Chapter 10 - Headlights in the Fog
By midnight, a thick, rolling Pennsylvania fog had settled over the historic streets of Shadyside, blurring the streetlamps into hazy halos of yellow light. Inside Mark and Rachel’s house, all the lights on the ground floor were turned off, casting the rooms in deep, protective shadows.
Upstairs in the nursery, Emily was sleeping peacefully in her crib, completely unaware of the storm gathering outside.
I sat at the kitchen island, staring out the back window toward the dark, quiet alleyway. My phone—factory-reset and stripped of every tracking app Derek had ever touched—sat face down on the granite counter.
“The private security team is parked two blocks away in an unmarked van,” Mark whispered quietly, walking into the kitchen holding a mug of black coffee. He handed me a glass of ice water. “And the local police have an alert out for the gray SUV across all county lines. If he crosses into Pennsylvania, they’ll intercept him before he even reaches our neighborhood.”
“He’s coming here,” I said, my voice steady despite the adrenaline humming through my veins. “He didn't send that threatening letter just to scare me. He sent it because he wanted me to know he was already moving.”
Rachel walked into the kitchen, wearing a heavy robe and holding a heavy brass candlestick she had pulled from the formal dining room. “Let him come. Mark has the motion ready for a contempt warrant that will land him straight in a county holding cell.”
Suddenly, the motion sensor floodlights mounted above the driveway outside illuminated the backyard in a blinding wash of stark white light.
We all froze.
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A heavy, low-slung engine hummed softly through the damp night air, pulling slowly into the alley behind the house without its headlights on.
My heart hammered against my ribs, but the paralyzing fear I used to feel in Derek’s presence was entirely gone. I walked over to the back door, resting my hand on the cool brass handle, and waited.
