Free House of V (Unraveled Series) by Raen Smith Page A

it to be like last time. Don’t
expect me to come chasing after you again. I won’t do it. I will never do it
again.”
    “And if I come back?”
    “What do you want me to say? You
want to know that I will be here if you come back?”
    Silence.
    “I don’t know if I can do it, Evie .”
    It was all I needed to hear. It
shattered me, yet I did what I do best. I turned and left without saying a word.
Without muttering, I love you or I will come back . I didn’t know if he
would be here waiting for me, but I left anyway because I had to. Because I was Evie Parker.
    ***
    I made one quick stop before
heading to the airport to catch my flight. I knew Ryan would disapprove, but at
this point, I didn’t know if Ryan ever wanted to see me again. And I knew I
couldn’t turn my back on someone who reminded me so much of myself ,
of the lost little girl I once was. This could be my last chance. The last time
I set foot in Norway.
    Aaron’s wife Linn had followed me
as I walked along the road to town for a solid two minutes before I finally
agreed to get in her car and accept the ride. She had pulled just outside the
building, and I asked her to wait in the car.
    I swung open the door to Bernard’s
bakery. The fresh aromas of the bakery teased my nostrils, trying to dissuade
me from what I needed to do. I shook it off and focused on the man bending down
behind the counter. The man I needed to have a word with.
    I leaned across the counter and
silently snagged a six inch blade he was using to slice his bread. I moved
back, waiting for him to pop up and attend to me. As soon as he did, I leaned
across the counter again and pulled at his shirt with one fluid motion. I held
the knife up to his throat, pressing it lightly into his skin.
    Before he could utter a word, I
warned him in a steady, cool voice in broken Norwegian that I knew he would
understand. “Do not lay a finger on Rolf again, Bernard, or I swear to you, I
will come back here, hunt you down and make you regret every single thing you
have done to that child. Do you understand?”
    Bernard’s pale face shook with
fear, his eyes widening as I pressed the knife until the smallest trickle of
blood appeared on his skin.
    “I promise you that, Bernard,” I
said as I let his shirt go and pushed him away from me. He straightened his
shirt, brushed off his apron and then nodded his head. I walked out of the
shop, leaving the knife on the display shelf right before I walked back into the
sunlight with a roll in my hand.
    ***
    I stood at the Svolvar airport, watching the next airplane to Oslo pull to the tarmac. Ivy Stone had
made it through the first check. Only two more checks to go,
Oslo and New York, before I headed to Chicago.
    I had been flagged for buying my
ticket with cash, and the attendant had looked over my IDs with scrutiny.
American student with an emergency at home, I had explained to her. My mother
had died, and my dad had wired me cash to pay for the ticket. I had shrugged my
shoulders with a solemn look on the verge of tears. The hairy-eyed attendant
pushed me along, barely looking in my bag. Death had that effect on people. No
one wanted to deal with a sobbing woman, make that college student, in the
airport.
    I turned to the seats behind me,
scouring the faces of my fellow passengers. I glossed over a woman with three
kids, two of them kicking each other while the third played a handheld game.
    Not worth the hassle.
    I was nearing the end of the row
when I spotted a man in a business suit who was busy
with his cellphone. He was leaned over, a briefcase sitting near the sheen of
his loafers. His blonde hair was trimmed and molded to perfection, and his tie
pulled tight to his neck. Most likely not American. Just what I needed.
    I walked over to him, my head
hanging low as I worked the tears into my eyes. It took some major coercing on
my end, but within the twenty second walk, I had developed a small stream that
had rolled down my face. This was going to