Page 70 of Stay Away from Him

And then, there was Kelli again.

Here to support you, Carter. My DMs are open.

Melissa was so furious, it was all she could do to resist throwing the phone across the room, to hurl it through the glass of the sliding door into the backyard. In that moment, she was certain that Kelli helped Carter find her. Told him exactly where to look.

Melissa tapped out a text to Kelli.

You fucking bitch. Do you know what you did? Carter is a toxic asshole. I moved here to get away from him, to get Bradley away from him. And you sent him right to us. You are evil.

She smiled at the last bit, thinking of how it would wound Kelli. Moral superiority and being a crusader was her whole thing; thenotion that she could be bad, that she could be evil, would hurt her feelings, which was exactly what Melissa wanted to do in that moment.

Almost right after she sent the text, she saw the three dots indicating Kelli was composing a text in response. Melissa gritted her teeth, settled in for a nasty text fight. But the message that came only said:We need to talk.

I don’t want to talk to you,Melissa tapped out.I want you to go to hell.

I’m coming to you.

Melissa almost screamed out loud.Are you not listening? Don’t come here. I don’t want to see you.

But now there was no response, and somehow, Melissa knew Kelli was on her way, no matter what she said.

***

Kelli showed up at the back door five minutes later, materializing like an apparition in the darkness, illuminated by the floodlights shining down on the back deck. She tapped on the glass and waved, timid. In spite of Kelli’s chastened look, Melissa was as mad as ever at the sight of her. She rushed over to the sliding door, pulled it wide, and pushed past her, not letting her come in.

“Do you want to talk inside?” Kelli asked, glancing at the pajama bottoms and sweatshirt Melissa had changed into. “It’s a little cold.”

Melissa set her jaw and shook her head. “My son is sleeping in there. I don’t want you anywhere near him right now.”

Kelli bit her lip. “I understand. And I’m sorry.”

“You know Carter’s going to try to get him back, right? He’s going to try to get full custody. Take my son away from me. You can’t see it on the video, but Bradley wasterrifiedto see him. He’safraid of his dad. Because he’s a bad person. And it’s your fault he’s in our lives.”

“I know,” Kelli said. “I want you to know that I didn’t tell him where to find you. Okay? I swear.”

“You sure? Because I saw you offered to DM with him. You sure you never gave him an address?”

“I didn’t,” Kelli insisted. “In fact, I told him he shouldn’t come here, that that would make things worse.”

Melissa crossed her arms over her chest, trying to suppress a shiver at the sharpness of the night air. “Uh huh.”

“Look, Melissa—there’s something else you should know. I’m sorry about what happened with your ex-husband. But that’s not what I came to talk to you about. There’s been a break in the case.”

Melissa blinked. “The case?”

“Rose’s disappearance. Her death.”

Just then, more footsteps crunched in the darkness beyond the reach of the floodlights. Kelli turned, and Derek Gordon stepped into the light. He was in civilian clothes, not his cop uniform.

“What are you doing here?” Melissa asked.

Derek glanced at Kelli. “Did you tell her yet?”

“I was just about to.”

Melissa looked between the two of them, wishing they’d just come out with it already.

“What?”

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