Leon closed his eyes briefly, not wanting to picture that scene. “It’s a real possibility. The best case is that Frankie would have badly cut his mouth and spat the glass out. If he’d swallowed it... Yeah, it could have done him some major damage.”
“You think whoever gave it to him knew that?” Joe asked.
“I think he didn’t care.” Leon fought down the rising tide of anger and helplessness. “I think he wanted to scare Flora so much it didn’t matter what happened to her little boy.”
He ended his call after discussing plans for keeping the twins safe and started fixing coffee. Flora reappeared sooner than he’d expected. “They were both asleep as soon as they were tucked up in bed.”
Leon carried the coffee through to the family room. Flora curled into a corner of the sofa, and he sat next to her. Although he didn’t want to talk about the killer, didn’t want to bring that evil into this comfortable setting, there was something he needed to say. “It’s a long shot, but it’s worth getting that piece of pie analyzed.”
“I already thought of that. I’ll take it into the Ryerson Center lab tomorrow.” Flora leaned her head back on the cushions. “I can’t do this, Leon.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“He’s won. I can’t stay in Stillwater.”
Leon took a moment to process what she was saying. He could understand her reasons for wanting to leave. The twins were her whole world. Any danger to them was worse than a threat on Flora’s own life. But this felt all wrong. Not just because it was giving in to what the killer wanted, but because this was their home.
The though hit him with perfect clarity. This was where Flora belonged. In Stillwater. In this house. With him. Because he loved her. She and the twins were his family. Now he needed to get past his fear of commitment, so he could find a way to tell her.
“Can we talk about this?” The realization had hit him hard and fast, and he needed to buy some time to process it.
“My boys have been threatened. I don’t think there’s anything else to be said.” She looked exhausted, as though every last bit of fight had been drained out of her.
“I need—” The nerves kicked in and he stumbled over the words. “I need you here with me.”
“Why?” Flora’s gaze probed his face, willing him to open up to her.
Do it. He tried to make himself say the words. “So I can protect you and the boys.”
She leaned forward to touch his cheek, her smile sad. “Wrong answer.”
When Flora got to her feet and left the room, Leon stayed where he was, listening to her footsteps as she walked along the hall to the bedroom. The click of the door closing was like a knife in his heart.
Wrong answer. He’d blown his chance to tell her he loved her. He knew why, of course. Because, as soon as the words rose to his lips, he saw a snowy road and an out-of-control truck. He heard Karen’s scream followed by a deathly silence. He had lost one woman he loved and their child, and he was scared to take the chance a second time.
Go to her. Tell her.
He attempted to get his limbs to move, but every second that passed made it harder. In the end, he opened the door to let Tiny back into the house and the two of them slept on the sofa.
Even though she willed her body to relax, Flora knew she wouldn’t sleep. Her emotions were in tatters. The faceless killer with a grudge against the Ryerson Center had found her weakness. Every time she thought about it, she wanted to grab up the twins and run. Her instinct was to escape, to hide, to put as much distance as she could between them and the place where this nightmare was happening.
Panic was strangling her ability to think rationally. She had to stay strong, but her reactions were those of a terrified child. Shaking. Tearful. Desperately in need of reassurance.
From Leon.
As the constricted feelings intensified, and she was choked by the very air around her, he was the person she wanted to reach for. She had come to rely on his strength and dependability. The questions she had once had about his steadiness were long gone. His kindness, his patience...his love. She needed them wrapped around her.
Because he did love her. She knew it as surely as she knew she loved him. At first, she had been too scared to acknowledge the truth and take a chance on love a second time around. Now, she was too scared of losing him not to take a chance. As long as Leon was at her side, Flora knew she would be okay.
When he had told her that he felt responsible for Karen’s death, she had finally understood why his fear of commitment was so much greater than her own. While Flora’s reservations were based on a fear of abandonment and the needs of her boys, Leon’s anxiety went deeper. He had convinced himself he wasn’t worthy of love. Believing that he had let Karen down, he was terrified it would happen again.
Flora didn’t know if he’d reached the point of admitting to himself that he loved her. Now and then, she thought she’d glimpsed that recognition in his eyes, or seen it in the familiarity between them. She knew it was there in the honesty of their bodies when she lay naked in his arms. Knowing he was worth waiting for, she had been prepared to take things slowly.
That was before fate, in the form of a killer with a slice of pie, had intervened. Because now she had to get the twins away from this nightmare. And she had to do it fast. With her emotions in freefall, she had hoped that, when she told Leon she was leaving, he
