Page 30 of Hidden Truths

I jump, my phone hitting the pavement.

I spin to see a man dressed in an expensive black suit. He has dark hair peppered with gray around his temples and eyes so dark they’re almost black.

“Thank you,” I stutter. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me, the way his eyes roam my body. He’s a predator, but not in the predictable sense. This man wants nothing from my body. He’s assessing, calculating. Hopefully finding me severely lacking.

“The smallest scandal can end a career these days. Sad, don’t you think?” the man says, hands in his pockets, making no move to come closer. My key fob is still in my hand, and I quickly lock my car, keeping my eyes trained on the stranger.

He laughs. The sound is one of the scariest I’ve ever heard. I move to the side, putting myself between the man and Cora’s door. I don’t think there’s much I can do if he tries to get to her, but I will do anything I can to stop him.

“Do I know you?” I ask. Something about him is familiar, but I can’t place it. I need to keep him talking. Maybe someone will walk out to this weirdly empty parking lot. That’s what I get for having a breakdown over my employer in the middle of the day on a Wednesday. No one is here.

The man chuckles darkly. “Your generation doesn’t pay attention to the world. Just yourselves, and your selfish desires.”

My phone continues to vibrate on the pavement. Cal isn’t giving up on his quest to yell at me for spending so much, but right now, I wish he was here to do it in person.

The stranger takes his eyes off me long enough to glance at my phone. Whatever he sees there makes him smile.

It’s horrifying.

“Callahan always did have a type,” he says, and I blanch. My phone must have landed face up, and I just gave this stranger proof that Cal’s daughter is in my car.

“What do you want?” I ask him, willing to give him just about anything if he leaves Cora alone.

“Nothing you can give me.”

He walks away then, leaving me shaking against my car. I grab my phone, which has stopped vibrating. Cal has given up and is probably getting ready to let me have it when he gets home. With a deep breath, I quickly make my way to the driver’s side of my car and get in, locking it again as I do and starting it immediately. I call my dad and then start driving. I need to get Cora back behind the security of the gates and her house.

“Hi Harlow,” my dad’s happy voice comes through the phone.

“Dad! I was just confronted in the parking lot of the Southside Mall. I parked in front of 4-Ever Kidz. The man was tall, probably at least six feet, wearing an expensive black suit with dark hair. He looks like he has enough money to take care of any security footage, so I need you to get to it first.”

“Did he touch you? Are you being followed?” My dad asks after a short pause.

“No to both. I’m heading back to Cal’s. But Dad, he knows about Cora. I think he suspected, but then he saw the proof on my phone.”

“Get back to Cal’s, and I’ll get that footage. Text me when you get there.”

“I will. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

twelve

CAL

“She spentover six thousand dollars at some stupid kids’ store and now she’s not answering her fucking phone!”

Mav laughs from his spot in the passenger seat of my car.

“This isn’t funny!”

“I disagree. You’ve been ignoring her for weeks and being a miserable bastard because of it. She should’ve spent more.” He keeps laughing.

“I’m glad my life is so amusing to you,” I grumble as I white knuckle steering wheel.

“Me too.”

I roll my tinted window down enough for the guard at the gate to see my face as we approach.

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