64

Sierra’s POV

The text made my blood freeze. *He was in the house.*

Louis didn’t say a word. He moved fast. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of bed. We ran to Katie’s room. She was still asleep. Louis picked her up, blanket and all. She mumbled but didn’t wake up.

He jerked his head toward the hallway. We ran, barefoot, to the big painting at the end of the hall. Louis pushed it sideways. Behind it was a door. A safe room. We never used it. Until now.

He shoved the door open. We went inside. It was a small, white room with a couch, a fridge, and a wall of TV screens showing every camera in the house. Louis locked the door behind us. It made a heavy *thunk* sound.

He laid Katie on the couch. She curled up in her blanket. I stood there, shaking. I was so scared I felt sick.

Louis went to the screens. He turned them all on. The house was dark and empty on the cameras. Nothing moved.

“He’s messing with us,” Louis whispered. His hands were fists. “He wants us to panic. He’s probably not even inside.”

“But how did he know we were home?” I whispered back. “How did he know you were here?”

Louis didn’t answer. He just stared at the screens.

We stayed in that room for hours. Katie slept. Louis and I sat on the floor, our backs against the wall, watching nothing happen.

I was so tired. My eyes kept closing. My head leaned against Louis’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he said into the quiet. His voice was rough.

“For what?”

“For all of this. For bringing this… this ghost into our lives. Into Katie’s life.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said. But it was hard to mean it right then.

“It is,” he said. “My past. My secrets. They’re like rocks. I tried to build a wall with them to protect you. But the rocks have cracks. And things are crawling out of the cracks.”

I lifted my head to look at him. In the blue light of the screens, his face looked sad. And scared. I’d never seen him look so scared.

“We’ll fix it,” I said. I didn’t know how.

“What if we can’t?” he asked. He looked at me, his eyes searching my face. “What if this breaks us? For real?”

I didn’t have an answer. I was so tired of being brave.

Katie made a little sound in her sleep. We both looked over at her. Our kid. The reason for all of it.

Louis put his arm around me. He pulled me close. I fit against his side. It was warm.

“I’m not letting go,” he said. His voice was low in my ear. “Not of you. Not of her. No matter what crawls out of the cracks.”

I believed him. For the first time in a long time, I really believed him. It wasn’t a business deal anymore. It was a promise.

I turned my face toward his. Our noses were almost touching. I could feel his breath.

“Then we don’t let go,” I whispered.

He kissed me.

It wasn’t like the kiss at the party. That was fireworks. This was different. This was slow. And sad. And real. It felt like we were saying sorry and hello and don’t leave me all at the same time.

When we broke apart, we just looked at each other. My heart was beating hard, but not from fear this time.

“We’re not broken,” I said.

“Not yet,” he said. He rested his forehead against mine. “And we’re not going to be.”

We sat like that for a long time. Holding each other in the blue light. Watching our sleeping daughter. Waiting for a ghost.

It was the worst night of my life.

But it was also the first night in a long time I didn’t feel alone.