Virginia Vaughan - Risky Return

“I’m fine,” Missy assured her. “I’m going to try to sleep.”

“Good. Be sure to keep the door locked and don’t answer it for anyone. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Rebecca ended the call then rejoined Collin at the cash register.

A text message from Kent alerted them that it was safe to return to the house. When Rebecca reentered her home, she flinched at the threatening message still there, but then she saw fingerprint dust everywhere. Kent’s people had left a mess but at least they were gone.

Collin got to work boarding up the window that had been broken. “Tomorrow, I’ll have someone come out and replace the glass.”

“Thank you,” Rebecca said, grateful to have someone else handling these things. She was still shaking inside from knowing someone had not only attacked her, but had also been inside her house. It felt different now, like a sacred trust had been broken. Having Collin with her eased that feeling, but how comfortable would she feel once he was gone?

He opened the can of paint he’d purchased and began covering up the threatening words, but after one coat, it still seeped through. Evil always did.

He shook his head. “Guess it’s going to take another coat. I’ll let this one dry then start on another.”

She heated up the takeout containers of ribs they’d picked up and they sat down to eat. It was surreal sitting across from Collin eating a meal. He was so different yet so much the same. He didn’t have to be here with her, yet he’d chosen to stay and help without being asked. She wasn’t surprised he’d made a good soldier; he’d always had a heart to help others.

She had to stop thinking so fondly of him. This was the man who’d promised to love her for all time then abandoned her with no word after she lost the baby. No amount of boarding up windows or painting a wall could change that. He’d left her and no matter how nice he was being today, she couldn’t let herself trust him or she’d be devastated again when he left.

They ate in silence; the awkwardness between them filled the air. Despite the pain of their past relationship, he’d shown up today and she’d once known everything about him. She knew very little about him now except the basics he’d shared—he’d been an army ranger, now worked private security and was back in town to deal with his late mother’s estate.

“So tell me something about you,” she said.

He shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. My work keeps me traveling. Or at least, it used to.”

“You’re not working overseas anymore?”

He shrugged. “That’s something that is still up in the air. What about you, Rebecca? How is your life?”

“It’s good. I’m happy.”

“You never remarried?”

She looked at him, confused. “How could I when I’m still married to you?”

He choked on his food then dropped it, looking dismayed as he stared at her. “What do you mean? You never got a divorce?”

She was surprised by his shock. Of course, he’d assumed she had taken care of it. She should have, instead of letting this joke of a marriage continue, yet she’d never been able to bring herself to file the papers. “At first, I was too heartbroken to even think about it. Then I was just too ashamed. I never told anyone that we got married. My father would have been so angry and at the time, I just couldn’t deal with it. My family still doesn’t know. After a while, it seemed easier to keep it a secret. I never told them about the baby, either.”

He leaned back in his seat and sighed. “No one knows?”

She shook her head. It seemed wrong to never mention their child and she often felt guilty for keeping it a secret, but whenever she tried to think about it or mention it to someone, it brought back all the pain and heartache of that day. “Sometimes it feels like it never happened, but I know it did.”

She stood and cleared away the containers, hoping activity would ease the tension between them. She picked up a towel and started wiping down the counters, vaguely aware of him standing behind her.

“Rebecca, I—I’m sorry.”

“Don’t.” She turned around to face him. “This day has been too much for me, Collin. I can’t deal with you, too. I just want to go to bed and forget this day ever happened.”

He backed away from her, digging his hands into his pockets in a way she remembered he did whenever he’d been rebuked. “I’ll finish up that second coat then I’ll be out of your way.”

She gave a sigh of relief and thanked him when the second coat of paint covered the ugly marks. Collin cleaned up then made certain the house was secure before he left. The place felt empty with him gone, but she knew it was for the best. It felt good to finally tell someone else what she’d been struggling with. It was like a burden lifted from her shoulders. She wasn’t alone in this. But despite how grateful she was that he’d been here today, she couldn’t risk her heart by having him around long-term. It stunned her that she still had such strong feelings for him even after all this time. It had to be because of the stress of the day’s events.

She got ready for bed then slipped between the blankets, her body screaming for rest but her mind still wide-awake and the pounding in her head unimaginable. How would she ever sleep with all that had happened to her today? And she still had to decide what to do with Missy. The girl had shown up on her doorstep two nights ago, frightened and claiming she’d been abducted by people who’d wanted her baby. The timing was right. Missy had been six months pregnant when she’d vanished, she’d been missing for months, and she was certainly now not pregnant. But who were these people after her and how was Rebecca going to protect her if she wouldn’t go to the police?

Her mind turned back to Collin despite the fact that she was trying not to think about him. Seeing him again today evoked so many emotions she’d spent years trying to manage. Grief for the loss of her child. Heartbreak over the way he’d abandoned her. She should hate him. Why, then, was falling into his arms all she wanted to do?

She finally drifted off but her sleep was fitful and restless, her dreams wrought with all the pain and fear that had rocked her day. She jerked awake but was certain it hadn’t been the dream that woke her.

Panic filled her as she realized a figure was standing over her bed.

Rebecca scrambled up but the man’s hands grabbed her and wrapped around her neck. He pinned her down, choking her. She gasped for breath, fear rising in her. She kicked and clawed at him, struggling to get free, and felt her nails digging into flesh through the dark mask he wore.

God, help me .

She couldn’t go out like this. She couldn’t leave Missy to fight these people alone. She wasn’t going to let them win! One of her kicks landed, sending the man rolling off her. She reached for her bedside lamp and crashed it over his head. He hit the floor, groaning in pain as Rebecca ran. She hurried through the house to the front door and ran outside, not stopping to look back to see if her attacker was following. She crossed the lawn to her next-door neighbor’s house and knocked until he answered. He was groggy after being pulled from sleep.

“Rebecca, what’s wrong?”

Only then did she allow herself to fall apart. “He attacked me!”

The call from Kent had Collin dressed and heading toward Rebecca’s house in mere moments. He saw her when he pulled up and parked. She was sitting in the ambulance as a forensics team cleaned beneath her nails. As he neared her, the ugly bruises around her neck were just starting to form, to go along with the ones on her face. She looked pale and weak, but he knew she wasn’t. She’d survived this attack by fighting back and that took courage and strength. She’d always been strong—the strongest woman he’d ever known. She’d defied her father to be with him and that had taken real courage.