Page 184 of Scandalous Contract

Chapter Forty-Four

STEFANIE

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IHADN’T PLANNED TOfall asleep. Not really. I’d just been lying there, staring at the ceiling, the weight of everything pressing down on my chest like a brick. One drink turned into two, maybe three. The whiskey was supposed to calm my nerves, not knock me out.

I don’t even remember slipping under, just remember the cold when I woke up needing to pee. Dragging myself out of bed, I stumbled to the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the lights. Afterward, I rinsed my hands and returned to the bedroom.

When I got back in bed, I grabbed my phone to check the time and saw the screen lit up with missed notifications. I blinked hard, my heart already starting to beat faster.Motion detected: front yard and back yard.The time stamp showed that the motion occurred a couple of hours ago.

I was suddenly wide awake, tipsiness completely gone. My thumb tapped through the alerts faster than I could think. The playback loaded slowly, but when it did, my stomach dropped.

A man in a hoodie had been on my porch, just standing there before walking around the side of the house, and back to his car. There was no clear view of his face. My first thought was Hudson. My second was Julian.

One I feared. The other I welcomed. I’d changed the security code after his birthday, but if anyone could still figure his way in, it’d be him. However, this couldn’t be Julian. He’d know better than to be creepy like this. He wouldn’t want to scare me.

I watched the clip again, paused it, zoomed in, and rewound it. The image was too grainy to tell who it was. But whoever he was, he was gone now. The live feed showed that I was alone. Still, my skin crawled, and I couldn’t shake the unease.

I pushed the covers back and got up again, moving through the house in silence, barefoot on cold hardwood, heart thumping. I deactivated the alarm and checked the front door. There was no damage. No signs of anyone trying to get in. I locked it and moved to the back door.

Same thing. No scratches. No forced entry. But taped to the glass was a folded piece of paper. I froze. Every muscle in my body locked up. I glanced left, then right. No one was around. My neighborhood was quiet.

I yanked the paper off the door, rushed back inside, and locked everything behind me like I was being chased. My hands shook as I reactivated the alarm. The panel beeped, the system now armed, but I didn’t feel safer.

I sat on the edge of the couch and unfolded the paper. A small Polaroid picture slipped out and landed face down on the floor. I picked it up and turned it over. My breath caught in my throat at the image that greeted me.

It was India, my baby, tied to a chair, and blindfolded with tape over her mouth and her hands tied behind her back. My entire body went cold as tears sprang to my eyes. What the hell was this?

It couldn’t be real.Please don’t be real.I opened the paper and read through the note with trembling hands. The handwriting was jagged, messy, unhinged. But familiar.Hudson!

It read:Stefanie, I’m tired of playing games with you. You knew this was coming. You had to know. This is all your fault. You made me wait too long. I told you bad things would happen if you pushed me too far.

My heart was pounding so loudly I could barely hear myself think. I kept reading.

I’ve always been there for you, even when you didn’t notice. Even on that night when your husband drove away with her? You didn’t know that, did you? You didn’t know that Lanissa called me from the car and told me that you were chasing them. I know you caused the wreck. I know what you did.

My lips parted, but no sound came out. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.