“Was it really her? Was it Marina?”
“I think so, yes.”
She shudders. “So she was following us?”
“Yes.”
“She’s not going to stop, is she?”
“Stopping has never really been her strong suit.”
“She wants to kill my baby.”
“She wants to kill my baby,” I say. “You’re innocent in all this. This is about me, Jessa. She wants revenge.”
“She can’t have it,” Jessa says fiercely, her hands falling across her still-flat belly.
“I agree.”
Jessa’s face falls a little as she tries to rein in her emotions. “But I don’t know if I can do this, Anton.”
“Do what?”
“Live like this, always having to look over my shoulder. Wondering when she’s going to jump out at me next. It’s too much. For my body and for my sanity and… and for my heart, too.”
“She’s not going to be a problem for much longer,” I assure her.
She blinks up at me for a moment, trying to process what that means. She’s no fool, though. She knows this can only end one of two ways: either we die, or Marina does.
Her throat rides with a hard swallow. “What if you can’t find her?”
“I will. She’s making it easy, in any case. Her obsession with you means she can’t seem to stay away for too long.”
“Anton…”
“Yes?”
“She may want revenge, but I don’t think it’s for what you think it’s for.”
I frown. Unease seeps into my gut. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, the miscarriage is not why she’s trying to get back to you.”
“That’s only one of the reasons,” I say. “She wants to get back at me for our entire farce of a marriage.”
Jessa tilts her head like she sees some hidden code in my face that I haven’t figured out yet. “You don’t see it, do you?”
I shake my head. “No, and I don’t care to. I stopped caring about Marina’s reasons a long time ago, Jessa, and I suggest you do the same. She’s not worth it. We just have to make sure our family is protected.”
Her eyes go wide as she gnaws nervously at her lower lip.
Our family. God, that feels so right on my tongue. Jessa is the family I never knew I needed. Never knew I wanted. And this baby is the second chance I’ve been avoiding since Marina’s death.
I’m not prepared to let either one slip through my fingers.
“Come on, let’s get you into some clean clothes so that you can rest.”
“You don’t have to. I can manage on my own.”