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Alright." Lydia pulled her car into a parking spot outside the small, private airport. "After work, I'll pick Caroline up from the sitter and then we will head right to the track. We'll be there probably around eight-thirty."
Her eyes shifted to Ryan, waiting for a response. Instead, he was staring out the window, fidgeting with a bracelet on his wrist. "I have a bad feeling. Like something really bad is going to happen." He muttered.
"That's probably a little bit of anxiety." Lydia acknowledged. "Take a few deep breaths, Ryan. We'll all be together again before the day is over."
"Right." Ryan nodded, clearly unconvinced. Offering a small smile, he leaned over the center console, his lips finding hers for a moment before he pulled away. "I'll see you tonight." Three words lingered over them, neither willing to say them. No -- they had agreed that they were going to take this slow, make sure they do all of this right. But it didn't change the way they felt about each other.
"Be safe. I'll call you when Caroline and I are on our way." Lydia waved, watching as Ryan pulled the duffel bag from the backseat before shutting the door. She stayed there until Ryan disappeared through the doors of the airport.
Part of Lydia wanted to just go pick Caroline back up from the sitter's house and call into work and just surprise Ryan at the track. But Lydia had a couple of big cases coming up and she knew that she was a little behind work -- she had to go in.
With a small sigh, Lydia pulled her car out of the parking spot and headed off to work.
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"You look like you're glowing." Lydia turned her head, smiling at her co-worker, Samantha as they climbed the steps into their office building after their lunch break.
"Glowing? I mean --" She thought that was a weird compliment but Ryan had been staying at the house and things were good -- so good. "Things have been going well. Caroline and I have reconnected with her father and everything has been great."
Samantha returned the smile. "Happy looks good on you."
"Lydia?" Maureen -- the receptionist -- beckoned for her to come over to the desk. "There's someone in your office. They don't have an appointment but they said they were an old friend. I just wanted to give you a head's up."
Lydia's stomach twisted, she didn't have any old friends, at least none that knew where she was. Every fiber in her body told her she needed to run but she swallowed that gut feeling, opening the door of her office.
"There you are." Lydia's eyes landed on Stacy. "I've been waiting for you, Lydia. Or should I call you Amelia? Did you know that you're technically considered a missing person's case in Carter County?"
Lydia swallowed hard, she was sure that she would never be called Amelia again. She had been so careful, always covering her tracks. Sure, she had legally changed her name so there was a record of that but she had the records sealed over a year ago. And she knew she was still a missing person -- the sheriff had been clear that the only way they'd stop considering her one is if could verify that she's alive and well but that would involve her going back to her hometown -- it wasn't worth it.
"How did you --" Lydia choked out, her mind reeling.
"I know who you are, I've always known who you were. Who do you think saw that Instagram message. How pathetic was that? I hired a private investigator to figure out who you were and then I waited because I knew you'd try to connect with Ryan again eventually and I knew I needed to be prepared." Stacy laughed before her face puckered. "I'm not one for small talk so let's talk about what's going to happen next."
"You need to leave." Lydia gritted, turning to open the door. "Because I'm not doing anything you want me to. You can know whatever it is that you know but I'm not going to let you hold that over me." There was only one thing that Stacy could hold over her and Lydia was desperately hoping that she was bluffing about what she knew.
Stacy stood up, leaning over the desk towards Lydia. "I don't? I think I do. Let's sit and chat and I won't call Kyle and give him your number and let him know where you and Caroline live."
Lydia's stomach dropped, a lump in her throat forming. That was the one thing — the one thing she was most afraid of. The thought of him finding her had been a huge fear when she initially left but as time had distanced the pain from Lydia, she had grown comfortable — so comfortable that she hadn't really thought about that being a possibility anymore. Stacy's threat felt like a kick to the stomach and she found herself nodding, shutting the door and sitting in the leather chair usually reserved for clients.
A satisfied look crossed Stacy's face as she sat back down in Lydia's desk chair. "You're going to end everything with Ryan. I mean everything. You're going to call him and leave a voicemail, you're going to tell him that you've had a change of heart -- that you don't want a relationship with him and neither does Caroline."
"He'd never believe that." Lydia shook her head. "I'm not doing it."
Stacy let out a loud laugh, "Well, I mean it's up to you but the last I knew, Kyle was telling people that if he ever found where you had gone, he was going to kill you. And I bet he'd probably make sure there weren't any witnesses."
Lydia's heart stopped for a moment, the world spinning. She wanted to call Stacy's bluff but Kyle's threat of killing her if she left -- that was something he had told her countless times before. And now, there was so much more at stake -- Caroline's safety and even Ryan's.
"No." She choked out. "Caroline loves Ryan and he loves her too. Telling him he can't see her -- that would destroy him."
"Exactly. And then he'd come crawling back to me and things would go on the way that they were supposed to be." Stacy's big blue eyes stared at Lydia. "You're going to do this."
"He's not coming back to you, Stacy. He's going to fight for Caroline." Lydia shook her head.
"He's a weak man, if you tell him that you're blocking him and will take legal action, he won't fight." Stacy couldn't hide her indignance. "You don't have a choice, Lydia. It's either I call Kyle and tell him exactly where you are so he can finish what he started or you call Ryan. Are you really going to put your daughter's safety in jeopardy?"
The room was spinning like a toy top. Lydia knew she had to protect Caroline, she had no choice. But Lydia didn't trust Stacy -- no, she was positive that Kyle might already know where she was and he could be waiting for her -- ready to make sure that she and Caroline weren't an issue for Stacy anymore.
Lydia knew what she had to do. She just hoped that Ryan could forgive her when it was all said and done with.
"Okay." Lydia squeaked, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. She hated that she had been cornered, blindsided by Stacy. Stacy had forced her and the choice Lydia made, it made her want to vomit.
"Call him now," Stacy instructed.
Numbness spread across Lydia's body. Her fight was gone, her only thought was to do what Stacy said so she could make sure Caroline was safe. She felt like the woman that she had been when Ryan had next to her in that hotel bar -- a shell, only acting out of an instinct for survival.
With shaky hands, Lydia pulled out her phone. A sob escaped her throat when she turned her phone screen on -- a picture of Ryan and Caroline as her wallpaper -- a stark reminder of what she was about to destroy. Hate swirled around, she hated that Stacy was evil enough to do this to them -- but a piece of Lydia hated that all of this could have been prevented if she hadn't left that night.
She wanted to tell Stacy no, she wanted to fight this. She could file for an emergency protection order but she knew that would be a long shot and if she wasn't in imminent danger and couldn't prove it -- no judge would grant it.
So she had to do this. She had to tell Ryan that this -- their happiness and stability -- was a lie and that it was over. She was afraid of what it would do to him. God, there has to be another way.
"Is there anything else I can do?" Lydia practically begged. "Please, I can't do this to Ryan."
"The only way Ryan will come back to me is if you two are gone so no." Stacy crossed her arms. "Call him now, Lydia."
Lydia pulled Ryan's contact information up, clicking the call button. As she listened to the ringing, she desperately searched for a way out of this. But she needed more time to come up with a gameplan -- she had to figure something out.
"You have reached Ryan Blaney's voicemail. You know what to do." Lydia's stomach tightened as she waited for the beep.
She hoped Ryan would forgive her.
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