Page 40 of Rescuing Tobias

Or rather that how she used that energy would sometimes be different.

It was still there, and she was still prepared to use it when necessary. But now a lot of the energy that would usually go into her extroverted personality was being directed inwards. To managing her emotions, dealing with her pregnancy, and doing her best to hold it together and get through each day.

So many things had changed. Things she hadn't even realized would be different when she got back home. Those months she’d spent being held captive, she hadn't realized just how in-the-moment focused she’d become. It should have been evident if she survived that she would no longer be the same person, but all her energy had been spent on just making it through each day alive, that she honestly hadn't known she would be a different person in the end.

Did she like the person she was becoming?

Maybe it was too early to tell. Being in social situations like this made her realize she’d become quieter, more content to listen than speak. It also showed her that she was going to have to make a greater effort to get out and about again. This was harder than she’d expected. She wanted to turn around and go running back to Becca’s house where she felt mostly safe.

But she couldn’t do that.

She was going to be a mom, and her kid was going to want to get out into the world. Play at parks, take dance lessons, or play soccer, go to birthday parties, movies, shopping at the mall,plus school and all the events associated with it. The last thing she wanted was for this new fear of too many people in too big a space to become a thing.

Best to nip it in the bud now before?—

The rev of an engine was the only warning she got.

Turning her head, she saw a black SUV bearing down on her.

She was in the middle of the road, a few steps behind her friends because she’d gotten lost in thought.

It looked like the vehicle was heading straight for her, but why would it do that?

Realizing he wasn't going to stop for the red light, it finally clicked in her head that if she didn't move, she was going to get hit.

Someone screamed her name.

Becca maybe?

She wasn't really sure.

All she could hear was the revving engine and her pulse hammering in her ears.

Flinging herself backward, she landed hard on the asphalt. Pain tore through her palms as they skidded, and she rolled, wrenching her shoulder in the process, and crying out as her cheek also scraped along the rough ground as she tumbled to her side.

Tires screeched, people shouted, and footsteps pounded the ground.

Then people were beside her. She might have shrunk away from them in fear, but she saw Becca drop to her knees at her side, Susanna, Willow, Gabriella, Alannah, and Monique forming a protective bubble around her, and she knew that she was safe.

Or was she?

Because it looked like that car had been deliberately aiming for her.

Why would someone do that?

Mistaken identity?

A drunk driver?

Someone who wanted her dead?

The only people she could think of that might want to hurt her were the trafficking ring. But they wouldn't really have any reason to come back for her. Sure, she was aware they came back for Ava Hendricks a second time, but that was different. They’d sold Ava’s organs, whereas they just wanted her to be a good little nurse soldier for them.

“You okay, Izzy? That car, it aimed right for you, sped up as you were crossing,” Becca said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

As she shifted to sit up, pain suddenly speared through her abdomen, and she clutched at her stomach, and icy terror flooded her veins. “My baby,” she cried. “I think something’s wrong.”

CHAPTER 13

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