Page 4 of Securing His Family

“This isn’t over, Lauren. This is just the start!” Patrick yelled, but she turned her back, not wanting to see him.

“Are you okay?” Tabitha asked quietly.

“I don’t know.” And she really didn’t, the last fifteen minutes felt like something out of a police drama on television. She wrapped her arms around herself, noticing that her hands were shaking.

“Come on, come sit down.”

Lauren allowed herself to be led over to the table where Reed had laid out Patrick. The enormity of what happened hit her. “I’m so sorry Tabitha.”

“What are you apologizing for? I’m sure you didn’t ask for whatever happened to happen. I’m just glad Reed was here for you.”

“Me too,” she murmured, and now that adrenaline wasn’t buzzing in her ears, Tabitha and Steve’s presence registered. They’d never turned up in the past when she was closing the store. Tabitha trusted her, and Lauren had worked hard to earn that trust. “Why are you here?”

Tabitha sighed, and a hint of color blossomed in her cheeks. “Ever since my attack, Steve always checks in on the café at closing.” She pointed to the cameras located around the space that Lauren was well aware of. “He does it when I’m here with you, so don’t think it’s because we don’t trust you, because I do, and so does he. He just likes to keep everyone safe. Anyway, he saw what was going on and we jumped in the car and came down.”

“Looks like we arrived at the right time too,” Steve said as he strode toward them. He crouched down in front of Lauren, and she tried not to squirm under his observation. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you did he?”

“Reed? No, he didn’t hurt me,” she all but shouted, indignant that Steve would think his employee had hurt her.

“Not Reed,” Steve replied with a smile. “I was talking about the other guy, whoever that was.”

Oh, of course he was referring to Patrick. There’s no way he’d believe that any of the men he employed would hurt her, or any woman for that fact.

“No, Patrick didn’t hurt me. Although he might’ve if Reed hadn’t been here.” The reality of how things could’ve turned out had Reed not been there hit her, and a cold chill swept over her thinking that Patrick could’ve forced her to get in a car with him. Forced himself onto her. Or worse, forced her to collect Charlee from her friend’s place where she’d had a sleepover. “He can’t get her,” she whispered. “He can’t touch her. I won’t let him.”

Warm fingers caressed the back of her neck, calming her immediately. “We won’t let that happen. Patrick won’t touch Charlee.”

Reed.

If only she had the same confidence that Reed had. If Patrick had found out where she worked, then he could find out where she lived. What school Charlee went to. He probably already knew all that information.

They weren’t safe at all.

She bolted upright from her seat, urgency making her movements stilted. “I need to go. I need to get Charlee.”

“Whoa, Lauren! Stop.” Reed’s command grated against her every nerve.

She took steps away from him aware that she was being watched by Steve and Tabitha. She didn’t care. All that mattered to her was getting to her daughter and making sure she was safe. “No! You don’t get to tell me what to do. I’m grateful for what you said and did with Patrick, but that’s where it stops. You’re not my fiancé. We’re not a team. The only team is me and Charlee. You’re as bad as Patrick.”

She rushed past them to the office where her purse was stowed. Her hands shook violently as she pulled it out of the bottom drawer. The first thing she did was grab her phone to see if she received a message from Charlee’s friend’s mum to say she’d been taken. Or that Patrick had turned up there.

There was nothing. No message. No missed call. Her daughter was fine. She clutched the phone to her chest and closed her eyes. It had only been a few minutes since Patrick had left, it wasn’t possible that he could’ve got to Charlee’s friend’s house. But he could be close.

She had to leave.

“Lauren, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way.” Her eyes flicked open and she found Reed standing in the doorway, blocking her exit. She couldn’t escape.

As if he could track the line her thoughts were traveling down, he came into the office and stood against the wall, leaving her room to pass if she needed to.

That simple gesture had her fight instincts leaving her body. If Reed was anything like Patrick, he would’ve remained where he was, ensuring she stayed in the room. Patrick would’ve never apologized for what he’d said. Or done.

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have said you’re like Patrick. I know you’re not.”

“It’s fine. Would you like me to come with you to get Charlee?”

His offer wasn’t a surprise after everything he’d already done, and she was grateful for it if she was being honest with herself. Which she needed to be when it came to this man. Today he could’ve done things differently. He could’ve left her to battle with Patrick all by herself. Instead, he hadn’t. Reed had done what he’d done, not as an ego boost for himself, but for her. To keep her safe.

“I’d like that. Thank you.”

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