Page 76 of Vandal Unbound

Then he disappears, and I put Elsie down. She had been shaking in my arms, but it’s both a miracle and painful that she knew to be quiet until we were safe.

“Momma,” she says quietly. There’s a questioning fear in her tone.

I crouch down in front of her. I don’t want to lie to her and invalidate what she can sense, but I don’t want to scare her. “It’s okay, sweetheart. We’re safe in here. But a naughty man came into the cafe, and Sunny and Ridge had to make sure he couldn’t hurt us.”

She looks up at Maren. Understandably, my explanation on its own isn’t enough to settle her as fat tears fall.

Maren nods. “What your momma said is true.”

Elsie sniffles and wipes her face with the heel of her hand. “Was he gonna hurt us?”

“You know, I don’t know what he was going to do, but I don’t think he was expecting Sunny to take care of us,” I say.

Elsie looks unconvinced. And it’s understandable, because there’s only so much reassurance a child can absorb when she heard a grown man hit the floor and was carried out of the room by her momma.

“What’s Mr. Sunny going to do to him?” she asks quietly.

Maren glances at me briefly before answering. “He’s probably just gonna ask him some questions to understand whathe was gonna do. I have a little apartment in here up those stairs. We should go wait up there.”

There’s no need for her to add the wordsuntil we know we’re safe.

Elsie curls herself around my leg, holding on tight to me.

“Come on, sweetheart,” I say. “Let’s go sit down.”

Elsie sighs. “I didn’t even get to finish my pie.”

Maren offers Elsie her hand. “I got plenty more pie where that came from. I’m sure we can send you a big piece home.”

It’s quite possibly the only thing she could have said to help Elsie release her hold on me. “Thank you, Maren.”

I’m just about to follow Maren up the stairs when my phone rings. And for one stupid second, my heart jumps into my throat before I even look at the screen.

Vandal.

The sight of his name nearly knocks the breath out of me.

Because it’s been almost two weeks since he walked out of my apartment. That’s a lot of days to have not heard his voice. I blink hard and force myself to answer the phone before it rings out.

“Vandal,” I say, anticipation fizzing in my veins.

“Hey, baby.” God, how those two words undo me. “Are you safe? Is Elsie okay?”

Something warm twists painfully through me at that. That he thought about both of us. “We’re okay. We’re about to head somewhere in Maren’s boathouse.”

“Good. Stay locked in there. Knox is on his way and knows how to get in. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

“Okay.”

“And, Daze?”

“Yes.”

“It’s good to hear your voice.”

The line goes dead, and I hurry up the stairs behind Maren and Elsie.

“Is Van okay?” Maren asks, as I step into a simple room that has a small kitchenette, a large bed, and a sofa that’s shaped to suggest it’s a pull-out bed.