Chapter 9 - THE DAY HARPER STOPPED RUNNING
Harper wanted to leave.
Immediately.
Pack everything.
Disappear again.
That was what she knew.
Run.
Hide.
Survive.
But Gabriel stopped her.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“What do you mean no?”
“You’re not running again.”
Her eyes filled with anger.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand exactly.”
“No, you don’t!”
Her voice broke.
“You don’t know what it feels like to wake up every day wondering if today is the day someone finds you.”
Gabriel stayed quiet.
Then he said:
“You’re right.”
Harper froze.
“I don’t know what that feels like.”
A pause.
“But I know what it feels like to watch someone get hurt and do nothing.”
She looked at him.
“I won’t do that again.”
They went to Noah’s school.
The principal was nervous.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Lane.”
“Why?”
The principal hesitated.
“Officer Collins came earlier.”
Harper’s face changed.
“What did he say?”
“He said he was concerned about his family.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Did he threaten anyone?”
“No.”
The principal looked uncomfortable.
“But he made people question you.”
Of course.
The same pattern.
Derek didn’t attack directly.
He poisoned people’s opinions first.
Then the school security officer walked in.
“I found something.”
He placed a tablet on the desk.
“Camera footage.”
Harper leaned closer.
The video showed Derek outside the school.
But he wasn’t alone.
A woman stood beside him.
Harper recognized her immediately.
Her blood turned cold.
“No…”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Who is that?”
Harper couldn’t speak.
Because she knew exactly who it was.
Her former best friend.
The person who told her to stay with Derek.
The person who said she was overreacting.
The person who knew everything.
“She helped him,” Harper whispered.
The woman in the video looked directly at the camera.
Almost like she knew someone would watch.
Then she smiled.
That night, Gabriel received another call.
This time from the police department.
“Mr. Ashford?”
“Yes.”
“You need to come down here.”
“Why?”
A pause.
Then the officer answered:
“Because Officer Derek Collins filed a report against Harper Lane.”
Gabriel frowned.
“For what?”
The officer hesitated.
“Child abduction.”
Harper heard the words.
And felt her entire world collapse.
Because Derek had just done the one thing he was best at.
May you like
He turned himself into the victim.
And made Harper look like the criminal.
