Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jenna

It felt good to smell the familiar scent of coffee when I walked into Carla’s coffee shop a few days later. It had been a week since the fire, and apart from a couple of visits to Nate, I hadn’t left the townhouse.

I couldn’t relax. I constantly felt on edge. I just had this feeling that Victor wasn’t done with me, and it was keeping me from getting on with my life again. My physical injuries had been few, and I’d recovered from those, but the emotional trauma was harder to overcome. I was growing more paranoid by the day.

One day, I knew, Victor would turn up again, but I didn’t know where, and I didn’t know when. It meant that every single moment of my life was spent in terror. Every little movement out of the corner of my eye made me jump. I kept waking in the night thinking that I could smell smoke. My whole life had become nothing more than looking over my shoulder.

At least Carla’s coffee shop was somewhere familiar and safe where I could rest a while. Carla greeted me when I arrived with a huge, warm hug. I couldn’t believe how supportive she was being, considering all that had happened and all that she’d lost.

“How you doing?” Carla asked me. “You’re looking better!”

“Thanks. I’m feeling better.”

“How’s Kacey?”

“Ssh!” I looked around the shop warily and lowered my voice. “Just in case Victor has anyone listening.”

Carla gave me a concerned look. “Oh Jenna, sweetie, you’re going to drive yourself mad if you’re thinking like that.”

“I have to be on my guard. I know now what he’s capable of.”

“Let’s sit down.”

We headed to our usual table and sat down together, clasping hands on the surface of the table.

“How are you doing?” I asked her. “How are things with Sam?”

Carla smiled. “They’re fine. I’m fine. Sam’s been so sweet about the whole thing. He cleared out some space in his closet for me. I bought a whole load of new clothes. The insurance is sorting out the rest.”

“I’m glad that things haven’t been too terrible for you. You have no idea how guilty I feel.”

“I know exactly how guilty you feel! Every time I speak to you on the phone, you’re apologizing, and I’ve already told you that this wasn’t your fault. The important thing is that everyone got out safe. That’s all I care about.” She accepted our lattes from her assistant who had just bought them over and slid one across to me. “Besides, it’s looking like maybe I won’t return to the apartment at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I think maybe Sam and I living together might become a permanent thing.”

I smiled. “Really? That’s great.”

Carla grinned from ear to ear. “I’d wanted to move in with him for a while, but I didn’t want him to feel like I was moving too fast, so I held off. But he’s been so happy to have me there. We’re getting along amazingly. It feels like home. You know, I never thought I was the type to settle down, but I adore Sam, and we’re happy together.”

“If you’re happy, then I’m happy. I’m just relieved this hasn’t ruined your life.”

“Don’t be silly. Yes, it’s not ideal, but it’s nothing that can’t be sorted with time. Sam’s taking really good care of me.” She smiled at me kindly. “Is Nate taking good care of you?”

“Of course he is. I mean, we’re keeping our distance a little, for obvious reasons, but he’s doing the best he can. In fact, I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

“I told you he was a good one.”

“Your sister came to visit, didn’t she? How did that go?”

I smiled. “It was so good to see her.” Then, I sighed, and looked out the window across at the station. “She wants me to go back to Pennsylvania. She was begging me to come home.”

I remembered the conversation we’d had in the motel.

“Please, Jenna,” Charlotte had pleaded, “come with me when I go. You can stay with Dave and I. We’ll get you back on your feet again.”

I’d squeezed her hand in gratitude but shook my head. “I’ve found my feet. I’m happy here.”

“You should be with family. Especially at a time like this.”

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been torn at that moment. Charlotte had been there for me through all the years of Victor’s violence and mind games. She’d helped me get away, and picked me up time and time again after he knocked me down. She’d been a rock for me, and it felt like a betrayal to reject her help now.

“I’m so tired of starting again, Charlotte. You know how much it took for me to tear myself away from you and mom and dad, and Becky and Dylan, to come this far away from you all. But, until Victor found me, I was doing really well. I was happy.”

Charlotte’s expression had faltered then. I knew that she missed me and wanted me home. I knew that she worried about me when I was so far away, and Victor was prowling. I knew that this situation was hard for her too; she was powerless to help me when I was in Indiana, and she was in Pennsylvania.

“Is it because of Nate?”

Charlotte knew about him. I’d told her everything as soon as I’d had the chance. She’d listened, and she’d worried. The only man she’d ever seen me date was Victor, and that had been chaos from day one.

I’d nodded. “I love him.”

Her face had creased with concern and mixed emotions. “Does he treat you well?”

“He’s wonderful, Charlotte. Honestly. He’s nothing like Victor. He’s just a good, honest man.”

“I’d just hate to see you cut yourself off from everyone who loves you to be with a man you’ve just met.”

I understood why she was worried; I’d had the same fears myself. It was why I’d first pushed Nate away; why it had taken us so long to build something between us. But, I’d overcome those fears, and I’d felt real happiness for the first time in years.

“I think this will pass, Charlotte. A lot of people are on my side here. I have some really good friends. I just have to stand my ground until he gets caught.”

Charlotte’s eyes had filled with tears. “But anything could happen before then.”

I don’t think anything I’d said during her visit had really made her feel better, and she’d hugged me long and hard before she set off again at the end of her stay, tears glistening in her eyes. It had broken my heart not to jump in with her and drive back to everything I had left behind all those weeks ago. But it would also break my heart to leave Nate, and Harriet, and Carla, and Kacey, and the preschool, and everyone else who meant something to me here.

Carla was waiting for me to answer her. I snapped back to the present.

“Your sister wants you to go back?”

“We were always really close. I moved to get away from Victor, not my family. As far as she’s concerned, if he’s found me anyway, then I might as well be at home with my family. She says they’ll look after me.”

“And what do you think?”

I sat back, and let out a long sigh. “I think that time in my life is over. I love my sister, and I love my niece and nephew. I love my parents. But I was always the third wheel there. After I left Victor, it was even worse than that. I felt like a burden. I came here for a fresh start and to stand on my own two feet, and while it was good, here is really good. Pennsylvania just doesn’t feel like home anymore. Brayford does.”

“So, you’ll stay?”

“For as long as I can. I’m just trying to be smart like Nate says. I’m trying to stay vigilant, hoping that one day Victor will slip up and give us what we need to get him put away. I love my life here. If I can just get Victor out the picture again, everything will be perfect.”

“Hmm,” Carla mused. “It’s a tough one. I trust the police here though. Sam knows a few of them down at the police station. He says they’re genuine people with good hearts. I don’t think they’ll let you down.”

“I thought they would, but they’ve surprised me. A police car has driven by Kacey’s house at least once every couple of hours for the last week.”

“Does that put your mind at ease a little?”

“I’m still on edge, but it helps. It’s good to know that someone is looking out for us.”

“And is everything okay with Kacey?” Carla looked around, and lowered her voice, heeding my earlier warning.

I nodded. “She’s just like her brother. So noble. Her and Nate, they do things because they’re right. They’ll do anything for anyone.”

“Yes, they would, but it’s more than that. You’re important to them.”

The conversation fell quiet for a moment, and then Carla remembered something, and she gasped. Her hands flew to her purse, and she drew out some mail. I immediately felt my stomach drop.

“This was the last lot in your PO box,” she told me. “I haven’t looked through it. Do you want it?”

No, I don’t want it. I didn’t want to take hold of that envelope, knowing that there was a chance that there was another letter from Victor. I was sleeping so uneasily these days. I was so strung out and on edge. I didn’t need any other reminder that Victor was stalking me. Then again, I needed all the clues I could get to finally bring him to justice. I held out my hand.

Carla handed me the mail, and I slowly began to flip through the letters. I couldn’t say I was surprised when I recognized the writing.

The moment I saw Victor’s handwriting, I was filled with a sense of dread and despair. Why wouldn’t he leave me alone? I held it up to show Carla the envelope. “That’s Victor’s writing.”

Carla looked worried. “Are you going to open it?”

“I guess I should.”

The letter stayed unopened in my hand for another long moment, until I could find the strength to tear it open. A little note fell out.

You can’t run. You can’t hide.

This time, I didn’t break down in tears or flee from the coffee shop. I’d been expecting another note from Victor. There was no shock, only a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and the sensation of my blood running cold. I handed the note to Carla.

She read it and shook her head in disbelief. “The bastard…”

“I knew he’d never stop. He’s never going to leave me alone. This has to end. The police have to catch him. Otherwise, this is what the rest of my life looks like.”

“There would have to come a day when he gave up.”

“I don’t think that day would come. He’s too obsessed. He’ll kill me or die trying.”

Carla was quiet for a moment and then gave me some advice. “I’d take that note straight to the police. It’s fresh evidence.”

“You’re right. Maybe it’ll be enough to get them to issue an arrest warrant at last.” I felt disgusted by Victor’s games, and his complete determination to destroy me, but I would not be defeated. I wasn’t the same woman I was when I left Pennsylvania. I wasn’t going to run away; I wasn’t going to back down.

I tucked the note away into my purse silently, gritting my teeth. I wondered if Victor had watched me read it. I wondered if he was furious that I hadn’t cried, or gasped, or showed any type of fear. I wouldn’t.

I kept telling myself that he was sending those notes to try and scare me, but they were just words on paper. I already knew he was out there, and I already knew what he was willing to do to make me pay—so what difference did another scribbled threat make? One day, those notes would get him sent down. One day, all these tactics he played to have me trembling and afraid would come back to bite him. I would hold onto those notes until I needed them. One day, Victor’s own games would end him.