Page 58 of No More Secrets

A sound of distress rumbles in her throat. She holds her breath and doesn’t move.

Zea knocks again. “Shiloh, open the door. Please? Ivy’s worried.”

Shiloh scrambles for something to say that’ll convince her to leave. Lucas may think Zea is here for him, but Shiloh isn’t entirely convinced. If Zea saw Lucas leave, wouldn’t she chase after him? She might be a bounty hunter, but she could also be a PI. With that many IDs, she could be anything. Ellis threatened her mom’s life if Shiloh ever went to the police. If he at all suspects she has, Shiloh knows he’d hunt her down. She’s convinced Zea’s distracting her until Ellis arrives.

Fear coats her spine in ice. She needs to get rid of Zea, and Shiloh needs to leave town, and fast.

She parts the curtain. “What do you want?”

Zea smiles, but her grin quickly fades when she notices Shiloh’s distress. “Are you all right?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” She tries her best to sound normal, but it’s hard with her heart pounding in her head.

“Well... you guys were coming to dinner, and it seems Lucas left.”

“It’s a free country.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re stuck in the apartment. Why don’t you come over and eat with Ivy and me? Better yet, open the door. We can talk.”

“Lucas told me not to.” A necessary lie.

Zea’s eyes widen to moon size. “He told you that?” She glances behind her down the road.

Shiloh curses herself. Zea already thinks Lucas clocked her. Now she’ll never leave her alone.

The knob jiggles, and Shiloh lurches back, her gaze flying to the door. “Did he tell you to bolt the door, too?”

“You need to leave,” Shiloh calls out to her.

“Just tell me where Lucas went.”

Nerves shoot down her arm. “Why?”

Zea sighs, and Shiloh senses she’s testing the woman’s patience.

“Ivy’s upset you’re missing dinner. Are you sure you’re all right? He hasn’t hurt you, has he?”

Shiloh pulls the hoodie low over her forehead, wishing she could hide. “I’m fine. Lucas just went to the tavern. He’ll be back in a few hours.” She wants to believe that, but he packed a duffel. Her stomach clenches, the nausea thickening as she considers how meaningless she is to him if he did in fact leave.

A long pause.

“I’ll be next door if you need me. Come over if you get hungry.”

“Sure, no prob.” Shiloh holds her breath until Zea retreats and Ivy’s door closes. She almost collapses to the floor with relief, but rushes to the counter and puts Zea’s wallet back together. She can’t wait around to see if Lucas returns. She needs to leave now, which means she needs money and a phone. The phone is downstairs, but the cash in Zea’s wallet is a good start.

She pockets the cash, keeping it for good this time, and goes to Lucas’s room for the cash she saw stashed in his boot when she went searching for his laptop earlier. Why he didn’t take it is beyond her, but he left, so now it’s hers, as is the laptop. She adds both to her packed backpack.

Scooping up the spare set of keys to the Dusty Pantry, Shiloh drops her bag on the couch and peers out the window through the crack in the curtains. The balcony is clear. If she’s going to do this, now’s her chance, while Ivy entertains Zea.

Carefully, she unbolts and opens the door, cringing when the hinges squeak. She pauses to listen, her breath already coming fast. Ivy’s laugh followed by Zea’s steady voice reaches her through Ivy’s open window. Quietly, she steps out onto the balcony, closing the door behind herunder the cover of their voices, and drops to her hands and knees. She crawls past Ivy’s apartment under her window, breathing only when she reaches the stairs where she gets to her feet and slowly goes down one step at a time. At the bottom, she drops Zea’s wallet like Lucas suggested and kicks it under the staircase. Then she lets herself into the pantry through the rear entrance.

Inside, she uses the phone in Ivy’s office and calls Finn.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” she pleads to the room when the phone rings. Just as she’s about the cut the call and redial, he picks up.

“Shy? That you?”

Her relief is as sweet as cotton candy. “Yes.”

---