Page 98 of Safe With Me

“Of course I am. Do you remember seeing anyone you didn’t know while you were swimming?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “We picked up Jason this morning, and Uncle Jude came to get him. We were all building sandcastles and swimming. I didn’t look at any of the people.” Her chin quivered. “I’m sorry, Uncle Keith.”

“Don’t be sorry, sweetheart.” He brushed away the loose hairs sticking to her wet cheek. “If you think of something later, you can tell me then, okay?” He kissed her forehead and stood.

“It really was packed,” Peyton said, her voice shaking almost as much as Keely’s. “I didn’t spot anyone strange or see anything that would make me take any kind of pause. But we had our backs turned to the sand for most of the day. It would have been very easy to slip in and out.”

“I think it’s a good idea to give the lake a rest for a while, until we find out who this piece of—” Keith stopped when his gaze snagged on Keely, still in my arms and clutching the collar of my shirt.

“Until we find out who did this. Shouldn’t be long.”

Whatever had happened over the past couple of days had set Ted or whoever off since this had been the third point of contactin as many days, and getting my sister involved had upped the stakes by a lot.

We all turned to the creak of the door. Keith’s office was dead silent other than Keely’s muffled cries.

“Hey,” Jude said, holding the door open behind him. “Lila’s here.”

Lila’s eyes were as red as my sister’s as she wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand.

“I’m so sorry, Keely,” she said, joining me on the floor. “I hate that you were scared today.”

“Are you hurt?” Keely said, examining Lila’s face.

“No, I’m fine,” she said, swallowing before she pushed a smile across her mouth.

“I think you could use some candy, kiddo.” Keith tugged at her ponytail. “Why don’t you let your mother buy you some from the vending machine down the hall while I talk to Mike and Lila, okay?”

“Are they in trouble?” Keely asked, still fisting my shirt.

Trouble was a laughable fucking understatement right now.

“No, I promise. Go ahead.” He nodded at Peyton.

“Come on, girlie. Mom needs some candy too.”

Keely looked back at me, her eyes still wet even though her crying had slowed, before she took her mother’s hand and headed into the hallway.

I let my head drop to my hands when Jude shut the door behind them. I didn’t know whether to scream and pound the wall or weep like a baby, but I couldn’t do any of that. Taking slow breaths, I sat up and stood from the floor.

“So this asshole is watching all of us,” my father said, a statement not a question since it was obviously true. “My son, my wife, my daughter. What are you doing about this, Keith?”

Keith leveled my father with a glare.

“Do you think I’m not as furious as you are, Russo? Things like this don’t happen in my town, especially to my nieces. They’re just coming at us faster than I can make a plan right now. But trust me—we’re getting this son of a bitch.”

“I’m so sorry,” Lila said, crossing her arms as she came up to my father. “I was afraid of something like this happening when I came here, and I never should have left Philly. I brought this to your family, and I hate that.” Her voice cracked before she padded over to me.

“I’m calling Steven and heading to Brooklyn. I’ll stay with him and figure out when I’ll move the rest of my stuff later. I can’t do this to any of you.” She turned to my father with a sad smile. “Thank you for giving me a job, but I can’t stay.”

I grabbed her arm when she turned to leave.

“You’re not leaving,” I grunted out, my head spinning as panic filtered through me. “You can’t let him win.”

“Let him win? What am I supposed to do? It was one thing to threaten us, but Keely? I can’t let her get hurt. Let any of you get hurt.” She yanked her arm away, shaking her head as she rushed toward the door.

“So, that’s it? You love me, but you’re leaving. Just like that?”

She froze, her eyes wide as she turned to me.

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