To Hate Adam Connor

But then, something.

I saw someone walking past the window as his or her shadow fell on the wood flooring right in front of me.

Holding back my gasp, I crawled back and started to shake Aiden.

“Aiden. Aiden, you have to wake up.” My voice was barely audible.

He moaned and blinked his eyes open.

“Aiden you have to get up for me, okay?”

“Is Daddy back?”

“Not yet, sweetheart, but I need you to get up now, okay?”

“Okay,” he mumbled, letting me pull him into a sitting position.

I heard a clicking that sounded suspiciously like someone trying to open the door, but a second later it was all silent again.

Aiden kept rubbing his eyes, but I pulled his hands down to get his attention again. “Aiden, listen to me. I need you to—” Holy shit! I realized I’d left my phone in Adam’s room when we were stealing more pillows from him. “Aiden, as soon as I say so, we will run to your dad’s room, okay? Can you do that for me?”

“But why?”

“Because we need to hide, okay?”

“Is this an emergency?”

“Yes. Yes, it is. We need to hide so I can call your dad and tell him to come back here, okay?”

He scratched his head and gave me an adorably confused look, which would have been cute if the possibility of danger wasn’t so imminent.

“But, if there is an emergency we are supposed to call nine-one-one and Dan. Daddy told me so.”

“You’re absolutely right, but first we need to get to your dad’s room so I can get my phone, okay?”

He nodded as I helped him up to his feet and stayed on my knees. He was short enough that he couldn’t be seen over the couch.

Taking a shaky breath, I crawled away from Aiden for a second. Holding on to the arm of the couch, I peered outside, and when I was sure there was no one lurking in front of the windows, I got up to my feet and told Aiden to run.

I can’t tell you how grateful I was that he didn’t made me say it twice and ran straight to his dad’s room.

I was right behind him.

My hands shaking, I grabbed my phone from the top of the dresser and barely managed to find Dan’s number in my contacts list.

“Everything all right, Lucy?”

“Dan,” I whispered, relief filling me as soon as I heard his voice. “Dan, someone is out in the backyard. I think they’re trying to get in. You need to come back now.”

“Lucy.” His voice was as steady as always, but unfortunately it did nothing to calm my racing heart. “I need you to take Aiden and hide. Can you do that? Can you get Aiden and hide in one of the rooms?”

“Look, this might be nothing,” I said when he was done freaking me out even more. “Maybe it was just—”

Someone knocked on a window, the noise as clear as a bell, and I jumped, my heart in my throat.

“Talk to me,” Dan ordered in a sharper voice.

“Okay. Okay, we need to hide and you need to get back here right now, Dan. They just knocked on the window. Get back here now!”

I ended the call and realized I was out of breath as if I had just run a freaking marathon in the last minute I was on the phone. Then I met the frightened eyes of a five-year-old who had heard every single word of what I had just said. Cursing at myself, I kneeled in front of him and before I could utter a word, he threw himself in my arms.

“I’m scared, Lucy.”

“It’s okay,” I assured him in what I hoped was a strong voice. “It’ll be okay, Aiden. I’m right here with you, and your dad and Dan will be here as soon as they can.”

Then my worst nightmare happened: we heard the unmistakable sound of someone breaking a window.

As soon as Aiden started screaming, I put my hand on his mouth and muffled his screams. His tear-filled eyes met mine, and I shook my head. Tucking his legs around my waist, I got up from the floor and ran toward the adjoined room that was Adam’s closet.

It was either the worst place to hide or the best. After looking around to find the best spot, I parted the row of pants, dropped back to my knees, and urged Aiden to crawl back to the narrow empty space between the clothes and the wall, hoping we’d be concealed. I crawled in right after him and pulled him back into my arms.

I could already feel his tears wetting my shirt as he cried silently.

Holding my breath, I tried to listen for footsteps, but couldn’t hear a damn thing. Quickly dialing nine-one-one, I told the operator what was going on in a hushed whisper, gave him the address, and let him know that we were hiding.

He told me to stay on the line and that the cops were dispatched, but all I could hear was a man whispering Aiden’s name as his footsteps got closer and closer.

“I can hear footsteps. I can’t talk. I hear his footsteps,” I mumbled to the guy that was trying his best to keep me calm. Shaking like a leaf, I put down the phone and gestured at Aiden to be quiet. Just to make sure, I put my hand over his mouth and whispered to him to close his eyes. I’m not ashamed to admit I did the same.

The house and our hiding place were completely dark, but the simple act of closing my eyes gave me a stupid sense of security that meant nothing if the guy found us.

If it were just me, if Aiden wasn’t clinging to me as if his life depended on it—and maybe it did—I would’ve grabbed something sharp or heavy and…hell, I don’t know, maybe I would’ve attacked him myself. I knew I couldn’t do that, couldn’t risk Aiden.

The footsteps stopped in front of Adam’s room, or maybe he was in the room. I was seconds away from passing out and the only thing that stopped me was the little boy in my arms who was shaking even harder than me. Then a chill went down my spine when another whisper came as he called out Aiden’s name again.

“Aiden. I’m here to take you home. You can come out, your mom sent me to get you.”

I held the kid tighter to myself and rested my head against his, my hand still very much covering his mouth. The amount of pressure I was putting on my body to keep both of us still was colossal. And yet, if he stepped into the room, I was pretty sure he’d spot us in a heartbeat.

The footsteps retreated without any other sound, and I swallowed down my scream.

We could hear him whisper Aiden’s name as he searched every room for him.

Then I heard the sweet sounds of the police sirens and let the first teardrops fall from my eyes.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Adam

There was a sea of people in front of our house. I saw three police cruisers with their red and blue lights flashing and countless cameras trying to get a view inside the wide-open gates as two officers tried to hold them back.

We’d called nine-one-one on our way to the house and learned that Lucy was on the line with another operator. When they asked me for the gate codes as Lucy had stopped responding, I thought my heart had stopped beating.

Nothing, and I mean nothing could have prepared me for the mess that was waiting back at home.

“You need to stay calm,” Dan instructed me. “There are cameras everywhere, Adam. If the guy is still here, you need to stay calm.”

None of his words really penetrating the haze in my mind, I watched as the cameras pulled back from the gate as soon as they recognized the car. They swarmed around us, making it impossible to move farther.

Ignoring Dan’s shouts, I pushed open the door, knocking a few cameras down in the process, and ran up to the gates.