Page 33 of Shattered King

“Yes, it’s me. I’m fine. Where are you? I’m just going to grab our bags and I’ll come to you.”

“Thank God, you’re okay. I’ve been worried out of my mind. Is everything sorted out now? Did you see Hunter? Did you talk?”

My stomach flipped unhappily. “Yes, we talked.” Not a complete lie, but not in the way I knew she meant either. “I promise, everything’s going to be all right now.” I hated lying to her, but I didn’t want her to worry more than she already was.

I heard her sigh of relief down the line. “That’s good. That was the right thing to do. I know why you wanted me to keep Josh out of sight . . . why you didn’t want Pierce to find out you were here. I . . .”

“You do?” I choked out.

“He reacted badly, when you told him you got pregnant with Josh, didn’t he? That’s what this was all about? That’s why you ran?”

The flipping in my belly turned to giant, jagged knots. I had to bite my lip to hold back my sob. God, I wish it were that simple, that clean. Girl gets knocked up by bad boy boyfriend. Stepfather loses his shit. Girl runs away. But it was anything but simple or clean.

And there was no washing this off.

“I . . . I . . .” What? What the hell could I say?

“Now Hunter knows about Josh, everything will be okay, you’ll see,” she said, now on a roll. “Does he want to meet him? Why are you getting your bags? You’re not leaving are you? Why don’t I just come home instead of you coming here?”

“No. No, I’ll come to you. I, uh . . . we can go for lunch and I’ll explain everything then.” I had no idea how I was going to explain any of this. I didn’t want to burst her bubble and I couldn’t tell her the truth either.

“That sounds nice.”

She rattled off the name and address of the hotel and I promised to be there as soon as I could.

“Oh, and before I forget, Josh has been asking for his favorite book . . . hourly. I left it there. You might want to bring that as well.”

I knew the one she meant. “Roscoe the Wonder Dog?”

She chuckled. “That’s the one.”

“I’ll find it.”

We said our goodbyes, and I ended the call.

I’d brought trouble to my aunt’s door, put her in danger. Pierce would come looking for me. It was only a matter of time. Sara had a friend who lived in Hudson. Maybe I could convince her to go for a visit until everything blew over?

My priority was keeping my family safe, getting the hell out of this house, and getting them as far away as possible. Nothing else mattered. I ran to the room where Josh had slept and grabbed my bags. I didn’t have much and I hadn’t been there long enough to unpack anything, so I snatched them up and bolted for the door.

Rushing out to the car, I dumped everything in the trunk, then ran back and pulled the door closed. After slipping the key back under the mat, I headed back to the car. I was about to get in when I remembered the book.

Josh loved that book. I was surprised he’d slept without my aunt reading it to him every night. I quickly scanned the road. There were no cars parked on the street, no one hanging around. It looked quiet like it always did. I jogged back, grabbed the key again, and let myself in. I did a quick search for it in the bedroom and living room. Nothing.

I tried the kitchen next, but it wasn’t there either. I turned to leave, scanning the room one more time. I’d have to go without it. I’d find him another one somewhere . . .

I lifted my eyes from the table and froze solid. My mouth opened, preparing to let out a scream, but fear squeezed my vocal cords so tight nothing came out.

“Looking for this?” Pierce held up my son’s book, cold eyes locked on mine. His lips curled up on one side. “You didn’t tell me I was a grandfather.” He flipped the front cover back, to where I had written in it for my son’s birthday. “Josh?”

“Don’t!” The word exploded past my lips, my voice unrecognizable to my own ears. “Don’t you say his name. He’s nothing to you.”

“Are you certain about that?” He kept coming, but I had nowhere to go.

I backed up until I hit the wall. “Stay the hell away from me.” I was sinking. My legs felt like I had led weights strapped to them, that old paralyzing fear reaching up inside me and grabbing me by the throat.

He made a tutting sound. “Come now. Don’t be like that.” He dropped the book on the table and started twisting the heavy gold and sapphire wedding ring he wore, something he always did when he was scheming. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Stay back.” I shook my head. “Don’t touch me.”