Page 3 of My Secret to Protect

Unknown:I can’t stop until you understand. I need to show you what you mean to me x

Five Months ago

Unknown:You left your kitchen window open. That’s not very safe, Breanne. Anybody could get in x

I’matwork,sittingin my office while he, at least I assume it’s a man, is at my house or has been. He could be inside. I don’t know what to do or where to turn, and I freeze, my rapid heartbeat the only part of me that’s moving as I stare at words that feel as though they’re jumping out of my phone, and my emotions rush at me. Fear, anger, frustration. So many feelings, spinning like a roulette wheel that isn’t stopping or choosing what to settle on.

The cell numbers change with each set of texts, and they’re never traceable. I can’t talk to anyone about it. Both my sister and my brother have babies on the way, my mom just got engaged, and my best friend just had her fiancé move in with her and her son. I can’t burden them with my shit when I’m the one who should be able to fix all of this.

I’m a cop. I can figure this out.

I can.

I will.

I have to because I have to go home alone to a house that’s being watched, and I have to do that with a weapon in my hand and my senses on high alert, knowing there could be somebody hiding in the darkest corners, waiting for me, and I can’t live that way. I’m the person trained to catch the bad guys, and I’m going to catch this one.

Four Months Ago

Unknown:Stop digging, Bree. You won’t figure out who I am, not until I’m ready to show you what you mean to me x

Me:Why are you doing this?

Unknown:Because you’re mine, princess x

Itstopped.

Out of nowhere, the messages stopped.

The relief I have felt over the past few months is like nothing I have ever known. I don’t know who it was. I may never know, but it stopped, and right now, that is everything.

It took a minute for me to feel okay to start dating again, but I decided it was a prank, someone messing with me for some unknown reason, and nothing bad was going to happen. So, I hopped back on the apps and found myself on a string of first dates that never led to a second.

And now I’m here. Stood up.Officially.

I call it as I check the time on my watch and realize that not only is my date over thirty minutes late, but the servers are also shuffling around me like bees around a hive because they want the table that I’ve been occupying with nothing more than a single glass of wine for someone who is actually going to eat at this very expensive restaurant.

Fuck it.

I slide my phone into my purse and press my palms to the cool surface of the table to push myself up when someone slides into the seat opposite me, and I look up to meet smiling, familiar eyes as the servers scurry away.

‘Sorry, I’m late.’

I widen my eyes as I smile at the man in front of me.

‘Nolan?’

‘Hey, Bree.’

I sit back in my seat, a slightly confused but also relieved expression on my face that his smile tells me he reads.

Nolan is not my date, not tonight, and not for the past few months.

We met in a club a year ago and went on a few dates, but the spark just wasn’t there—not for me, at least. Nolan thought it was worth carrying on, seeing where it led, but I want to settle down and find the one I want to grow old with. I don’t have time at my age for wait-and-sees.

He’s a nice enough guy, though, just not what I was looking for. We wanted different things.

‘What are you doing here?’

---