Chapter 38 - Zach

His eyes slide over me and I almost shiver. There’s nothing in them - no emotion, no anger, no fear. He’s completely dead behind the eyes. He makes me just as uncomfortable as he did at the Christmas party.

“What are you doing here?”

He holds up his hand and something glints. I frown, but stay rooted in place. I don’t want to get any closer, and I’d prefer it if he stopped leaning against my car. I’d prefer it if he disappeared forever and never came anywhere near me or Harper, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.

“I could ask you the same thing. I told you to stay away,” he growls as he holds up the item a little bit higher. I stare at it until I finally realise what it is.

“Harper’s ring.”

“Harper’s ring!” He shouts. “That I gave to YOU as a warning, and now I find it on her finger?”

“So it was you who sent it to me,” I say.

“Harper and I belong together. Everyone wants to tear us apart but I won’t let that happen. We belong together.”

His chest is heaving up and down as he stares at me, his eyes darting back and forth. He’s obsessed with her. Does he know about the baby? The thought of this man being anywhere near Harper and my child makes my blood turn to ice.

“Where’s Harper?”

“She’s at home,” he replies. An eery grin appears on his face. “She’s in bed!”

His face terrifies me. Harper is in danger. My heart starts pounding in my chest and I try to reach into my pocket slowly. I need to call the police.

“I swear to God, Greg, if you touched one hair on her fucking head I’ll kill you myself,” I growl.

Greg ignores me. “I told you to stay away from her. We belong together. You people keep trying to tear us apart!” His eyes are becoming wilder with every second.

“Who’s trying to tear you apart?”

“You, stealing her away from me. That bitch Rosie always whispering in her ear about me, poisoning Harper’s mind. You all just want to keep us away from each other. We BELONG together!”

“She doesn’t want to be with you,” I say as calmly as I can manage. My whole body is trembling. My fingers have found my phone in my pocket but I can’t remember how to dial emergency without looking at it.

“You’re lying!” He yells as he pushes himself off the car, taking a step towards me. I put my hand up defensively, flowers in one hand and phone in the other.

“Stay back.”

“Or what,” he snarls. “I warned you. I warned you to stay away from her.”

“Since when do you have jurisdiction over Harper? Since you fucking terrorised her last year?”

“Terrorised her!?” His eyes widen and I see they’re not dead anymore. They’re alive with fury. “I terrorised her?? It was that bitch Rosie, I just told you. She twisted Harper’s mind and made her hate me. She was going to be my girlfriend! We were going to get married!”

I say nothing as I watch the spit flying out of his mouth with every word. He doesn’t bother to wipe it off his lips where it lands, only stares at me as he thrusts Harper’s ring towards me.

“And now Rosie has poisoned you too. She’s convinced you to go after Harper just to take her away from me.”

I feel my brows knit together. Rosie? Why does he have such a vendetta against her?

“Rosie has nothing to do with this,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Rosie has everything to do with this!” He yells. He takes another step towards me and puts the ring into his pocket and then reaches for something in the same pocket. My blood is thick in my veins as I watch him. I hold up the flowers defensively and wish I had something better to protect myself with. Finally I’m able to press the emergency button on my phone before slipping it back into my pocket. I keep my eyes on Greg.

“Where’s Harper?”

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

“That’s not what I asked, Greg. Where is she?”

“I said she doesn’t want to see you!”

His eyes are practically popping out of his head. The veins on his neck are pulsing with every heartbeat and his chest is heaving up and down. His eyes are darting back and forth from me to the stairs to the street. I want to do the same, to look around and see what my options are but I can’t risk looking away from him. He’s completely unpredictable. Why is there no one on this street?! Usually New York has throngs of people and now it’s deserted??

Greg Chesney looks back at me. His hand is still in his pocket and his eyes get darker.

“I saw you,” he says. His voice passes through my chest and makes my whole body grow colder. “I saw you at the Christmas party. You stole her from me.”

“She came to me,” I say, my hands still up. “She came to me.”

“She would never do that! She’s pure. She’s MINE!”

He lunges towards me, finally pulling his hand out of his pocket. I see a glint of steel as he rushes towards me, just seeing the knife come down on my chest at the last moment. His body collides with mine and I fall backwards. Pain shoots through my chest and I feel the knife press into my flesh like a hot blade through butter.

Greg’s eyes are inches from mine and feel his breath on my face like hot garbage. I try to push him off but I can’t move my arm. Suddenly everything feels heavy and I see a dark puddle growing next to me. It looks black until my eyes adjust a second later.

Blood.

My blood.

The last thing I see is Greg’s arm coming down on my face and sending an explosion of pain through my temple.