Page 56 of Home Changes
Allison sat back. “That’s insane.”
Lottie looked at her. “He said if I ever left him or if I ever embarrassed him in front of anyone, he’d kill me. And I believe him, Allison. I really do. If he finds me, he’ll kill me. He won’t yell. He won’t drag me home. He’ll just end it. He’s told me how. He will choke me. Face-to-face so he can watch me die.”
Allison felt her heart twist. There was no exaggeration in Lottie’s voice. No drama. Just the clear, simple certainty of someone who’d lived in survival mode for too long.
“Well,” she said firmly, “he’s not going to find you. Not here. Not inmytown.”
Lottie blinked, surprised by the strength in Allison’s tone.
“Hollister may be small,” Allison went on, “but it’s tight knit. People notice strangers. They care. They ask questions. The folks here? They’d move heaven and earth to protect someone in need. Especially from someone who thinks raising his fists against a woman makes him a man.”
Lottie’s lip quivered. “But I’m not from here.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Allison said. “You’re here now. And no one hurts people in Hollister and walks away without the whole damn town standing in their path.”
Silence stretched between them, broken only by the tick of the wall clock and the faint sounds of the wind in the trees outside.
Lottie finally took a sip of tea, her hands steadying just a little. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For seeing me.”
“You don’t have to thank me, sweetheart.” Allison gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “You’re safe. We’ve got you. No one’s going to let him touch you again.”
The clothes weredamp and stiff with cold. Bundled together were crusted fleece and a thrift store windbreaker. They smelled of old wood, earth, and weeks without washing. Seth stood there for a beat, crouched in the shadows beneath the slats, the late afternoon wind dragging dust across gravel behind him.
That’s when he saw it, buried inside a pocket.
A dead Apple Watch.
Black band, cracked face, silent.
He swore under his breath and shoved it in his coat pocket before striding back up the embankment toward the bakery.
He found Lottie sitting on the floor in the livingroom, legs folded under her, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She looked up when he came in. Her eyes were puffy and red but clear.
“Hey,” she said quietly.
Seth didn’t answer right away. He crossed to the table and set the bundle of clothes down gently. Then he pulled the watch from his pocket and held it up. “This was in your jacket.”
Her brow furrowed, then she smiled faintly. “My watch. I forgot it was even in there.”
“It’s dead,” he said. “But it could have been broadcasting your location when it was charged.”
The words landed like stones.
Lottie stared at the device, her face going pale. “No …”
“He could have followed it. Not directly to here, but close. Close enough to find you if he were looking.”
Her whole body recoiled. The blanket slipped from her shoulders as she stood too fast, stumbling back toward the wall like she’d been struck.
“Oh, God.”
“He’s not here,” Seth said calmly. “But this? I bet my next paycheck that this was his beacon, Lottie. One you didn’t even know you were carrying.”
She looked at the watch, then at Seth, and her voice broke. “I thought I was free.”
“You are,” he said, stepping forward, his voice gentler now. “I’m not plugging it in. No one is. It’s done.”
She wrapped her arms around her middle and sank onto the edge of the couch. “I’m so stupid. How could I not know? I was carrying it the whole time.”
