21. Chapter Twenty-one
The next two weeks flew by for Katie. She took Megan up on her offer to help create a website and worked earnestly to get her business going. She even repaired some pieces Amanda had tried to ruin.
While she knew she would eventually have to look for a new apartment, she let it rest for now. And even though the friction between her and Drew had lasted for a couple of days, things were back to normal. They spoke daily, and he seemed supportive of her decisions for the time being.
Just after lunch on a Wednesday afternoon, she busied herself in the sewing room. She had to figure out how to organize Grandma’s things along with everything she had brought from her apartment. Admittedly, she wasn’t always the neatest person with her workspace, but she wanted to be more efficient.
She reached for a bolt of fabric, but a quiet noise caught her attention. It sounded like the screen door opening. She frowned and looked over at her sewing chair, where O’Malley was sleeping. The only ones she could ever imagine entering the cottage without knocking were one of the Harts, but not even Ethan had ever done that.
A cold apprehension prickled along her arms. She tried to convince herself it was nothing but stepped hesitantly into the living room. Her heart collided with her ribcage before rocketing into her throat. Grant stood in the kitchen.
“I’m just here to talk.” His pacifying tone did nothing to calm the adrenaline that surged through her veins.
Katie took a shaky step back and snatched her phone from her pocket. She wavered for half a second before pulling up her latest text with Ethan. Grant would never let it ring long enough to call him. His footsteps thumped across the room as she typed out a rapid text. She shut the phone off just as he reached her. Grabbing her arm, he yanked it away and tossed it onto the couch.
“I said I just wanted to talk.” He ground the words through his teeth this time, and ice encased her body.
Had she even pressed send before shutting the phone off? She prayed she had. She could yell for help, but what were the chances anyone would hear?
Grant’s fingers dug into her wrist, flashing her mind back to when he’d broken it.
Gulping, Katie forced strength to her voice. “Let go of me.”
“Not until you calm down.”
Katie shook her head and glared up at him. She tried to tug her arm away, but his grip did not loosen. “You are not welcome here. Get out of my house.”
Anger kindled in his eyes now. She could see it as clearly as when she was a child cowering away from him.
He leaned over her. “This house belongs to your mother too.”
She swallowed hard and forced her voice to work even though her breath shuddered in her chest. “No, it doesn’t. Grandma left it to me.”
His voice lowered dangerously. “I’m not leaving until this matter is settled.”
And by settled, he meant until she agreed to his demands. Memories of pain and terror almost suffocated her, yet despite the way her knees shook, she forced her shoulders back as she held his menacing gaze. She was done cowering.
Ethan set aside his sander and ran his hand over the smooth arm of the swing. The red one had turned out just like he’d hoped. Now, he just had to finish this one. His phone chimed from where it lay on a nearby bench. He didn’t have different ringtones for everyone on his contact list, but he had picked a unique one for Katie. Maybe that had been a bad idea, considering how his heart reacted whenever he got a text from her, even though he’d spent the last two weeks fighting to tamp down his feelings.
He walked over to the bench and picked up his phone. A one-word text showed up beneath Katie’s name.
Help.
Cold seized his chest. She would never send that kind of text without actual cause. He spun around and ran toward the cottage. Had she just texted, or had he missed the first notification? Dread pounded in his blood, and he couldn’t reach the cottage fast enough.
Finally, he rounded the corner, but the sight of the BMW in the driveway socked the air from his lungs. Yanking open the screen door, he rushed into the porch and called Katie’s name. She and Grant stood in the living room. Grant had his hand locked around her wrist, the scene far too closely resembling that day in the church parking lot. All the anger and hatred of the past burst through him.
“Take your hands off her.”
Grant released her wrist and raised his hands as if to appear harmless. Katie scrambled away from him toward Ethan. He reached for her and grabbed her shoulders, looking her over for any signs of pain or injury.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, the motion jerky. The horror in her eyes was enough to boil his blood. He reluctantly let her go and put himself between her and Grant.
“We were just having a discussion.” The man dared to sound as if it were no big deal.
“You have nothing to discuss with her.” Ethan barely restrained the fury pulsing inside him. He had tried being civil. It hadn’t worked.
He took three deliberate steps toward Grant. Despite the man having a couple of inches on Ethan and enough bulk to deal some damage, Grant backed up a step, his posture shrinking. Completely the opposite of their confrontation fifteen years ago.
Ethan scoffed. “What’s the matter? Not so tough now that I’m not a kid you can threaten and throw off your property? You’ll only terrorize those who can’t fight back?” He pointed his finger in Grant’s face. “You might have gotten away with years of abuse, but you better believe I’ll make sure assault and trespassing charges stick if you don’t walk out that door right now and never set foot on this property again.”
Grant opened his mouth to say something, his chest puffing out, but Ethan wouldn’t have it. “And if you feel like trying to throw your legal weight around, just remember the Hart name is well respected in this town. My whole family knows what you did to her. Two Lakes is a tight-knit community, and Ruby Lachlan was a beloved member of it. People won’t take kindly to you harassing her granddaughter, never mind what you did to her as a child. So unless you want me to air every one of your dirty secrets, you’ll leave town and never show your face around here again. I mean it. If I even catch a glimpse of what I think might be your car, everyone will know what you’ve done.”
Grant scowled at him, but uncertainty had crept into his expression. After a final moment of stubbornness, he slunk out of the cottage.
The second he was out the door, Ethan turned back to Katie. She had her arms wrapped around herself and was visibly shaking. She stared at him with wide eyes, her face as white as the dishtowel behind her. A fresh wave of fury and worry crashed through him. He hurried back to her and laid his hands on her shoulders again, searching her eyes.
“Did he hurt you?” Because if he did, all bets were off. The whole town would know about it by nightfall, and Ethan would make sure Grant was arrested.
But again, Katie shook her head. Tears welled in her eyes, and she was breathing much too rapidly, just like after the meeting with her grandma’s attorney. He drew her closer, and she fell into his arms, clinging to him like a life preserver. He held her tightly, his own breaths labored.
“He’s gone. You’re safe now,” he murmured in her ear.
Irregular, choked sobs shuddered through her. She was fighting so hard to be strong, and it broke his heart. She should not have to go through this. He kept telling her she was safe, trying to calm her. Once she regained some composure, he guided her to the couch and knelt before her. He reached for her hand, and she gripped him in both hers, still holding onto him like a lifeline. Though tears no longer fell, her breathing remained elevated. It devastated him to see her like this. He should have done more to keep her safe.
“What happened? How did he get in here?”
She licked her lips and swallowed hard, her voice wavering. “H-he just walked in without knocking. When I saw him in the kitchen, I texted you. I wasn’t sure if I sent it before he grabbed my phone.”
Ethan squeezed her hand. “You did.” Thank God. If he hadn’t gotten here when he did, he shuddered to think of what might have happened. He hadn’t thought Grant was so brazen that he’d assault Katie now as an adult, but all the evidence said otherwise.
Movement drew Ethan’s gaze to the sewing room doorway, where O’Malley watched them. The cat calmed Katie the last time Grant showed up. Maybe he could this time too. Ethan gently removed his hand from Katie’s grasp. He walked over to O’Malley and picked him up before depositing him in her lap.
The barest hint of a smile ghosted across her lips, and she hugged the cat to her chest as Ethan sat beside her. Thankfully, the animal had the intended effect, and Katie’s breathing calmed.
After a few minutes, Ethan asked, “Do you want me to call the police?” He’d happily do so.
Katie didn’t answer immediately. Did her hesitancy come from a lingering fear from her childhood over what would happen if she spoke up?
Finally, she shook her head. “What would he even be charged with?”
Trespassing would be a good start. Hopefully, much more, considering he’d put his hands on her and forcibly taken her phone. But would it result in anything more than a restraining order? Probably not, especially if he had any connections or powerful legal allies.
She looked at him, her eyes no longer flashing with fear and her skin a more normal shade. “I think what you said was enough to scare him away for good this time. I doubt he’d risk coming back out here. You know too much and aren’t afraid to talk. He only came because he thinks I’m still an easy target and won’t fight back. He’s too much of a coward to go up against someone he can’t intimidate.”
She was probably right, though part of Ethan still wanted to involve the law after all these years. Grant deserved to have his world blown apart. But those were just vengeful thoughts at this point.
They sat silently for another minute or two as Katie stroked the cat. Then Ethan caught her brows wrinkling before she turned to him again. “What did you mean by what you said to him? About threatening you and throwing you off the property?”
Ethan pulled in a long breath. That’s right. He had said that. In the heat of the moment, he hadn’t even realized. Only his family and Adam knew what had happened that fateful day. He’d known deep down that he needed to tell her, but it was still hard. He rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat.
“Just before you moved, I went to your house and confronted Grant. I…I told him if he ever hurt you again, I would tell everyone what he was doing. He basically threatened to beat me to within an inch of my life if I didn’t get off the property and keep my mouth shut.”
Katie’s eyes rounded. It was hard to guess what she might be thinking, and his stomach formed a tight, burning knot because the result of his actions was a burden he’d had to carry for the last decade and a half. What would she think once she understood the consequences of what he’d done?
“I had every intention of going through with it, but then you left. That’s when I realized…” He swallowed hard, pain digging into his chest. “I was the reason you had to move. I’m so sorry. I should have told you sooner. I’ve never been able to forgive myself for that.”
He’d tried to protect her, but instead, it had caused him to lose her and made her life so much worse. She had every right to blame him for the misery she’d endured the last fifteen years. If he’d just talked to someone instead of taking matters into his own hands, she might have stayed here in Two Lakes, and their lives would have looked entirely different.
He hung his head. “I’m sorry.” It was all he could say, though it couldn’t fix the past.
“Ethan, it’s not your fault.” Her voice was soft but earnest.
“I’m the one who backed him into a corner.”
“You were barely fifteen. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen. You were trying to help me. I could never blame you for that. Besides, Grant was having trouble at the firm where he worked, so maybe what you did caused us to leave sooner than we would have otherwise, but I think it would have happened regardless. I heard my mom mention California at least a few weeks before moving. You weren’t the reason we left.”
Ethan’s breath left his lungs in a heavy sigh. Fifteen years, he’d carried around the self-blame. He’d known he shouldn’t, but he hadn’t been able to shake it. Far too often, he’d imagined how Katie might blame him if she knew and to what extent his actions had hurt her. Now that the truth had lifted that weight, he wasn’t even sure how to feel. Part of him still thought he should share the blame after acting so rashly as a kid, but that was wrong. Katie didn’t blame him, so he needed to let it go.
She reached for his hand again, her gentle smile settling the intense emotions he’d struggled with. “I can’t believe you did that for me. It must have been terrifying.”
Ethan’s mind slipped back to that day. He’d been too worried about her to experience any fear for himself, even when Grant had threatened him. He’d been foolish, but all he’d wanted was to protect her. “You’ve always been my best friend. I’d do anything for you.”
“You’re my best friend too. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend over the years and it took this long to get back in touch.”
“Don’t be. You have nothing to be sorry for.”
She squeezed his hand. “Neither do you.”