Managing to make it to her front door, I hope my panicked knock is enough to bring her to the door before I’m seen. My prayer is answered when after just thirty seconds, she answers.

“What in God’s name?” She takes one look at my face and pulls me inside. “I’m going to kill him.” She moves me straight to the kitchen as I try to bring my breathing back under control.

“I need you to get me out of here right now, Heidi. We don’t have much time.” I finally find my voice as she wets down a cloth, preparing to clean me up.

“I need to take you to the damn police and the hospital, is what I need to do,” she counters and I know this is going to take some work to get her to listen.

“Heidi, we don’t have time for this. I need to leave town now before Chad has every cop out there looking for me.” I start pulling her back to the front door.

“Just wait a second, Kenzie. Tell me what happened.” She breaks free from my hold. My panic is only growing each second she fights me on this.

“PLEASE!” I scream, starting to see my chance slipping away. The idea of freedom is teasing me. I’m so close. Yet so far.

The distress in my voice is enough to make her realize just how serious I am.

“Fuck,” she curses, finally listening. “Let me pack a bag.” We really don’t have time for her to pack a bag, but I don’t want to push it. I’ve just shown up in the middle of the night and demanded we leave.

After pacing for a few minutes, Heidi comes back with an overnight bag. Dressed in yoga pants and sweatshirt, she hands me a pair of shoes. I take them with a thank you and we move back to the front door. I don’t know where we’re heading; all I know is I need as much of a head start as I can get.

“You sure about this, Kenz?” she asks one last time.

“I’ve never been more sure about anything. I only have you here. And as much as I love you, I need to get as far away as I can.” I admit the ugly truth. I don’t have anything holding me here. No family. No loved ones. If I stay any longer, I’m not sure I will survive.

She doesn’t say anything or try to change my mind. I can see the understanding in her eyes, see the pity she feels for me. The concern. As much as I love Heidi, I can’t let our friendship deter me from leaving.

“Come on,” she finally agrees. I know this will be hard for her, but she knows deep down it’s my only option. We walk quickly back through her house but before we can get to the front door, the bell rings.

Our eyes find each other quickly, both of us coming to a standstill.

“OPEN UP, HEIDI! I know she’s in there.” Chad’s enraged voice comes through the front door and washes over me, blanketing me with his own particular kind of terror. He rings the bell again and bangs on the door.

I wasn’t quick enough. It’s only going to be worse now.

“Oh, God, no.” My legs become jelly, no longer able to keep me up, and I fall to the floor in a heap.

“Don’t you dare give up,” Heidi whisper-yells at me. She comes forward and leans down. Placing her hands under my arms, she helps me find my feet.

“It’s too late, Heidi. He’s found me.” The words find their way out over my distress. If I thought tonight was bad, when he has me alone after this, who knows what he will do.

“Call the police. Now!” she orders as the front door is kicked open. Chad stands in the doorway, his face distorted with rage. I want to run, take my chances and hope I can get away, but I can’t. I failed to be out of his clutches for less than twenty minutes, and the pain of that realization hurts more than my busted-up face.

“Mackenzie, there you are, sweetheart.” His sugar-coated voice fills the hall, sinking me further into the depths of despair. “What are you doing here?” He looks at me, a frown spreading across his face.

“You better fucking get out of my house. I’m calling the cops, Chad.” Heidi steps in front of me, but we both know she’s not going to stop Chad from getting what he wants.

“I’m just here to take my wife home.”

“To her prison?” She scoffs, making the situation worse. She has no idea what he’s capable of.

“Come here now, Mackenzie. You should have known I would find you. Wherever you go, I will always find you.” Just as the words leave his lips, a lone tear rips its way through me and slides down the apple of my cheek. I’ll never be rid of him and he’ll never let me go.

Eight

Beau

“What do you mean it’s a missing person’s case?” My hand comes down on Jackson’s desk. My patience is wearing thin and I’m about to fucking lose it.

“I mean he’s off the grid, Beau. The Mayor has the whole department trying to find him. We’re treating it like a missing person’s case.” Jackson delivers the news I don’t want to hear.

“Bullshit, the asshole probably has him in hiding so he can protect him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No, I don’t. But I know his family’s ties, know what they are all capable of. We can’t just sit around and wait for Chad to pull some shit. He’s messed up. You’ve fucking seen how far he was out of line at Jesse’s party last year and how he got off.” I think back to when he held a broken beer bottle to Holly’s throat trying to find Mackenzie. We thought the crazy fucker would be put away, but he pleaded out and was slapped with a misdemeanor and community service.

“I don’t know what you want from me, Beau. I’m doing what we can here. For all we know, he fucked with the wrong person and he’s in some shallow grave. We need to look at all possibilities here.”

“Fuck, I wish.” I scoff, knowing it’s where he belongs.

“I didn’t hear that.” Jackson counters.

I smirk, then hold his stare for a minute before running my hand over my beard.

“So that’s it. Just some bullshit play from the Mayor and it’s filed away for never.”

“Trust me, it’s far from over. But you’re blowing up for no reason. Keep your head straight. No one knows she’s back in town and if Chad is missing, he’s not going to bother you.”

He has a point, but it doesn’t placate me.

“I don’t believe for a second he’s missing. He’s waiting.”

“Well, we have an APB out on him. We’re waiting too.”

“Fuck the APB. You think some bullshit police protocol is going to protect her from this sick fuck?” I stand and begin pacing. Jesus Christ. How hard is it to find the fucker? “You sure you can trust these assholes here?” I point out the door to the officers on the case. “They’re not working for the Mayor?”

“Trust me, I understand your frustration, Beau. But I told you this wasn’t going to be easy. You need to let us do what we can.”

“No, fuck this shit. If you can’t even find the fucker, how am I supposed to trust you have her back?” I stand and move toward the door.

“Beau, don’t do anything stupid,” he calls out, and I stop and turn.

“I won’t, but if I have to, you won’t know.” I walk out of his office without a backward glance. The last thing I need to do is bring us into more shit, but Chad needs to be found, not only for Mackenzie’s sake, but also for my own. If the asshole gets to her again, I’m not sure I’d be able to forgive myself. I’d rather take the fucker’s life than have him hurt her.

“Think this through, Beau,” Jackson’s warning across the station doesn’t stop me. I know I should just leave it, let Jackson and his men sort it out, but knowing the fucker is out there, probably trying to come up with some sick way of getting her back, is consuming me. I don’t want to think about why this is messing with me. If I were honest, it’s more than a need to protect her. It’s something more. Something I’m not sure I’m ready to admit. Just being under the same roof appears to tame the growing need though.