Free Secrets and Lace: A Dark Romance Thriller (Fatal Hearts Series Book 1) by Dori Lavelle Page A

was so good, it distracted me from the bad news I'd just heard. But I had to focus. I put the bread down on an empty plate and directed my full attention to Mom. “How is Melanie now?”
    “Well, she's changed. She dropped out of college because there was no money.” She sighed. “Now she has a job as an administrative assistant at the Trinity Church of Christ. But she's like a shadow of herself. She doesn't talk much, and doesn't smile. It's been like that for years.” Mom took my hand. “I don't think her father's bankruptcy is the only thing to blame. Maybe that night affected her too.”
    I dropped my gaze. “I regret what I did. I just didn't know how to get out of the situation.”
    “You of all people know I’m not a saint; I’ve made my own mistakes in life. I'm not in a position to judge you or anyone.” She glanced at the kitchen clock. ”If you want to talk to Melanie, I'm sure she's at the church already. She's usually there by eight.”
    “Okay. But I think I'll finish breakfast first.” I gave her a small smile.
    She smiled back, and I saw a flash of the beautiful woman she once was. “Do you think you'll get any more cards… the stalker?”
    “I don't know. I hope not. At least I didn't receive anything yesterday. I hope that's the end of it.” 
    Part of me told me to quit the search for answers in Misty Cove, to go on with my life. What if I was searching for answers in the wrong place? What if my stalker really was someone from my present and not my past?
    Last night I’d thought of Fred, the lawyer I had dated before Miles. He had been the jealous kind. We dated for over two years, and the breakup was messy. He didn't want to understand that I couldn't be in a relationship where I felt something was missing. He'd accused me of wasting his time. 
    But Fred couldn't be my stalker. I had woken up in the middle of the night and went online to check out his social media profiles, amazed that he hadn't blocked me. From the look of things, he had moved on completely. He was married and had a baby daughter. Judging from the pictures he posted of his family, he was happy. He didn't seem like somebody who would jeopardize his new life to get back at an ex. 
    I had been somehow disappointed that it wasn't him. I'd have preferred the stalker to be someone in my current life.
    “I hope it’s over as well. But please be careful.” Mom touched my cheek gently.
    I nodded and started to eat, filling myself with enough food to get me through the whole day.
    When I walked out the door and down the path, munching on my apple, I couldn't help wondering what had become of my friends. I now knew Melanie's dreams of becoming an actress didn't pan out, but what about the others? Did theirs come true? Were they married with kids? Did the past ever cross their minds?
    I moved the apple to my left hand so I could reach into my purse for the car keys. When I looked up again I spotted something on my windscreen, tucked behind the wipers. My heart froze.
    It was an envelope.
    As I walked to the front of the car, I felt nauseous. My stalker had followed me after all. If somebody was willing to put their life on hold in order to follow me to another town, they had to be dangerous.
    I glanced around, hoping I could catch the person watching me. But all I saw were people leaving their homes for work, and uniformed children getting into the school bus. Nothing out of the ordinary.
    Where was he? Who was he? My feelings told me it was a man. I couldn’t explain it, I just knew.
     
     
     

Chapter Sixteen
     
     
    The last time I stepped into the Trinity Church was when my father died, the one time Mom and I had resembled some kind of family, brought together by shared grief. As we listened to the minister, both of us had sat ramrod straight, gazing ahead, so near and yet so far apart. I remembered now that my mom had not cried. At the time I thought she had been consumed with grief, but now I knew she probably