was taken outside your home.”
Lilith gasped, hand going to her chest. “Taken?”
“The footage, Lilith!”
She jumped at the volume of Ethan’s voice, then scrambled around, grabbing her cell from the side table and tapping a few things on the screen.
“I don’t know why you think she could have been kidnapped from outside my house. It’s not even a possi—” She stopped, eyes widening. “Oh my gosh.”
Ethan grabbed the phone from her fingers. The guys watched over his shoulder as he went back a bit in the footage. That’s when he saw it. Nel leaned into Polly’s car, a Taser in hand. A second later, Maggie approached. The two collided before Maggie helped her with her things on the ground.
He wanted to leap into the fucking camera and go back in time. Protect Maggie.
But he couldn’t. Instead, his nightmare played out in front of him as Nel pointed a gun at Maggie.
One of the guys cursed behind him. Ethan didn’t make a sound. All he could do was watch as the woman he loved was taken.
“Nel has her.” Ethan whispered the words out loud, as if he needed to hear them to help him believe it. “We have to find her before Nel hurts her.” Because she would. She’d escalated so severely that there was no coming back from this point.