Page 49 of Grumpy Ex's Secret Baby

While she called the sheriff’s office, I called my private investigator and security team. I was done letting the sheriff put my family’s lives at risk.

It seemed like an eternity before two cars from the sheriff’s department came racing up the road, their sirens blaring and their lights lighting up the night sky. I scowled and met Corey halfway as he got out of his car.

“Do you want to tell me why you have allowed this to continue?” I asked, crossing my arms and looking down at him. Corey wasn’t a small man, but I was taller and had been known to be intimidating when dealing with clients.

“I don’t even know what’s happened yet.”

I gestured to the front porch. “By all means, take a look at what you continue to allow happen.”

There was no way to miss his eye roll only seconds before he saw the mannequin dressed to look like Haley. It had been brutalized in ways that I wasn’t sure I would be able to get out of my mind. It was all too easy to picture Haley in the mannequin’s place.

“I’m going to be calling whoever the hell your superior is,” I said to Corey as I stood behind him. “This has been a disgusting way to deal with what you had been told is a real threat.”

“I didn’t know,” Corey said, his voice soft as some other officers started taking more pictures. “How could I have known?”

“Do your fucking job,” I said, trying to hold myself back from kicking him off the property. “When someone tells you that something is a threat, you do your fucking job.”

He looked over at Haley, but I stepped between them. When he looked up at me, his gaze was distanced, and he looked like he was being torn apart on the inside.

Good, he deserves it.

“My team will be intervening in the morning. Don’t stand in their way, or I will destroy you,” I said, before turning to Haley and pulling her into a tight hug.

“Can we go to my house?” she whispered, looking up at me. “I don’t want to be alone tonight, and I can’t stay here.”

“We can go as soon as the sheriff and his team have taken pictures and statements,” I said, wishing I could take her away right now. “But I'll take you home as soon as they’re done.”

She nodded, looking past me to stare at the mannequin. “Okay.”

I held onto her, already worried she was slipping through my fingers. She seemed to be drawn deeper into herself, and I hated there was nothing I could do about it.

In the morning, my team would be in town, and I would find a way to protect her. She would hate it. She hated it when people invaded her life, watching over her every move.

There was no world where she wouldn’t start resenting me for hovering over her.

I would keep her safe, even if it meant that she was going to shove me away again.

Even if it meant that she hated me.

19

HALEY

Ihadbeenterrifiedlast night. The first thing I did as soon as the police were gone was call my dad and ask to speak to Trinity. After talking with her, I had gotten back on the phone to tell him what was happening.

Once I had finished updating my dad, I sat in the bathroom and cried until there were no more tears left to cry.

Before Tyson had walked into my life again, everything was going alright. There were things I would have changed if I could have, but we were happy. I didn’t worry about a stalker. There was no risk to Trinity’s safety.

There was no confusion for Trinity.

Even though I hadn’t told Tyson, Trinity was asking where her dad was while he was gone. It nearly brought me to my knees. Especially once I got the email from the daycare about the father-child activity day coming up.

It was no wonder she had started asking about her dad—just in the vague way that young children do—but it still made me panic.

She was confused about Tyson and where he went. She wanted to know why other kids had dads at pick-up time, and she didn’t.

I didn’t know how to tell her the truth. I didn’t know how to tell Tyson the truth either.

---