Chapter 29
Hannah
Every heavy beat of my heart hammered against my chest as I stepped out of my car and slammed the door.
Might as well tear off the band-aid now.
The chill of the night did nothing to ease my nerves as I opened the door and the silence in the house fell on my shoulders. It was the type of silence that warned of an incoming storm, one full of destruction. The house was empty, I realized, my eyes following the movement through the glass door that led to the backyard. Setting my purse down, I held myself together by wrapping my arms around my body and walked in that direction, getting a glimpse of Derek’s laughter as Evie said something.
Why did it feel like that laughter would soon disappear?
It felt like my life was about to fall apart and I didn’t know why.
Evie forced a smile in my direction when she saw me, but Nathan...he didn’t even bother looking at me. His hair was a mess, his lips were set in a tight line and his fingers furiously typed something on his phone. Derek, though, oblivious to the chaos about to unfold, approached me with the boyish smile he reserved only for me, pressing a kiss on my lips with no regard to the people around us. His hands fell to my arms, running them up and down my sleeves in a touch that was meant to comfort me.
“Are you cold?”
I shrugged, tilting my lips up slightly at the sound of his concern but ignored the question, instead asking my own directed to Evie and Nathan.
“Where are Lily and Noah?”
Evie opened her mouth but it was Nathan who answered. “They are with my mom.”
“How odd,” I replied.
Nathan scoffed, running a hand over his face and Evie lay a hand on his leg but I couldn’t feel sympathy, not when every cell in my body was on alert, ready to fight or flight.
“What’s going on?” Derek asked as he placed his hand on my back firmly...enough to remind me I wasn’t alone. Except I felt incredibly lonely.
For the first time in what felt forever, Nathan met my gaze. The gray eyes that usually shone with optimism, were dull. It seemed like he searched for the right words but he shook his head, as if he didn’t find them.
“The account for the gallery has been completely wiped.”
There was no accusation.
Just a simple fact.
All the money was gone.
An eerie sense of deja vu washed over me and I stepped away from Derek, afraid of what would happen next. Nathan sighed, scratching the back of his head before continuing.
“It was someone who knew the information to the accounts though because I received no alerts from the bank and the bank said they didn”t notice anything odd...not until it was too late.”
My hands formed into fists by my side, waiting for the impact of his accusation, but it never came.
“I know it wasn’t you,” Nathan said with a sad smile. “We both do,” he added as he took Evie’s hand. “But it had to be done with the help of someone close to us because otherwise there is no way someone could get access to the account with all the safety measures we have in place. Or it had to be the person who stole the laptop. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Kind of.
I wasn’t sure I understood anything anymore and I felt too weak to respond so I simply nodded.
“So what happened then? What did the bank say?” Derek broke his silence and approached me, though he didn’t touch me again and I didn’t want him to. Not when I could feel myself crumble with the pressure.
Nathan sighed, looking down at his hands once again, then reached into his laptop case, pulling out a large yellow envelope. Suddenly it felt like I couldn’t breathe, because the realization that there was more crashed into me head on with no mercy.
“Honestly, I don’t think the money disappearing is the worst part.” Nathan handed me the envelope. “I found this at the door this morning, but didn’t get a chance to open it until before I got here.” I held it in my hand much longer than I should have, until I could finally move. With shaky hands, I opened the envelope and though I braced myself for what I would see, I wasn’t ready for the impact.
I found myself holding pictures of myself...pictures from the start of my pregnancy to our return from Colorado just two days before. I swallowed thickly as I looked at each picture, photographs in which I’m clueless that I was being followed, photographs of my life for the past year.
Derek stood next to me and though I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel the fury in his eyes as he realized what had been happening. Behind all the pictures was a single note. One that sent a chill down my spine when I realized that everything that had happened in the last hours hadn’t been a coincidence.
I’m glad to see you’re still in the game. I hope you’re ready to play.
“What the fuck is that supposed mean?” Derek seethed, taking the note from my hands. “Who the fuck did this?”
Evie cleared her throat, her voice cautious when she spoke.
“We have no idea...” She took a deep breath, offering only the glimpse of a smile, one full of sadness...maybe pity. “When Hannah was running the company...there’s a lot of people that were disgruntled...”
I scoffed, shaking my head. “I made a lot of enemies is what you’re trying to say, so who the hell knows who, out of all the people I screwed over, could have done this.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“That’s what you’re implying and you’re absolutely right.”
Derek looked from me to Evie, and then to Nathan. “You understand that’s not what matters here? The problem is that she is being stalked. Someone has been keeping track of her every goddamn movement for over a year...it doesn’t matter who the hell it is. It needs to stop.”
I could breathe a little easier when I heard him speak, knowing he was worried about protecting me. But the reality of my past always following me, hurt. The aching pain in my chest increased with every passing second knowing that my family would always be at risk because of who I’d been and what I had done.
The people I”d hurt only knew my past.
They didn’t know what I had been through.
They didn’t know how much I hurt.
I would always be the dark cloud that followed the people I loved.
My girls.
I held back tears at the thought of their future being determined by my decisions, by my mistakes and I turned around, hoping I could hold it together before they noticed I was about to have a breakdown.
They all talked, Derek full of anger and worry and Nathan and Evie convinced that the route to take was to hire a private investigator. Deep down I knew it wouldn’t matter.
Whoever it was wouldn’t stop until they had what they wanted: me.
My pain and my regret.
That’s all that could possibly interest them.
“I need to go,” I managed to say. Everyone stopped talking, the silence once again making it hard for me to breathe. I felt Derek’s hands on my shoulders as he turned me around, his green eyes dark with anger and frustration.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said. “It’ll be okay.”
I rolled my eyes, wiping away the tears I couldn’t hold back.
“No, it won’t. We all know it won’t be okay.”
Evie opened her mouth to speak but I didn’t let her, wiggling my way out of Derek’s arms. “It doesn’t matter what we do. Everyone here knows I’m far from innocent, that’s the reason we’re all gathered. Because Nathan and Evie, deep down you knew, you fucking knew this had everything to do with me.”
Nathan offered me a smile, one that finally met his eyes.
The same smile he had given me over a year ago as I lay in a hospital bed.
“Yes, you made a lot of mistakes. But what other people do is not your responsibility.”
“Maybe not, but that’s the problem. It will always come back to what I did.” A broken sob left my lips and I took a step back before Derek could try to hold me, because if he did, I wouldn’t be able to walk away. “We all know that as long as I’m around, everyone in my family, everyone close to me will end up hurting in some way or another and I can’t handle that.”
Evie’s eyes filled with fear. I could feel it, I could hear it when she spoke. “Don’t say that. It’s not true.”
The silence between us was heavy, laced with their denial and my acceptance.
“I’m going to go.” Evie stood up quickly, and I could tell she was about to jump in to go with me, but I raised my hand to stop her. “Do not follow me.”
“Hannah--”
“No. I need to be alone. Do not follow me or I won’t talk to you again.”
“Let her go,” Nathan said.
It was my fault she was scared. It was always my fault, but I needed to be alone to gather my thoughts, even if that meant her being afraid I would do something crazy.
Derek gave me a single nod, understanding what I needed and with that, I left...hoping being alone would give me a chance to figure it out.
Because I had to.
This couldn’t keep happening to the people I loved.
I wouldn’t let it.