Chapter 13: A Stranger's Hand.

I couldn't go to the cops.

Not yet. That'd be like running back to Brad.

I had nothing figured out, but that wasn't negotiable.

Hugging myself tight, I began walking, keeping my head down as I went.

The city didn’t notice me. Faces blurred past. A woman bumped past with a hard shoulder.

“What, are you blind?” she snapped.

“I'm sorry,” I whispered, but she was already gone.

Tears threatened. Hunger twisted my stomach. The smell from a late-night diner made it worse.

I crossed intersection after intersection until the world thinned into quieter streets. My legs ached. My feet burned.

Then I saw it.

A wrought-iron gate.

A cemetery.

“Oh, thank God,” I breathed.

The place felt like an island of quiet and safety. The air smelled of damp earth and old stone.

And there, between rows of weathered headstones, the world seemed to exhale.

I was finally alone with my thoughts. I could rest until I figured out what to do.

Crickets chirped. A night bird gave a low, throaty call.

“Just for tonight,” I responded. “I don't plan to be a tenant.”

I lowered myself onto a low marble bench beside a moss-streaked angel, opening my hand to reveal the card I'd clutched all night.

Its corners had left faint indentations in my palm, and my fingers ached from the grip. With my lighter hand, I slipped the card into my pocket, next to the sonogram.

A faint chill swept over me, but I knew it had nothing to do with ghosts. With one last glance - almost a prayer - to the angel, I stretched out on the cold stone bench, and there, exhaustion claimed me whole.

Sleep came, but in fitful fragments, half-dreams, half-nightmares - footsteps behind me. The hiss of a train door closing, leaving me behind. Brad’s voice echoed, “I own you.”

Then-

A gentle tap on my shoulder.

“Miss?”

My eyes flew open, heart slamming against my ribs.

A woman loomed above Elena, her features illuminated by the soft, silvery light of impending dawn. Her short, dark, graying hair surrounded her face, which exuded a sense of calm.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said softly. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” She held a small bouquet of lilies, their white petals glowing in the pale light.

“This… is my husband’s resting place.” Her voice carried both ache and comfort.

I stayed mute, still drowsy and dazed from my sleep.

While she laid the flowers at the grave, I rose and started walking toward the gate, wincing from the pain in my feet.

“Wait! Do you need help?” the woman asked.

I stopped.

“You look cold. And… tired,” she continued.

“There’s a place not far from here. A shelter of sorts. You could rest and get something warm.”

I turned slowly regarding the woman for a beat. The thought of shelter sounded nice. Maybe just for some rest before I continue going…

Where?

I didn't even know yet. I tried to speak, but my throat tightened.

“Come,” the woman said, offering a hand. “I’m Julia Rayburn.”

I hesitated a little before placing my cold fingers into the stranger’s grasp.

Hers was the first hand that felt human in a very long time. It was firm and kind, without demand or danger.

“I'm Elena Nolan,” I said finally, my voice rough.

For the first time since leaving Lawrence, I felt the faint pull of safety. And as the city’s first light broke over the gravestones, I let this kind woman lead me toward it.

~~~~~

“Alexi!” Toni barked as he walked into brother's room. “You tried to grab the cop’s wife?”

“I know. I know.”

Alexi, Toni's younger brother, got himself out of the bed, stepping over the two nude girls still asleep on it. “Shit didn't go as I planned.”

“Damn it,” Toni cursed, running his fingers through his hair. “Alexi, it shouldn't have happened at all. How am I supposed to trust you with anything bigger when you pull stunts like this behind my back?”

“Hey, girls.” Alexi snapped his fingers. “Get out.”

The girls jolted awake, grabbed their clothes, and shuffled out of the room.

“You wouldn't be saying that if I brought her back,” Alexi replied stubbornly as the door clicked shut. “I did it for us. If we grab her, we won't have to pay that snake another cent.”

Toni sighed and pulled a chair closer before sitting. “You don't need to prove yourself to me, Alexi,” he continued. “You're my brother.”

“And a lot of the boys think that's the only reason why I got a place at the top,” Alexi shot back.

Toni almost rolled his eyes. “Focus, Alexi. Something doesn't feel right.” He paused. “Brad hasn't found her yet. If she was hiding, she should have called him by now.”

Alexi nodded slowly. “True.”

“Tell me what happened - exactly,” Toni said.

Alexi exhaled in frustration.

“We got in the house. She took off. That's it.”

“There were three of you, I learned,” Toni said slowly, like he was explaining arithmetic to a child, “And none of you could grab a housewife you ambushed?

Anger flared in Alexi's eyes.

“Don't talk like I'm stupid, okay?” he spat. “We've had eyes on the house for three days. Brad left in the morning, and he wasn’t due back until nine. I was sure she’d be home alone and scared, not-"

He froze.

“She had a bag,” he said, frowning. “There was cash, passport, and clothes in it. She was already going out when we got there.”

Silence stretched for a few seconds.

Then he looked at Toni.

“I don't care if you call me crazy, Toni. But she didn't look like a wife waiting for her man to come home for dinner.”

Toni's eyes narrowed.

“If Brad hasn't found or heard from his wife yet,” he said. “Do you think she left him?”

Alexi blinked.

Then realization hit him like a truck.

“Hell,” he breathed. “She wasn’t running from us.”

Toni stood.

“She was leaving him.”