Page 128 of Torn In Two

“Maybe the external doors are stronger than the internal. The windows are shatterproof because you probably wouldn’t be surprised to know how many people try to break into hospitals, being that’s where all the good drugs are. But it won’t be long until they find another way around.” She smiled at me reassuringly. “Don’t worry, we’ll be long gone by then. My son, Colt, always tells me I have a lead foot. Though he’s one to talk.”

True to her word, Willa put her foot down hard on the accelerator, and we jerked out of the parking lot, pausing only long enough for her to swipe her security card again so the boom gates would lift to allow us to exit.

I raised the lever on the side of the seat and lay it right back as we rounded the front of the hospital, not trusting any of the people milling around out there.

“They could just be patients and their families. It’s a popular place to smoke,” Willa tried to reassure me.

I stared at her from my horizontal position.

She grimaced, even though I hadn’t voiced my worries. “Yeah, okay. I don’t trust any of them either. Just stay down until we get out of here.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I stared at the ceiling of her car, counting silently in my head to try to distract myself from the reality of my situation.

I should have just gone back to Josiah when I’d had the chance. I was almost certain he would leave Hayley Jade alone if I returned.

It was me he wanted. Me who’d betrayed and embarrassed him.

But it was too late now. I couldn’t go back. But I couldn’t stay here either.

They would keep coming. They would never stop. No one I loved would ever be safe while I was around.

“Where do you want me to take you?” Willa asked gently once we were speeding through the streets of Saint View. “I don’t think you should go home.”

I agreed. If those men had tracked me down at the hospital, they would know about the clubhouse for sure.

“Your daughter’s school?” Willa asked.

“No. Hawk will be there making sure she’s safe.” And hopefully Hayden.

Willa glanced in the rearview mirror and sped up a few miles. “Good. Because that plan is out of the question anyway. I think there’s someone following us.”

I jerked upright, twisting around to peer out through the back window. Willa took a corner, and behind us, two other cars did as well. Fear swallowed me up at the idea of leading any of those men anywhere near Hayley Jade. I couldn’t see who was driving the vehicles, but in my mind’s eye, it was the big man with the devil in his eyes.

I was suddenly glad it was me he was following. The thought of him even setting his sights on my daughter was incomprehensible.

I mumbled a silent prayer, not knowing who I was praying to when I no longer believed in whatever God Josiah preached about. But it was habit, so I prayed in my head to the universe, to whatever powers there were, for all of them to protect Hayley Jade.

And the two men I’d sent to save her.

I would save myself.

Willa took another turn, but the cars didn’t follow.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “False alarm. We’re good.”

Except we weren’t. What was done was done. The people chasing me weren’t suddenly going to stop because I’d gotten away once. They would come back. Again and again.

Until the inevitable happened.

I had to leave.

My heart squeezed at the thought of leaving Hayden and Hawk. At realizing those moments in the middle of chaos had been our goodbyes. A tear dripped down my cheek. I already missed the feel of their arms around me.

But I’d known all along we were living on borrowed time.

They’d look after Hayley Jade. They’d explain to her that I’d gone not because I didn’t want her, but because I loved her enough to leave so she could have a normal life. One away from the evil that followed me everywhere I went, no matter how hard I tried to shake it.

If I believed in Josiah’s God anymore, I was sure he’d say I was a cursed woman.

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