Page 59 of Backstage with a Billionaire Rockstar

“Evan, honey, what’s wrong?”

Mia jumps out of the car behind me, her wild eyes roaming over every inch of the place, and she sucks in a sharp breath. “Where’s Liam?”

My mother frowns, then hikes a thumb over her shoulder. “He’s in the living room. We made some more cookies, and he’s enjoying them with his grandfather.”

She’s looking between the two of us, noting that something is wrong, and she jumps up from her chair. “What’s going on?”

I shake my head and run a hand over my face. “It’s not great, Mom. We just had to come see Liam for a minute.”

Mia rushes past the two of us, eager to hold our son, and I shake my head.

How could I have let this happen? It’s my fault.

When I first thought about Mack being a potential threat, I should’ve immediately said something instead of keeping it locked inside. I run a hand through my hair and blow out a rough breath, then let out a string of curses.

“Evan, talk to me,” my mother says. “You don’t look so good.”

“They found out who the stalker is,” I say.

My mother gasps and envelopes me in a hug that does nothing to ease the panic flowing inside of me. What if Mack had found Liam and took him?

An alert from my phone chirps, and I slowly pull it out, knowing that Brent must be going crazy since I stopped answering his calls. His name isn’t on the screen, though, aside from the calls I was already aware of.

I stare at the text from Mack, my mind racing. I know I should tell Mia, call the police, do anything but what I'm about to do. But the thought of Mack coming after my family, after Liam, makes my decision for me. I have to end this now. I glance at the house, knowing Mia and Liam are safe inside. "I'm sorry," I whisper before heading to my car.

It’s a single text from an unknown number, telling me to meet them somewhere and not to tell a soul where I’m going.

Mack.

“Look,” I say, then glance up at the house. “Can you make sure Mia’s okay? I just need some air right now.”

My mother doesn’t look convinced, but she can sense the urgency on my face and nods with a frown. “Sure, honey, but come inside soon, okay?”

I nod, even though that’s not my plan, and wait until she’s disappeared through the front door before I make a beeline to my car. Luckily, the car isn’t loud when I start it back up, and I carefully pull out of the driveway.

When I look in the rearview mirror, Mia’s standing on the porch as she watches me disappear from sight.

I’d love nothing more than to turn around and pull her into my arms, but this is my fight, and I’ve got to end it. When I pull out of the driveway, I quickly text the number back and ask where we’re meeting. It only takes a few minutes to get a response back, and I quickly input the address into my GPS.

I’ve got a few hours to figure out what the hell I’m going to do.

***

When I pull up to the cabin, located deep in the woods, my spine stiffens. There’s only a sliver of light shining through a window, and I can see Mack’s silhouette on the inside as he paces back and forth in front of it.

I study the building, noting the roof that’s nearly caving in and the banister on the front porch that looks like it’s been through its fair share of storms. It looks as though one gust of wind could knock this place to the ground, but I still get out of my vehicle slowly.

Mia has called me numerous times, but when I glance at my phone now there’s no service for her calls to come through.

The steps creak under my weight, which doesn’t surprise me, and the front door gets thrown open within seconds.

“Evan,” Mack’s voice echoes around me, sending a chill down my spine. “Nice of you to join me.”

When I look at him, there’s dark circles under his eyes that I’ve never seen before, and it looks as though his clothes are three sizes too big.

What the hell happened to him?

Instead of asking that, I push past him and into the cabin.

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