Chapter Twenty-Two

 

 

It was over.

Emma shivered on the front lawn of J.T.’s beautiful house and wanted to do nothing but cry.

His car, his house. It could have been his life. Because of someone deciding he wanted her, and that she didn’t have the right to make the choice for herself.

No matter how long she lived, she would never understand it completely.

But she was not about to let it change who she was. Or how she viewed the world.

J.T. finished speaking with the local cops who’d been called by Mick Brockman to collect the stalker.

The very professor that had blocked J.T. from entering the classroom earlier that day.

Why hadn’t they realized who—what?—he was? Wasn’t there some outward sign, or some behavioral tick that would have made it obvious?

He had to have followed them from the college campus that afternoon. To have found where she was staying. To study the house and the area, to hatch his little plan.

Had he seen the two agents outside J.T.’s house? Or had he been just ‘sending a message’ to her with the paintballs?

Whatever his intention, he’d ensured one thing.

She was going to do whatever she had to do to see he was sent away for a long time. To make sure he didn’t do the same thing to another woman, one who didn’t have an entire division of the FBI to help her stop him.

Her dad was suddenly there, and she knew someone—most likely Josh—had called him.

Emma resisted the urge to just hold on tight and let her daddy take care of everything.

That wasn’t the kind of person she was, was it?

“I’m ok, Dad. J.T. was there. And now we have the guy.”

“You can get your things together, kiddo. I’ll drive you home soon.”

That wasn’t something she wanted to think about yet, but she had to, didn’t she? “I…I need to talk to J.T., Dad. There are some things left between us that we need to work out.”

“I’m here, Emma, whenever you’re ready. You know that.”

She hugged him, again. “I know. That’s the kind of man you are. Same kind he is.”

Her dad kissed her on the forehead. “And you love him. I know.” He tilted her head back until green eyes met green. “If you want to stay with him tonight, I’m going to understand that, too. Sometimes, when something bad happens, we need to be with that one person who makes the world right again.”

“And that’s how you felt about Ally?”

“I didn’t know it at the time; we were together mostly because of worry and circumstances. But when I almost lost her, that’s when I knew…Go to him. Decide what you’re doing tonight. I will wait.”

As she walked across the yard, her decision became perfectly clear.