Page 154 of The Clover Chapel (Jamison Valley 2)
Milo had come in with bottled waters. Then he’d vanished too.
The only other deputy I knew was Sam and he was currently in an interrogation room with my stalker.
Steffie was locked in a jail cell.
“Something happened. Why aren’t they telling me what’s going on?” I asked Draven.
“I don’t know, kid.” Draven’s voice was filled with concern.
I was nauseous and shaking, probably from a combination of pregnancy and anxiety. I needed something to eat before I passed out.
“Would one of you mind finding me some crackers? And maybe some orange juice?” I asked Draven’s men.
“I’ll get it,” Dash said.
“Can you talk to me? The quiet is making things worse,” I asked Draven.
“Sure. What do you want to talk about?”
“How did you end up at my house?”
Draven had given his statement to Jess but hadn’t explained how he had come there in the first place.
“When you told me about your other break-ins, something didn’t sit right with me so I started digging. Found out it wasn’t the Warriors like you thought, so we looked into your relatives. This morning, my hacker found a couple suspicious emails between that bitch and that guy I clocked. She buried them deep but my guy dug them out. Then he found out she’s been pulling cash these last few weeks. Close to a half million in the last ten days. We came down to warn you and Nick that something suspicious was going on.”
I let his explanation sink in. What would I have done had they not been there?
“Fucking lucky timing,” Draven said, blowing out a loud breath.
Absolutely. “How did you know where to find me?” I asked.
“Uh, Dash may have swiped your phone the other weekend and put a tracker on it,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
I never thought I’d be so happy to have my privacy invaded.
If it weren’t for Draven, I would likely be dead. I would have escaped Steffie but run right outside into my stalker’s arms.
I struggled to believe how fortunate we were. Had Draven chosen to wait until the afternoon to come to Prescott or had the hacker not found Steffie’s emails until later, things would have turned out much worse.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “For not giving up. For saving me.” For saving us.
“Glad we could be there,” he said, taking my hand.
“Where’s Nick?” I asked. My voice cracked and tears flooded my eyes. Something was terribly wrong. I just wanted someone to tell me what it was.
A loud commotion outside the room had Draven and me both shooting out of our chairs and rushing through the door.
My hand flew up to my mouth as Nick jogged across the room. He was covered in ash and soot but he was okay. I lost sight of his face when he folded me into his chest.
“You’re okay,” I cried into his scorched shirt. Its smell made my stomach roll but I didn’t care. All that mattered was he was here and both of us were safe.
“You’re okay,” he said.
Surrounded by deputies and motorcycle gangsters, Nick and I held tight to one another. The world around us disappeared.
Draven had been right earlier. It was over.
I felt it this time. We’d made it through. Now all that was left for Nick and me was a happy life building our family. Enjoying every moment together.
