Are there two men?
No one was visible in her mirrors or out the windows.
It had to be one man.
“Go! Go!” shouted Ivy. She slammed the bat on her lap.
“I don’t want to back over him!”
“Fucking run him over!”
Sirens sounded and flashing lights filled the street.
“They’re here!” Iris told the dispatcher. “Tell the police we’re in the car in the driveway! And we might have hit the guy.”
Two patrol units blocked the driveway. “Turn off the car!” one officer shouted.
Rowan turned it off and held her breath, watching the officers in her mirrors. Their weapons were drawn and pointed at the back of the car.
No. Pointed at the ground behind the car.
“Drop the weapon! Drop the weapon!”
Ivy shoved her bat to the floor.
“They’re not yelling at us,” Rowan said, trying to steady her voice. Ivy was panting, her face wet with tears. She covered her eyes and started to shake.
“Thank God West wasn’t here.” Her voice cracked on his name.
Rowan watched in the rearview mirror as one of the officers holstered his gun and bent over behind the car while two other officers covered him.
She let out a shuddering breath as Thor shoved himself between the front seats, trying to get to Rowan. She scratched his head. “Shhhh. Good boy.”
It’s over.
An hour later, Rowan was still on edge.
Ivy’s ex was on his way to the hospital. The officers wanted him medically cleared before they took him to jail. He’d appeared to have a head injury and possibly a broken leg. Ivy had refused to get out of the car or look at the man. Rowan and Iris had identified Adam as he lay on the ground behind the car, moaning in pain and cursing Ivy. A small pistol had been found near one of the tires.
He was very, very drunk.
Rowan leaned against the counter in Ivy’s kitchen, too worked up to sit down. The sound of breaking glass they had heard had come from West’s bedroom. Adam hadn’t entered the house through the broken window, possibly because it was so high. Instead, he’d come around the side of the house, probably when he’d heard the car or garage door. Rowan believed he’d lunged at the trunk area of the sedan, trying to stop them, and been knocked to the ground.
If she’d backed up any farther, she would have run him over.
At the moment part of her wished she had.
After the three sisters had given statements, Rowan had called her father and asked him to come get Ivy. He’d hugged his daughters and cursed Adam as he led Ivy out the door. Then Iris’s boyfriend had shown up and taken her home.
Police and a forensics tech were still in the home, processing the broken window and the vehicles, including Adam’s truck, which had been found two blocks away. Rowan paced in the kitchen, staying out of their way and waiting for them to leave. She had looked in the bedroom and shuddered at the glass scattered over a racetrack on West’s floor.
What if West had been asleep in there?
Even if Adam hadn’t been able to get to the boy, West would have been traumatized. It didn’t make sense that Adam would be interested in his son. Rowan suspected it had more to do with Ivy. Either he wanted something from Ivy and would have used West to get it, or he simply wanted to hurt her through her son.
Outside there was blood on the driveway and a dent in the car.
I’m not going to sleep tonight.
She would lock up the home once the police were done and then call an Uber.
Opening the fridge, she eyed the containers of leftover Italian food. It seemed so long ago that the sisters had sat at the table, eating, laughing, and making fun of the reality show. Not a care in the world.
I should throw it out. Ivy won’t want reminders of tonight.
Instead, she grabbed the half-empty bottle of red wine on the counter and poured a glass. She sat heavily on a stool at the kitchen bar, suddenly jealous of Iris, who had a boyfriend to comfort her. Thor lay on the kitchen floor, his head between his paws. His alert eyes had been following her every movement. Rowan made eye contact, and he lifted his head.
food
“Not now. We’ll go home soon.”
Disappointment flashed in his gaze, and he lowered his head. Rowan thought about how he’d growled, letting them know someone was in the backyard.
Just like he did yesterday morning at my house. Was that a reaction to Adam too?
But Adam had no motivation to be outside Rowan’s home.
Or does he?
If his main motivation was to hurt Ivy, Adam could have hurt any member of their family to achieve that goal. But he knew Rowan had a large, protective dog. He’d be an idiot to choose her.