Outside, the night was dark and heavy. The distant streetlights looked like malevolent eyes watching our fragile, newfound home. Alex was in prison, but his reach was long. What did Dylan want? What would he do to Lily? The peace we had fought so hard for was about to be shattered once again.
The silence in the room after Maya hung up was suffocating. Leo stared at me, his face a mask of disbelief in the dim lamplight.
“Alex’s cousin,” he repeated, his voice raspy.
“Maya just found out,” I said, my hand still shaking as I reached for the phone. “He got drunk tonight and let it slip. Said his cousin’s suffering in prison had to be repaid.”
Leo threw back the covers and got out of bed. He walked to Lily’s room and pushed the door open a crack. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating our daughter sleeping peacefully, clutching her teddy bear. He stood there for a long time before gently closing the door.
“Starting tomorrow, I’m taking Lily to and from preschool,” he said, his voice low and hard. “And you’re not to go out alone.”
Maya said, “Dylan took off. I told him when she confronted him, he just stormed out. His phone is off.”
“Where would he go?” Leo frowned.
“She has no idea. Her dad is already pulling strings trying to find him.”
Neither of us slept that night. Leo sat on the living room couch, smoking one cigarette after another. I watched his long, lonely shadow on the wall. Around four, I got up for a glass of water. He stubbed out his cigarette.
“Did I wake you?”
“Couldn’t sleep,” I said, sitting next to him.
“What are you thinking about?”
“About Alex,” he said. “About the depths of his hatred, to still be doing this from a prison cell.”
“Maybe it’s not hate,” I said softly. “Maybe it’s pride.”
Leo turned to look at me.
“A guy like him, he’s used to getting everything he wants. Me leaving him, you and I getting together, those were defeats. He can’t stand to lose.”
“So he has to win,” Leo said.
I clutched my glass.
“Even if it means using the dirtiest tactics imaginable.”
The next day, life continued on the surface. Leo took Lily to school. I called Maya.
“Any news?”
“Nothing,” she said, her voice exhausted. “My dad’s contact checked traffic cameras. Dylan’s car was seen heading out of the city last night toward the mountains. We don’t know if he’ll be back.”
She paused.
“Chloe, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “He was planning this.”
“But I should have seen something,” Maya insisted, her voice thick with guilt. “He was always asking about you guys. About Lily.”
“What did he ask?”
I felt a jolt of alarm.
“He asked where you adopted Lily from, what the process was like, who takes care of her most of the time.”
My blood ran cold.
“He also asked where you lived, where Leo’s new office was, where you worked.”
Maya’s voice trailed off.
“Looking back, it’s obvious he was gathering intel.”
After hanging up, I felt a chill despite the sunny morning. Dylan hadn’t been interested in Maya at all. He was using her to get to us. When Leo got home, I told him everything. His face grew darker with every word.
“I’m going to see our lawyer,” he said. “See if we can get a restraining order.”
“Will that work if he’s already disappeared?”
“It creates a paper trail,” he said, grabbing his keys. “Lock the door. Don’t open it for anyone.”
After he left, I sat on the couch, my mind racing. This house had just started to feel like a home, and now it was under siege. That afternoon, Leo picked Lily up from preschool as planned.
“I spoke with her teacher,” he said when they got home. “From now on, no one can pick her up except you or me. Period.”
“What did she say?”
“She was very understanding. They’ll be on alert.”
Leo ruffled Lily’s hair.
“Daddy’s going to be picking you up for a few days, okay, sweetie?”
“Yay!” Lily cheered, oblivious.
That evening, Maya came over in person to apologize again. Her eyes were red and swollen.
“My dad had someone pull Dylan’s file,” she said, handing me a folder.
I opened it. Dylan Reed, twenty-eight, insurance agent. No significant criminal record, but under family it clearly listed cousin Alex Vance. Records showed Dylan had visited Alex in prison three times.
“The last visit was two months ago,” Maya pointed out. “A week after that, he arranged to meet me through a mutual friend.”
She gave a bitter laugh.
“It was all a setup.”
“What about his job?” Leo asked.
“He quit yesterday,” Maya said. “His coworker said he’d been clearing out his desk for days.”
“He was planning to run,” Leo concluded. “But he might come back.”
A week passed in tense silence. Dylan seemed to have vanished. Our lives fell back into a routine, but the knot of fear in my stomach never went away. Leo took on a new project and worked from home, emerging from his office every hour to check on Lily and me. On Saturday, we took Lily to the mall. She was trying on a dress when I saw him. Across the way, behind a pillar, a man in a baseball cap and a face mask was watching us. The build looked like Dylan’s.
“Leo,” I said, jumping to my feet. “What is it? Over there.”
I pointed. The figure ducked back behind the pillar and was gone. Leo took off after him. I held Lily close, my heart hammering. A few minutes later, Leo returned, his face grim.
“He disappeared into the crowd. I lost him.”
“Was it him?”
“I don’t know. But we’re going home now.”
From that day on, we felt constantly watched. A car parked too long on our street. A figure glimpsed near Lily’s school. It was like living with a ghost. Leo installed a state-of-the-art security system. He started taking self-defense classes.
“We can’t live in fear,” he said one night. “We have to draw him out.”
“It’s too dangerous,” I argued. “Especially for Lily.”
“That’s exactly why we have to end this,” he said, his eyes hard.
We consulted our lawyer, Mr. Davies, who advised us to go to the police. We did. The detective assigned to our case, a seasoned cop named Detective Miller, no relation, listened patiently.
“You have a credible threat, but no hard evidence,” he said. “Without a direct action from him, my hands are tied.”
“So what do we do?” I asked, frustrated.
“If he appears again, call 911 immediately. If he contacts you, record everything.”
Leaving the station, I felt a profound sense of helplessness. The law was on our side, but it couldn’t act until the worst had already happened. The waiting was torture. Leo’s insomnia returned. I woke up multiple times a night to check on Lily. She must have sensed our anxiety. One night, she padded into our room, clutching her bear.
“Mommy, Daddy, are you sad?” she asked, her little face full of concern.
“Of course not, sweetie. Why do you ask?” I said, lifting her onto the bed.
“Because Daddy doesn’t smile anymore,” she said, looking at Leo. “And Mommy is always staring at nothing.”
Leo and I exchanged a look.
“Daddy’s just tired from work,” he said, forcing a smile.
“Then I’ll tell you a story,” Lily declared and launched into a rambling tale from preschool.
Listening to her sweet, earnest voice, Leo’s smile became real. It was the first time I’d seen it in weeks.
Two weeks later, we got a break. But it came from Alex. He’d had a medical emergency in prison and was transferred to a hospital. The prison had to notify his next of kin. His only registered contact was Dylan. He had finally resurfaced. By the time we found out, Alex had already had surgery. Stomach cancer, late stage. It had spread. The doctor said he had three months at most.
“Should we go?” Leo asked me.
