Annie’s fingers were trembling around her iPhone, and she didn’t notice the second, third, or fourth time that Harry called her to come and eat breakfast. She was frozen, her mind repeating over and over again the second eerie text Will had sent her.

I used to fuck you like that.

Annie tried to think of a way that this could be a joke, but there wasn’t one. Only the day before, he had sent her another message telling her that the coral red dress from Prada that Harry had bought her on her last birthday looked great on her. Her face went cold when she realised she was wearing it that second, and that he could obviously, somehow see her, sat at the table in a restaurant with her husband and two children and all of their friends.

Will wasn’t just sending creepy texts. He was stalking her.

---

Annie’s POV.

“Harry,” I mouthed, trying to call for him, but it was like my voice box was being strangled. “Harry.” I said, and the sound of his knife and fork dropping to the table meant he had heard me.

“What’s up?” He said, strolling into the room with his hands on his hips, fishing some food out of his teeth with the side of his tongue, his brows knitted together in confusion. “Your breakfast is sitting there, getting cold-“
“Harry, we need to..” What do I say? Talk? Call the police? I was shaking violently with fear, and with more force every time I thought of Will watching me.. my husband.. together so intimately.
“We need toooooo...” He repeated, growing irritated.
“Can we.. talk, please?” I couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my face, and my phone clattering to the floor. Harry reached forward and held me by my waist, obviously aware that I wasn’t going to last on my legs much longer. He held my frame gently and guided me into a chair at the kitchen table. He gave me a look as if to ask if what I was about to say was appropriate to be said in front of the kids. When I shook my head gravely, his eyes widened suddenly, but he nodded, patted his thighs, and scooped Noah up into one arm and guided Ivy off her chair to totter beside him with his hand placed around hers.

I heard the floorboards creak upstairs and assumed he was placing both children in their bedrooms. I could hear Ivy complaining that she wanted to stay with us, downstairs, and my patience growled at her. I had never needed Harry all to myself more in that moment.

When he returned, he closed the kitchen door behind him and sat across from me. His face was so sincerely worried that I almost felt guilty for shaking him up so much. His eyes looked more worried than when he had left. I bit down on my nail.

“I think we’re being stalked.” I whispered, and I felt my chest rise unevenly.
“Stalked?” He spat out, holding my hands and looking up at me like I was telling him the most important thing in the world.
“I should have told you.. but I.. I don’t know, I just ignored the texts and.. I don’t know.” I let one sob escape my throat, and thirty more followed. Harry’s expression was emotionless, stony even.
“Is it him?” He took a handful of my hair and gently pulled back so he could read my expression. Stronger sobs came and I nodded, too incoherent to speak.
“What did he say to you?” Harder sobs. “Annie, tell me what he said."

I shook my head and pressed the iPhone into his palm. He looked at me unsurely, but hit my messages. His face grew paler. He was icy. He looked up from the phone, but not at me. Then, he glanced around the kitchen as if he’d see some sort of cameras or little people watching us that we hadn’t noticed before.

“Fuck this.” He whispered to himself.

He stood up suddenly and stormed out of the kitchen, cursing as he went. I chased after him, because I knew exactly where he was going. I watched frantically, wiping at my red eyes as he pulled on one Nike trainer after the other, and then reached for the first jacket he could see beside the door. The khaki Burberry bomber that I had always loved on him, but would probably hate now that I’d always associate it with this moment.

“You call your mum and dad and you go there and stay there with the kids.” His tone was warning. “I’ll call you. Stay, there.”
“Harry, you can’t, you can’t!” I was begging, grabbing onto his thick, strong arm. He shrugged me off.
“Do as I say, Annie, please, please.” He stared at me, and looked me over. “Lock this door when I leave. Put all the alarms on. I have to go.”
“Where are you going?” I cried, giving one last tug and failing to move him an inch closer in my direction.

Harry gave me an unreadable look, and stormed over to his range rover. I blinked through my tears, trying to move them out of my line of vision. I was terrified. I knew where he was going. I prayed silently that Will didn’t still live in the same East London apartment building he had five years ago. I prayed that Harry wouldn’t hurt him. Even though he deserved it, he deserved every single punch and kick he could get, but ultimately, it was Harry’s reputation that would be tarnished.

I ran straight for the kids, still trembling in fear. Every step I took felt like it was being recorded, and I prayed it wasn’t. That Will wasn’t sitting back somewhere, twisted, watching this all unfold. I realised that I probably looked a sorry state and while Noah would hardly realise anything was wrong, Ivy was the most questioning, inquisitive little girl Harry and I could have had. I swiped at my eyes again, and plastered a fake smile on my face.

“Hi, pretty. We’re going to go to nana and granddads.” I cleared my throat. “I thought maybe you’d like that.”
“Are you sad?” She frowned, the same frown Harry had just performed seconds earlier. I shook my head.
“No, not sad. Mummy’s just tired.”
“Well why are we going out if you’re tired?” She blinked at me and it took everything in me to be the good parent and not explode.
“I’m fine, Ivy, honestly angel.” I said, picking up the small bag of things I had packed and taking her by the hand, strolling past her bathroom and grabbing her toothbrush.

I cursed. Noah would be a lot more difficult to transport to my mothers, since Harry had left me with a selection of cars that involved a tiny two-seater Porsche Carrera, an old Ford Capri that I had never thought road-safe, and an Audi R8 that I would rather take a bus than drive, it was so precious to Harry. I took a deep breath when I reached the line of car keys by the door of our home. It would have to be the Ford Capri.

Cars built in the sixties were not accepting of child-seats, but somehow, I made it work. Strapping Noah in and getting Ivy to stop asking questions was becoming a task in itself, but a task I was thankful for the distraction of, since it took my mind off of what Harry could be doing that very moment.

Harry wasn’t a fighter, at all and I prayed that for that reason, he wouldn’t touch him. But this time, something in his eyes was crazed. It was like the Harry I knew in the beginning, the one that had never heard of controlling his temper or not getting his own way. I shuddered, and took the steering wheel in my palms, mentally checking off the fact I had switched on every alarm and trigger switch in the house.

It wasn’t long before I felt the tears building in my eyes, but the car we were in wasn’t exactly the most safe and that mixed with my blurred vision wouldn’t make for an easy trip. I took a deep breath, and carried on along the roads.

Why us? Why Harry and I, every single fucking time. Any time that we figured things out. Any time things were going well, something had to pop up. And it was usually always Will.

Notes

Hiiiiii! You’ll find out what happened in the next chapter.. which I’ll post tomorrow :)