Tension coiled in every muscle as I came to a stop in front of the man who I knew to be Lance Wallace, if only because his gaze never left Ella the entire time I approached him. Crossing the warehouse, I had no awareness of our audience. My sole focus was the scum of the earth man standing there.

This man who got off on keeping Ella on edge, on scaring her, on trying to make her think he had some kind of hold on her. Cold fury was knotted in my chest. Stopping in front of him, I looked him up and down. He was the kind a guy most people couldn’t stand. He gave off an arrogant, shady vibe. He was thin and wiry, his eyes a flat brown.

Knowing he worked in academics, I sensed he thought he was above most people. Perhaps he was in intellect, but he was a fucking asshole, the kind of asshole who used his career as a cover.

I didn’t say a word. I just stared, standing close enough to force him to look at me. He was a coward. When he finally brought his eyes to me, I spoke.

“Leave Ella alone.”

His lips curled in a sneer. “Haven’t done anything to her. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“That doesn’t really matter. I know about your record. This isn’t your first rodeo trying to bully a woman into giving a shit about you.”

Lance barely even looked at me. His gaze honed in on Ella again. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw she was still in line. I needed to buy a few more minutes here. Just enough for the cops to arrive. I had no fucking clue what they planned to do as far as charges went.

“Don’t even step a foot in her direction, you hear me?” I asked

Lance flicked his eyes to me, annoyance there. “It doesn’t matter. Ella isn’t meant to be with an idiot like you. I looked you up. I know you’re her ex from high school and you saved her life in a car accident. You think that’s why she cares? That’s nothing. She needs someone like me, not some tough guy firefighter.”

My anger went from cold fury to red hot. Not because this asshole insulted me. Whatever. It was the way he spoke about Ella, as if he had some kind of right to her. Spinning that into what I knew he’d been putting her through—just enough to make her feel crazy, just enough to make her feel nervous everywhere she went, every time she left the house—I wasn’t thinking clearly.

I drew my arm back, intending frankly to drive my fist into the center of his sneering face. But then I heard Ella’s voice and felt her hand on my arm.

“Caleb,” she said, her tone low, quiet and controlled.

If anybody could’ve stopped me right that second, she was the only one. “Don’t make a scene,” she said.

Lance stared at her, a bitter laugh escaping. “See, she doesn’t like the whole tough guy act.”

Turning back to face him, I stepped closer. “You fucker,” I bit out.

Ella’s hand tightened on my arm, and she tugged. I didn’t know what the fuck she was doing, and honestly, I didn’t understand.

“Ella, let me take care of this.”

When she tugged on me again, the murmurs around us started to puncture the fuzz in my brain, my anger clearing just enough for me to remember we had quite an audience here at the store. At that moment, I heard feet moving quickly in our direction, footsteps striking against the concrete. Inside of a few seconds, two police officers were beside us with another hot on their heels. They glanced between us, one of them pausing to look to Ella.

“Ma’am? Ella Masters, I presume,” the officer said.

At Ella’s nod, the officer glanced from me to Lance, his gaze calculating. The other officer looked to me, nodding his chin to the wall nearby, indicating I should step back. I did not want to fucking step back. But Ella had her hand on my arm and was pulling me away.

We stood there and watched as the officers spoke to Lance. I couldn’t hear them, but next thing I knew, they were sliding cuffs on his wrists. His gaze barely changed. He walked away, looking over his shoulder, his eyes on Ella the whole time. The man was fucking crazy, and it made me sick. Ella stayed quiet beside me, but I could feel the tension emanating from her.

One of the officers approached us. “He’s being booked on charges of Second Degree Harassment. The DA will give you a call tomorrow,” he said, directing his attention between Ella and me.

“How much do you know about how long this has been going on?” I asked. I wanted to make sure this wasn’t going to be a catch and release situation.

“You must be Caleb Fox,” the officer said, offering his hand. “I’m Officer Turner.”

I shook his hand quickly and then arched a brow, expecting him to answer my question. He obliged. “Rex Masters has been keeping us up to date. One of our detectives has already lined up the charges if the guy ever came up here. Gotta say, we didn’t actually expect that to happen. So this was a lucky break.” He paused and looked to Ella. “Any questions ma’am?”

Her eyes bounced between us. “Not right now. I’d like to talk to the DA later,” she finally said. She looked agitated and weary.

Something felt off, but I didn’t have time to figure that out here in the middle of a busy grocery store with a police officer standing in front of us. “Can I get your number?” I asked before he turned away.

“Of course.” He recited it quickly and also handed us each a card with his name and contact information.

I looked to Ella who had crossed her arms, wrapping them tightly around her waist. She didn’t even look at me. She turned and walked quickly back to where our grocery cart was waiting unattended. It appeared she had asked the woman behind us to keep an eye on it.

“Thank you,” Ella was saying as I caught up with her.

The woman beside her, with bright eyes and a smile, glanced between us curiously. All she said was, “Of course. Is everything okay?”

Ella nodded tightly and curled her hands over the cart handle, pushing it forward slightly. I stepped into line beside her, glancing down only to see her eyes trained straight ahead. It was more than obvious that she was trying not to look at me.

“Ella?” I rested an elbow on the cart to lean closer to her. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes flicked to me and then away, dark and guarded. I expected her to be upset, even angry at Lance’s appearance here. “I just told you. I’m fine. I don’t want to talk about any of this in here,” she replied.

Uncertain what was going through her mind, I had enough sense to know now wasn’t a great time to try to talk about anything. So I straightened and waited at her side as we got through checking out. Curious glances were cast our way, not exactly a surprise.

I resisted the urge to call Rex for a status update. I didn’t want to make the call right now with Ella so clearly angry with me.

I slid my palm down her spine because I couldn’t help but touch her, feeling the tension thrumming through her. For a beat, I felt her relax slightly before tensing again.

We checked out and then we were walking out to my truck. She stayed quiet the whole way out. When we reached my trunk, she silently handed things over as I put them in the back under the cab. I was closing it when she turned away and walked swiftly to return the cart. She climbed in without a word when she returned.

I didn’t know what the hell was up with her, but it was stressing me out. Once I closed my door and we were in the privacy of my truck, I glanced over to her and turned sideways in my seat. “What’s going on Ella?”

She crossed her arms again, staring forward with her fingers rubbing the edge of her jacket, an old nervous habit of hers. My heart twisted sharply.

“You knew he might be here,” she finally said. “Why didn’t you say something?”

I silently swore. This was exactly what I’d been worried about.

She finally turned to face me, weary pain contained in her gaze. “You could’ve just told me. You guys didn’t have to come up with some ridiculous excuse for why you needed to be with me in Anchorage today. I would’ve wanted to come with you.”

“Ella…” I started to reach for one of her hands, and she shifted back on the seat, shaking her head.

I ran a hand through my hair with a ragged sigh. “Look, I get it. I didn’t want you to worry. He’s already put you through so much. We were worried you were going to insist on coming by yourself. I didn’t like it, but…” I paused, gathering my thoughts. Much as I could have considered shifting some of the blame for keeping this from her onto her father, I didn’t want to. I hadn’t wanted her to worry. “I’m sorry,” I finally said because there wasn’t much else to say.

She swallowed, the sound audible in the small space. She finally nodded and looked forward again. “Let’s just go.”

“Ella…” I started to stay, but she wouldn’t look at me. Something else was simmering under the surface with her, but I didn’t know what it was.

We drove home in silence. When I pulled up at her parents’ place, she practically leapt out of my truck. Before closing the door, she looked to me. “I think we should take a break.”

Pain bolted through me, and a flash of anger and old hurt rose inside. “You shut me out once before, but if that’s what you’re going to do again, there’s not a fucking thing I can do to stop you.”

I heard her breath hiss sharply, but right now I didn’t give a damn.