Chapter 94

Aria’s POV

“I was driving by,” Logan said. I strained to listen to the conversation happening at the front door, from my arm chair perch in the living room. “I saw Aria’s car here. I thought, what better time to see if she and the kids wanted to go out for some ice cream?”

The suggestion itself wasn’t all that strange. Logan would often stop by my house unannounced with plans to take Joe and me out. At least, he had before Liam and I started to become more serious.

What was strange was that he would come by Sophia’s house to do so. Logan knew William, but they did not have the same kind of surrogate father son bond that he shared with Joe. In fact, I wasn’t sure that Logan and William said more than a few words to each other here or there.

William might see Logan as a stranger entirely.

Yet, Logan had included William in his suggestion. He’d purposefully used the phrase kids.

An unnerving feeling itched at me. I’d been uncomfortable since I’d walked into this house, but I haven’t felt afraid. Not until right now. Though I still didn’t fully understand why.

Logan showing up here felt like a rescue. Did I need rescuing?

“No one invited you,” Sophia snapped, clearly annoyed by Logan’s unwelcomed visit.

“That’s the kind of relationship Aria and I have,” Logan said. “I don’t always tell her when I’m stopping by, but she has never seemed to mind before. Why don’t you ask her? I’ll round up the kids for ice cream.”

“I don’t think so,” Sophia said.

“Aria is here, is she not?”

“She is.”

“Then I would like to ask her what she would prefer to do. I know she and Joe have a sweet tooth. I’m willing to bet William does too, and I have no intention of excluding him. Every six-year-old deserves an occasional ice cream treat.”

“No one in this house is going anywhere with you,” Sophia said, her voice pitching higher, like she was about to scream.

It was an odd mood shift, given how calm she’d been when she’d gone to answer the door.

Although that look her in her eye when Liam had called my phone…

The end table Sophia had been messing with while she sat here called to me. She’d opened it, just before Logan arrived – when she had been furious about that phone call.

What could be in that drawer that she felt she had needed in that moment?

I was almost afraid to look, not wanting my worst suspicions confirmed, but I still needed to check.

If I was in danger, then William and Joe were too.

Standing, I walked toward that end table, grabbed the hoop attached to the drawer, and dragged it open.

Inside there was a handgun.

Immediately, I shoved the drawer closed.

She’d gone for a gun. She’d wanted to kill me.

That gun was still there. When she came back from arguing with Logan, was she going to try again to reach for it?

Not only did I need to get out of this house, but I had to get William and Joe out of here too.

What the hell was I thinking, coming here? I’d been angry and foolish and endangered us all!

“I’m not leaving until I speak with Aria,” Logan said.

“This isn’t even her house!” Sophia raged.

Walking out of the living room and away from that terrible gun, I rushed into the foyer.

“Logan!” I said, covering my fear with as much false delight as I could manage. I had no idea how convincing I was. I was far too busy trying to keep my heart from leaping out of my chest and rushing out onto the street without me.

I wasn’t going anywhere without the kids.

“Aria!” Logan replied with the same overabundance of cheer. His was false too, the tightness near his eyes told the truth, but he was much better at pretending than I was. “How would you and the kids feel about ice cream?”

“I think that’s a great idea!” I said. Turning toward the stairs, I shouted. “Joe! William! We’re heading out for ice cream!”

“Now wait a minute,” Sophia said.

“Did you want to come as well?” I asked Sophia.

“No, but –”

“You don’t mind, right? William’s such a good kid, and Joe has really missed him.” I tried to keep my desperation out of my voice, but I felt it in my chest, pushing out from the inside of my ribcage, scratching at my bones.

“William does not need ice cream!” Sophia snapped.

William skidded to a stop in the hallway. His eyes wide as saucers, he asked, “Why not, Mommy?”

Sophia’s anger dimmed slightly, looking at her son. “I’ll order you some. We’ll have it delivered.”

“But it always comes back all melty,” William said. “It’s better at the ice cream shop.”

“We’ll have him back before you know it,” Logan said. “A quick stop for ice cream and then straight back here.”

“I’ll be there,” I said, hoping that would be enough of a push to convince her. “Joe and I will keep an eye on William.”

Sophia shifted her focus onto me. Narrowing her eyes, she stared deep down into me, like she could physically see inside of me. I stared back, not willing to back down, though the knowledge of that gun made my pulse quicken.

“You replaced me as Liam’s wife,” she grumbled. “Now you are trying to replace me as William’s mother.”

“That’s not true,” I said quickly.

“It’s just ice cream,” Logan added.

With a wild-eyed gaze, Sophia looked around to each of us, even her son, distrust in her eyes. Then, at once, she turned, leaving the foyer in the direction of the living room.

We had to go now.

“In the car everyone,” I said hurriedly, waving my arm forward. “The faster we go, the faster we can come back.” Though I had no intention of coming back here, or of letting William or Joe return either.

“Yay! Ice cream!” Joe said, skipping towards Logan’s car, totally unaware of the danger he was in.

William seemed slightly more aware, glancing backwards at the house once we were outside.

“Are you sure this is okay?” he asked me when I opened the backseat door of Logan’s SUV.

“Positive,” I said and helped him inside. Logan helped Joe on the other side, then we moved to the front.

Logan hopped into the driver’s seat as I sat in the passenger’s. No sooner had I closed the door, then Sophia stormed out of her house, barefoot, waving her gun around.

“Everyone cover your heads!” I shouted. Caring nothing for myself, I turned to grab the kids’ shoulders and pull them forward and down.

At the same time, Logan floored it, peeling out of the driveway so aggressively, the smell of burnt rubber filled the air.

Two sharp popping noises sounded, and then a third.

Logan turned out onto the road from the driveway so quickly that I swore two of the wheels of the SUV lifted up off the ground before smashing back down.

The engine roared and the SUV tore forward.

From the direction we came, a woman wordlessly screamed at the top of her lungs.