Page 167 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

Wait.

My head snaps up, my body going still as the sound of an engine grows louder. A pair of headlights pierce the darkness, and I tense, my instincts sharpening.

That’s not one of our vehicles.

The car moves slowly, almost cautiously, as it comes up the drive, heading toward the house. Standing in the shadows at the edge of the trees, they don’t see me, and my senses go on high alert. Whoever this is, they’re not supposed to be here.

And with Hailey in pre-heat, that’s a fucking problem.

My hand automatically goes to my pocket, pulling out my phone.

I unlock it quickly, my fingers shaking slightly—whether from the cold or the lingering effects of Hailey’s heat, I don’t know. Logging into the security system is second nature, the familiar interface popping up on the screen. A quick swipe, and the camera feed for the driveway fills the display.

The car is close to the house now, its headlights cutting through the darkness. It’s not a vehicle I recognize—sleek, dark, and nothing like any of our neighbors’. Fancy for someone who’s just passing by. Not that anyone should be passing by. This is a private drive. There’s no way anyone could accidentally end up here.

The car slows as it nears the house, and I start heading back, keeping to the cover of the trees. My thumb hovers over the screen of my phone, ready to switch cameras, but I don’t need to. The car doesn’t pull into the gravel turnaround. It just…stops.

For a long moment, nothing happens.

No one gets out. No passenger-side door opens. No one goes up to ring the doorbell.

My pulse picks up, my skin prickling with unease. The headlights sweep over the porch, the nest of shadows near the front door, and then the car begins moving again.

It’s turning around.

I squint at the feed, watching as the car backs up carefully, maneuvering so it can head back down the driveway. The headlights sweep the house one last time before the vehicle heads back my way.

“What the hell…” I mutter under my breath.

My instincts are screaming now. That wasn’t someone who got lost. It’s impossible to get lost out here. The drive is too long, too isolated, too clearly marked as private property.

Whoever they were, they came here on purpose.

So why didn’t they get out? Why didn’t they approach the house?

I pocket my phone and step farther into the cover of the trees, my boots crunching softly on the frosted ground. The car’s engine gets louder again as it approaches me, heading back down the drive toward the main road. I crouch low, staying hidden among the shadows, watching as the vehicle passes by.

From my vantage point, I glimpse the driver’s silhouette. A man, I think, though it’s hard to tell for sure in the dark. The windows are tinted, and the angle of the headlights makes it impossible to see much.

The car moves fast, much faster than how it approached the house. Every instinct in me is screaming that something isn’t right.

I stay crouched until the car disappears around the bend, itstaillights fading into the darkness. Only then do I straighten, my hands clenched into fists at my sides.

That wasn’t a random visitor.

Whoever they were, they came here for a reason.

And for some reason, they left without doing whatever they came to do.

The unease in my gut deepens as I turn and head back toward the house. My pace quickens, my breath fogging in the cold air. I keep my senses sharp, my eyes scanning the shadows, my ears straining for the faintest sound.

By the time I reach the house, my heart is pounding for an entirely different reason than the one I originally left for.

I don’t stop when I get to the door. I don’t hesitate. I step inside, closing the door firmly behind me and flipping the lock.

Something’s wrong.

And I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to Hailey and Finn.

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