Page 75 of A Pen Pal for Christmas

“I didn’t know about any of this until a couple of days ago,” he said. “I came back so I could make sure nothing happened. But he was staying out of sight. I thought maybe he wasn’t here.”

“What changed a couple of days ago?” Jack asked.

“Rex reached out to me. He wanted info about Sofia, and I wound up questioning him. It was weird that he wanted to know anything about her. That’s when it all came pouring out. How long he’d been obsessed with her, him tracking me here when I first came out.”

I watched as Dane ran his hands through his hair, and it was then that I noticed he’d shaved off his scruff. I looked at Jamie. “Is this the guy you saw yesterday? He shaved his face, so…”

Jamie nodded. “Yeah. This is him. I’m sorry, man.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t worried about that right now.

“What all did he tell you?” I asked Dane, the complete sentence taking all of my focus.

“He said he met her at The Hearthstone when she first got to town, and it was like seeing an angel,” he said, wincing when he saw me do the same. “He hated that whenever he tried to get near her after that, you were always there.”

Tommy muttered a curse, turning his back on Dane so he could pace, his fingers interlocked as they rested on top of his head.

“Keep going,” I barked.

“He trashed her room because he was mad about you. The other stuff he did—like the note on her car—wasn’t doing anything for him, and then he got the idea for the fake pen pal letter.”

Sick didn’t even begin to describe the way I felt, but I forced myself to remain upright so I could hear the rest. At some point, he’d get to something that would help me understand. Help me save her.

“After that—” he glanced at me, and his voice dropped, “—he overheard some gossip, and he made a new plan. He heard you were leaving for your new job soon and that Sofia was supposed to move in with her brother. He figured he could go back to Philly and hide out until after you were gone, and that way, she’d be on her own again.”

My stomach twisted. “So he left Snow Hill right after the fake pen pal letter?”

Dane nodded, confirming the reason for the lapse in creepy events. “He went back to Philly. He thought if he just waited longenough, he’d have a shot to talk to her alone, and then maybe… maybe she’d come around.”

“She was never going to ‘come around,’” I growled, fists clenching at my sides. “And you let him keep thinking this? You didn’t stop him?”

Dane flinched, his face pale. “I tried. I told him to let it go when he came to see me. I told him Sofia was in love with you, and there was no chance.”

“And that didn’t stop him,” Grace said softly.

He shook his head. “It set him off. He came back here furious. Again, that’s why I’m here. I followed him, hoping to stop him before he could do anything. But…”

His habit of letting his sentences drop off before he finished them was going to get him punched in the face. I waved a hand in the air, signaling for him to continue.

“When he got back here, I think that’s when he started hearing more about her plans.Yourplans,” he said, looking at me. “About the house.”

My blood ran cold. “What?”

Dane nodded grimly. “It’s all over town. Small towns talk. People must’ve mentioned you two settling down, the house you bought. If Rex caught wind of it…” He trailed off, his meaning clear.

“That’s where he’d take her,” I said, the words falling from my lips like lead. My stomach churned. The thought of Sofia trapped with Rex in that empty house, scared and alone…

It was unbearable.

“I’m going to the house,” I said, already moving.

Tommy blocked my path. “You can’t.”

“Try to stop me.”

“You’re not a cop, Hudson. You can’t just go riding in there—unarmed—and without backup.”

I stepped up to him until we were nose to nose. “Then be my backup.”

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