Page 4 of Secret Shifters Next Door

I sagged against the door and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Maybe this will get Luis off my back. Hopefully. “Thank you so much, Maddox. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”

“Like I said, it’s the least I could do for Sam’s memory. If you have any more trouble, don’t hesitate to call me. If… if things get worse, I may have another option for you. I don’t want to get into it unless things get really bad.”

“Thanks,” I said before disconnecting the call.

Life went on as normal for a few days, but at the end of the week, I found a copy of the restraining order taped to my apartment door. The word BITCH had been scrawled across it in red Sharpie. Luis hadn’t been at my apartment that morning when I took the girls to school, but another man stood on the sidewalk.

The man was thick and burly, like a walking brick wall. He smiled at me, and I knew, instinctively, that Luis had sent him.

“Mrs. King? I think you know what you need to do. Don’t you? It would be a shame if…” He glanced at Jordyn and Mariah, both shrinking under his gaze. “…you know… something was to happen. Just think about it, okay?”

He smiled again and nodded at us. I grabbed the girls and immediately led them back inside. “You aren’t going to school today.”

I let them sit in the living room and watch TV while I went into my bedroom to call Maddox. I was barely holding back my sobs when he answered.

“What happened?” he asked immediately.

“It didn’t work. I think it’s getting worse.”

The panic was unlike anything else I’d ever felt. The only thing that had ever surpassed this was the day the captain had knocked on my door to tell me Sam had been killed in the line of duty.

“Okay, Harley, calm down, okay. Remember I told you I had another option?”

“Yes. Yes, that’s why I called.”

“So, I know you and the kids are born and raised New Yorkers, but how about getting away from the city? Away from Luis?”

I wiped tears from my eyes. “What do you mean? Like going Upstate?”

He chuckled. “I was thinking farther than that. Someplace he’ll never find you.”

“All right, I’m listening.”

“I’m not a big city kid. I moved here with Julie after we finished college. I grew up in Colorado.”

“Colorado? Like Colorado River, Colorado? Bison and trout and stuff?”

He laughed. “Right, Rocky Mountain High and all that jazz. I grew up in a little place called Lilly Valley.”

The name was like a breath of fresh air. I smiled when I heard it. “That sounds like the name of a fairytale village.”

“Not wrong, it’s pretty gorgeous.”

I couldn’t get the name out of my mind. It sounded… perfect. I felt almost drawn to it, a cross between excitement and urgency. It was the way I’d felt as a child on Christmas Eve. Maddox hadn’t even told me about the town, and I was already desperate to go there. It was a strange feeling.

“I still own my parents’ place, the house I grew up in. My parents left it to me when they died. I thought I would be visiting all the time, but we’ve only been there once in the last six years.I thought maybe you and the girls could stay there for a while. I know it would be a massive change for you guys, but?—”

“I’d love it,” I blurted.

“Wow.” He chuckled. “That was easier than I thought. I figured you could rent it from me for the summer, and if it suits you, I will sell it to you.”

I sank onto the bed and smiled for the first time that week. A huge weight seemed to be lifting off me. It was like we were already on the right path. I would never be able to thank Maddox enough for this new, fresh start. After we worked out the logistics and that he would bring me a set of keys the next day, Maddox promised to have a patrol car stationed outside the house until we left.

The girls took the news of the move in stride, to my surprise. My main fear was that the girls would be devastated to leave their school and friends, but that wasn’t the case. If they’d been younger, I believed it would have been a different story. Mariah had deduced what the problem was, and Jordyn had gleaned some of it from her sister. They wanted to be safe and not have to stay locked up all the time. If I were being honest, they probably wanted me to be happy, too, and I wanted to cry for being blessed with such amazing girls.

The movers arrived two days later, and within three hours, everything that had made our house a home had been packed and loaded. The girls were packing up the things they wanted to have with them in the car for the trip to Colorado. This move would be expensive, but it was worth it.

I was grabbing the last of my things from the bathroom when I noticed the box of pads beside the toilet. I frowned. In all the chaos of Luis stalking and threatening me, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d needed those pads. My eyes widened as my brain did quick math, and I realized I’d missed two periods.Oh fuck.

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