Breaking the Ice by Esme Taylor

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Hettie

I slipped quietly from beneath Reid’s arm in desperate need of the bathroom, still unable to shake everything he’d told me. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how painful it must have been to open up about his past, but I wanted him to know that he could trust me and that he could tell me anything. In his own time.

I was leaving the bathroom when I noticed that the kitchen light had been left on and I’d forgotten to set the alarm. Quickly typing in the code, I checked the front door was locked as well. As I turned to head back to the bedroom, I noticed the mail sitting on the table I had next to the door. I had forgotten to open it this morning, so I flipped through it. It was the usual sales letters and bills. Except for one.

The dark blue envelope had my name handwritten on the front in thick silver letters. What caught my attention wasn’t my name or the envelope’s color, it was the fact that there was no address and no stamp. Which could only mean one thing. It had been hand-delivered.

An unexpected shudder ran through me as I opened it and pulled out the note that was tucked inside.

Hettie,

I waited for you last night, but you didn’t come home. Don’t disappoint me again. I’m watching you.

R

I gasped, dropping the envelope and its contents to the ground. He’s been here. The person who’s after me has been here, I thought, clutching my chest in terror.

Hurrying to the window, I searched for any sign of a car or anyone hanging about that didn’t look familiar, or appeared out of place but, it was too dark to see anything.

I sucked in a deep breath to calm my nerves, tucking the letter into the drawer of the table while making a mental note to drop it at the police station on Monday. Until then, I knew that Reid would keep me safe.