“Alright.” I nodded, and I was already a little relieved at the thought of having the apartment to myself once more. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy her company—far from it. I loved having her around—but recently it had been hard for me to keep up the façade around people, and the more time I spent alone, the less time I had to spend keeping my game face on.
She headed upstairs to take care of Erin, and I cleaned up the wine glasses and went to bed early. Maybe I was a little depressed; maybe I had been putting far too much stock into my relationship with Logan and Erin, finding direction in the way that they treated me, the way that they had welcomed me into their lives. I craved them back, craved the breakfasts with the two of them, craved falling asleep next to Logan and knowing that I didn’t need to sneak out first thing in the morning.
But giving it time and space was the right thing; when everything was figured out with that ex of his, maybe then we could pick up where we left off. If he didn’t already hate me for abandoning the two of them with no explanation.
I was coming back in from work one day and trying not to think about the bad luck regarding the man I had feelings for but couldn’t be with to live in the same building as me. Every time I came through the door, I would find my mind drifting over in his direction, wondering if he was in his apartment or at work or hanging out with Erin or … well, anything, really. Wondering if he was thinking about me while he was doing whatever he was doing.
I went to check the mail, and I was just going through my letters—most of them spam—when I heard a voice that I recognized.
“Let go, you’re hurting me!”
My head snapped up, and my heart leaped into my throat. Was that Erin? It couldn’t be. She would have been at school right now—maybe just back. Whatever or whoever it was, it sounded like a little girl, and she sounded like she was in some amount of pain at that moment. Which meant I had to stick my head in and make sure that everything was alright.
I stuffed the letters haphazardly back into the cubby and turned to find the source of the noise; it seemed to be coming from the small corridor that ran under the stairs and out into the back of the building. I kept my footsteps light in the hopes of catching whoever it was in the act, and, as I rounded the corner and laid eyes on what was waiting for me around the other side, my heart dropped.
I recognized her at once—I had her image burned into my brain from when I’d hurried past her in the street. Samantha. But next to her, the thing that really unsettled me, she had her fingers wrapped around the upper arm of her daughter. Erin looked frightened, her back to me as she tried to tug herself away. Even in the dim half-light of the corridor, I could see the flash of fear in her eyes, as though she wanted nothing more than to get the hell away from this woman and back to the apartment. I swallowed heavily. I had promised myself that I wasn’t going to get involved, but surely, I couldn’t just stand by and let this happen?
“Hey!” I called out and found my voice croaky and hoarse around the edges. I tried again. “Hey!”
This time, the words echoed down the corridor to Samantha and Erin—Samantha had her hand on the door to the back courtyard, and she slowly turned around and plastered a wide, insincere smile on her face, like she could fool me.
“Oh, hello,” she greeted me, instantly letting go of Erin’s arm. “Can I help you? Are you lost?”
Even though her tone was sweet on the surface, I could hear the barbed edges beneath and knew she wanted nothing more than for me to back off and let this happen. I stood my ground, even though my legs were shaking a little. It was just starting to sink in what was really happening, and I knew this was a crucial moment; if I gave her even a hint of a chance to get out of here, she would take it, and there might not be any getting her back if she managed to escape.
“Do I know you?” I asked conversationally, hoping that I would be able to keep her talking long enough for someone else to arrive, someone who might have a better idea of what the hell to do in a situation like this.
She cocked her head at me and stared for a long time as though trying to figure me out. “No.” She shook her head firmly. She was still mostly shrouded in shadow, but Erin had shifted an inch or two forward into the light and was staring at me intently, not drawing her eyes from mine. I flicked my gaze to her and gave her a brief smile, letting her know that I at least knew who she was and that I wasn’t going to let anything bad happen to her.
“Maybe you recognize me,” Samantha cocked her head at me. “I’m Erin’s mother. Perhaps you’ve seen me around.”
“Maybe I have,” I agreed, and my mind was running at a thousand miles a minute as I tried to work out what the hell I was meant to do now that I had her here and talking. I knew that this wouldn’t hold out long, that eventually, she would catch on to the fact that I was stalling her and would carry on with whatever it was she had been doing in the first place. But she had let go of Erin for now, and that was a win that I would take.
“Hey, that reminds me …” I slapped my hand to my forehead, hoping the bad acting was enough to convince her. “Erin, you left something in my apartment. One of your books. Do you remember?”
I widened my eyes slightly at the girl, indicating that she should go along with what was coming out of my mouth, and she nodded at once, shifting another step away from Samantha.
“Yes, I remember,” she agreed.
“Do you want to come to get it now?” I asked, staring at her intently. “I mean if you’re not busy …”
“Yes.” She nodded again, and her body was so stiff it looked as though it might have shattered if anyone had laid a hand on her.
“Erin, stay with me,” Samantha ordered, her voice suddenly dropping the sugar-sweet tone as she took her daughter by the shoulder again. Erin looked anguished, as though she could tell that something very wrong was happening right now but didn’t have the words to express what—or was simply too afraid to.
“It really won’t take any time at all,” I continued cheerfully, playing at oblivious. “Two minutes, nothing more than that. You’re just headed out to the courtyard anyway, there’s nothing out there that can’t wait.”
“You don’t get to tell me what I do with my daughter,” she snapped back suddenly, and I saw the face of the woman I had seen that first day when she came by the apartment building. Vindictive, sharp, pointed, cruel. I felt a flash of panic, and I knew, above all else, that I had to get that girl away from her mother and to a safe place until Logan could get here.
“Nina,” Erin spoke my name, and I crouched down and held my hand out to her.
“See, she just wants to get her book back,” I told Samantha firmly. “We’ll be back down in two minutes. Promise.”
“Erin, stay here,” Samantha snapped angrily, and Erin stood rooted to the ground as though she was too frightened to move.
“Erin, it’s okay, come over to me.” I squeezed my hands together as I held them out to her, and finally, she pulled away from Samantha and hurried across the corridor to me. I felt a punch of triumph and relief as soon as she was by my side, and then I laid eyes on Samantha, and I knew that this was far from over.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Samantha exclaimed, striding toward me and poking her finger at my face as though she intended to pop one of my eyes out with a manicured nail. “That’s my daughter. You don’t get to tell her what to do!”
“I’m not trying to tell her what to do.” I tried to stay calm, but I was having trouble, fear bubbling in my system. I needed to stay cool. I needed to stay calm, but that was nearly impossible when there was this woman screeching in my face like she wanted to murder me on the spot.
“Erin, come back here,” Samantha ordered, but Erin had already retreated behind me.
“Stay there, Erin,” I told her, and Erin made it to the stairs, where she clung on to the banister like it was the only thing keeping Samantha away from her. Samantha glared at her through the bars and shook her head.
&
nbsp; “You have to do as I say, sweetie,” she said, trying to return to the pseudo-sweetness she had worn before. “You don’t want to get in trouble now, do you?”
“Erin, you won’t get in any trouble if you stay there,” I promised her. I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone and then remembered that I’d left it on the table up in my apartment to charge, not thinking I would need it when I was out that day. I cursed myself. I needed to get hold of Logan, but I had no idea where he was in the first place. Maybe at work? Maybe at school, waiting to pick Erin up …
“Don’t listen to her,” Samantha snarled, brushing me aside as she made her way towards the stairs. I stumbled and nearly fell as she pushed past me, but I managed to keep myself upright and took off after her.
“Samantha, I think you should at least wait until Logan gets home—”
“Don’t you dare say his name to me!” She spun around and hissed the words at me as though I’d slapped her. “He’s got nothing to do with this. He’s been trying to keep me away from her for nine years, and I’m done with it. If I have to take what’s mine, then I will.”
My jaw dropped. She was talking about Erin, about her own daughter, as though she was a possession that she intended to snatch back from the man who had stolen from her. I knew then, if I hadn’t before, that I couldn’t let her go anywhere with Erin—that I couldn’t let her get out of this building with that girl, or there would be hell to pay. I bounded up the stairs in front of her, putting myself between her and the girl.
“Samantha, I think you should leave,” I told her firmly. I had no idea where this was coming from, but I knew I believed it with every fiber of my being; she needed to get out of here, she needed to leave Erin alone, and if she wasn’t going to do either of those things, then it was down to me to keep the girl safe.
“I think you should back the fuck away from my daughter and keep your nose out of my business!” she yelled at me, advancing dangerously up the stairs. I held my ground, planting my hands on my hips and making myself as wide as I could so she couldn’t get past me.
“She’s not your daughter,” I told her, remembering what I’d heard Logan yelling at her before. “You just gave birth to her. You can’t just turn up and take her away.”
“I got the court order,” she shot back, and I shook my head.
“No, I’d know about it if you did,” I replied. “Ant would have told me. And besides, this isn’t how this works. You don’t just turn up in the middle of the day and sneak her out of the building.”
“You’re accusing me of kidnapping my daughter?” She threw her hands in the air as though she could barely believe that those words were coming out of her mouth. That was the way she played it, though—she would accuse you of thinking something ridiculous about her, overlooking the fact that she was actually doing the ridiculous thing. She would get you to back down and give up, but I knew it was crucial that I held my ground.
“Show me the proof that you’re not,” I told her, backing toward Erin as though Samantha might make a lunge for her. My heart was hammering, and my palms were sweating, but this little girl needed me, this little girl who had let me into her life and insisted on pancakes for breakfast the first time I stayed over. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.
“Show me where it says you get a fucking say in what happens to her,” she snarled, closing in on me, thrusting her face so close to mine I could smell the cheap, musky body spray that she was doused in, head to toe. I had no idea how to stall her any longer, and I craned my neck for someone else, someone I could appeal to for help—”
And that’s when the door opened, and Logan burst in.
“Samantha!” he exclaimed, and he bounded up the steps to stand next to me, getting in between the two of us so she couldn’t move an inch closer to me.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he panted, far less afraid of her than I was. He glanced around and saw Erin standing behind us, and I could see the relief painted all over his face. And then he turned back to his ex, his face twisted with a fury that I had never seen on anyone before in my life. It would have been terrifying if I didn’t understand the depth of his anger, where it came from, and why it was so intense.
“You took her from the school.” He moved toward Samantha, and she backed down the stairs quickly to get away from him. “You knew we had the meeting next week, but you just couldn’t wait, could you? You had to have her for yourself. I know the way you think about her. You’re a monster, you know that? You could have ended up hurting her, or worse …”
He came to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, and for the first time since I’d laid eyes on her, Samantha actually looked a little frightened.
“I just wanted to spend time with her,” she muttered, but she sounded less convincing now.
“Get out of here,” he ordered, voice low and deadly serious. “Get out of here now.”
“You’re not going to call the cops, are you?” she asked nervously, and Logan let out a mirthless laugh.
“I’m calling every damn agency I can find in this city that can lock you up,” he told her. “Now get out.”
“I’m not going until you promise me you won’t press charges.” She crossed her arms over her chest, still clinging on to whatever high ground she seemed to believe that she had left.
“Then I’ll make you,” he replied simply, and with that he picked her up off the ground and carried her, protesting loudly to the door.
“Put me down!” she shrieked. “If you don’t let go of me, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” he demanded as he kicked the door open and tossed her outside. “Go on, Samantha, get the fuck out of here. You can expect to hear from my lawyer and also the fucking police in the next, oh, I’d say hour.”
She ducked her head down, shot one last furious look at the three of us, and then vanished into the street. Logan pulled his phone out and called the police, giving them a description and a direction. As he spoke, Erin came to sit on the step next to me, and I put an arm around her tentatively. Logan hung up the phone, let out a long sigh, and headed up the steps to join us.
He scooped Erin into his arms and held her close for a really long time as though he didn’t want to ever let her go again as long as he lived. She clutched on to him the same way, and I closed my eyes and felt a wave of relief knowing that I had kept her out of the clutches of that terrible woman. That was all that really mattered to me—I could handle everything else, the break-up, all of it, knowing that at least Erin hadn’t wound up being snatched by Samantha, that she stayed with Logan where she belonged.
“Let’s get home, shall we?” he suggested to Erin, planting her back on solid ground once more. “I think we could all do with some rest and something to eat.”
And I realized, as he spoke, that he was looking right at me.
I cocked an eyebrow. “Me as well?”
“Of course,” he agreed, and he smiled as he offered me a hand. “Both my girls.”
Without a moment of hesitation, I put my hand in his and let him lead me up the stairs. The panic was beginning to recede, and in its place was something else. Something new. Maybe something better than what had been there in the first place. I smiled as I followed the two of them up the stairs and wondered if something good could come out of this after all.
Chapter 18
Logan
I ran a bath for Erin, and she vanished off into the bathroom for a while—she always felt safe in the bath and liked to read in there, and I figured she could do with a little time to unwind after the utter bullshit that had just gone down with Samantha.
“Oh, my God, are you okay?” Nina asked as soon as I emerged from Erin’s bedroom, which I had checked to make sure that everything was in place; the last thing I wanted was for Samantha to have made off with anything, but nothing appeared to be missing, thank God. I guess the stress of the day must have been written all over my face because the way that Nina reacted made it sound as though
I had just collapsed to the floor right in front of her.
I nodded and then shook my head. “No, not really,” I confessed, and I dropped down onto the couch and ran my hands over my face. “I can’t believe I let this happen. I can’t believe she got that far with it…”
“What actually happened?” she asked, furrowing her brow and perching on the edge of the couch next to me. Her presence was soothing, and I found my brain slowing down a little, enough that I could actually talk to her.
“I got to the school to pick Erin up and take her home,” I began, “like normal. Samantha and I, we had managed to come to an agreement where we were going to go to Child Services and figure out the best way that she could be in Erin’s life. Fuck, I was so stupid, I thought that she would actually go along with it this time and put some effort in …”
“Hey, it’s not your fault.” Nina touched my knee, stopping me before I plunged straight into self-flagellation. “You couldn’t have known what she was going to do.”
“I’m pretty sure she just used that meeting to find out where Erin went to school,” I continued, my voice a little shaky, the reality of what could have happened just beginning to sink in for me. “And then … she must have just turned up there and taken her at the end of the day. Jesus, when I get my hands on whoever was on duty at that school, I’m going to tear them a new one.”
“Why do you think she brought her back here first?” Nina wondered, and I shook my head.
“No idea,” I admitted. “But probably to pick up some stuff, or maybe Erin convinced her she needed to first. Whatever it was, I’m so glad that it happened. Fuck knows what she would have pulled if she had managed to get her out of the building; if they hadn’t run into you …”
I fell silent once more, the horror really beginning to make itself clear to me. She could have taken my daughter. The thought was so ugly that my brain could hardly wrap around it, but it was the truth. If Nina hadn’t been there to step in, to stop her …
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