Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

She ran her hands through her hair and sighed. It was a veiled threat, but barely. Divorcing him without his consent had been tricky, but she’d let the attorney handle all of that. She’d hoped he would take the hint and accept the fact that she didn’t want anything to do with him and move on with his life, but it didn’t look like that would be the case. He was going to find her. Then what?

She wasn’t afraid he would harm her physically. He never had in the past. But she couldn’t go back to being his lackey, earning all the money and having him tell her how to spend it. Doing all the housework and reliving memories she’d rather not relive was no longer on her agenda.

Her life had changed so much, and she’d come so far. Getting back with Wayne would undo all her progress. He wouldn’t support her newfound confidence, and he definitely wouldn’t like the fact that she couldn’t be controlled so easily. No, reuniting with Wayne was not an option.

She had to be prepared for when he showed up. Mentally and emotionally, she would need to be able to tell him it was over and mean it. To be safe, she should also be ready in case he didn’t take the news well.

She gathered all the letters, shoved them into an empty kitchen drawer, then recorked the wine and put the bottle in the refrigerator. She knew this day would come and would rest easier once she was ready for it.

It was well past closing time for her attorney, but she called and left a message anyway. “Please call me as soon as you get this. I need to make sure that everyone in your office knows not to give Wayne my new address. Also, I never received the final divorce paperwork. Could you please email me a copy as soon as possible? And lastly, if any more letters come for me, you have my permission to put them in the shredder.” She hung up and closed her eyes for a moment. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she summoned her inner warrior, then got to work.

Since she wasn’t sure when Wayne would be released, she decided it was better to be safe than sorry and planned to be ready as soon as possible. She didn’t want to be scrambling once he got out.

Waking her laptop, she first searched for home security systems. After some research, she purchased the best money could buy and paid extra for express shipping.

Then she focused on a car. She couldn’t be trapped here with no way to leave quickly if needed. Without test driving anything and based solely on what was available right then, she ordered last year’s model of the Ford Edge. It was dark blue, but she didn’t care about the color. It had a sunroof, AC, and heated seats. Good enough.

Shopping online was so easy. Why would anyone go to a store when they could shop at their leisure at home and then have everything shipped, usually for free, right to their door? After she ordered groceries to be delivered the next day, at a specific time she designated, she searched for “furniture” and spent the next few hours ordering everything she needed to settle in.

When she finally looked up, she was surprised to see it was after one a.m. Her contacts were dry, and her credit card had taken a beating, but she felt good about all of her purchases. She powered down her computer and staggered off to bed.

Although she was exhausted, her mind wouldn’t shut down. She couldn’t help but wonder what this would mean for her budding relationship with Sam. Obviously, she couldn’t involve him in this. They would have to take a break while she dealt with Wayne and could only start up again once she was sure Wayne was out of her life for good.

She debated whether she should tell Sam about Wayne getting out soon and about his stated plan to come for her, but didn’t want to burden him with all her drama. Also, she didn’t want Sam thinking worse of her because she’d gotten herself into such a mess and married such a loser.

Plus, what if she told Sam and then Wayne never showed up? What if him coming to find her was just an idle threat? Or what if he gave up after not being able to find her right away? He wouldn’t think to look for her in Washington State and wasn’t tenacious enough to search too hard. She didn’t want to bring all this up with Sam if she didn’t have to.

The problem was, she didn’t know. Didn’t know if Wayne would find her and didn’t know what his plans were if he did. He’d probably want money and need a place to stay. She was resolute that he would not stay with her, but needed to think through the pros and cons of giving him money. It might get him to go away in the short term, but then she’d always have to worry about him coming back for more.

It would have to be clear that it was a one-time-only arrangement. And how much was she willing to give him to get him out of her life? If she offered too much, he’d be suspicious and want to know where the money came from and how much she had. If she offered too little, he wouldn’t take it and wouldn’t leave.

Best-case scenario was that he accepted her decision and moved on with his life. Worst case, he finds her, comes up here, and then won’t leave, making her life miserable.

She thought about all the different ways things could go and how she would react to them, but there were too many variables to know anything for sure. The only thing she knew for