Stripping Callum (Last Hangman MC Book 6)(59)

Right now, she’s at home with Elijah. He’s been spending more time at my place, and I don’t mind it at all. I actually like having him there. It puts back some life into the house. It’s just hard that he’s sleeping in Billy’s room. Bella didn’t want him to sleep in there because she was afraid of how I would react and while it’s true I struggled the first few times, it’s getting a little bit easier. The main issue is that if Elijah wakes up crying in the middle of the night, I jolt up in bed and for that split second, I think Billy is in there. It breaks my heart a bit more, but it’s quickly put to rest when Bella doesn’t wake up and I go see what’s wrong with him. I’ve fallen asleep with him more than once, and I suspect Bella has been taking pictures of the two of us asleep in the bed that is way too small for me. She’s totally going to use them as ammo at some point, and I’ll never live it down.

She really fits in with the girls. They are as bad as each other.

Driving home, I let my mind wander into the future, or rather, what our future would be.

It’s hard to imagine myself happy and with a new family. I feel like I’m cheating on Alina and Billy and replacing them. I know I’m not. I have to move on and live for myself at some point, but that’s how I feel most of the time.

I’d love nothing more than to have a family again, despite all the heartache it can bring. I still struggle to see the positive in things at times. Nancy has been trying to get me to open up to Bella. I still haven’t been able to tell her my life story. I want to, but I don’t know how. I’m not good with words, and I’m surely even worse at showing and telling someone I love them. Bella knows I love her without me saying the words. If I do, that’s when things are going to get f*cked up.

Parking my Harley in the driveway, I get off it and walk to the front door. I’m about to put the key in the lock but the door is ripped open and a frightened Bella is on the other side.

“What’s w—”

“There’s been another note. Not even five minutes ago!” she says through gritted teeth.

“What?” I walk in and lock the door behind me, arming the security system.

“Here.” She takes it from the small entry table and shoves it toward me nervously. I take it and read it over a couple of times, unbelieving what is written on it.

You thought I was done when I took Alina and Billy from you.

You thought you could live a happy life with Bella and Elijah.

You thought I would forget what you’ve done to me.

I’m always in the shadow.

I know everything that you do.

I know when you’re near Bella, when one of your brothers is, and when she’s alone.

I will get her, Callum.

One day, when you least expect it, I’ll get her and kill her and Elijah in much worse ways than what I did to Alina and Billy.

I’ll make you watch.

You’re not going to recover from this.

I’ll make sure you’re unable to kill yourself so you suffer.

Suffer like you’ve made Alina suffer, like you’ve made Billy suffer, like you’ve made Emily suffer.

You are going to pay for all the wrongs you’ve done in your life.

And I can’t wait to be the one to bring Callum Richardson down.

I know where you live.

I know where Bella lives.

I’ll see you both very soon.

I’m at a loss for words. I know who is behind all of this now, which doesn’t make any of this better.

“Who is Emily?” Bella asks, sounding confused as she brings me to the kitchen.

“Your guess is as good as mine. I have no clue.” I really don’t know. I don’t know nor do I remember ever knowing an Emily.

“That’s strange.” She sighs.

“This f*cking mess is because of me. I’ve told you that from the beginning. I should have never let myself get this close to you.”

“I’m going to stop you right there. If you’re trying to break up with me, push me away, or whatever to get rid of me, it won’t work. Whether we stay together or you leave me, he won’t back down from whatever is masterplan is. He wants to make us suffer, and I’m fed up with this man’s bullshit. He’s handling this like a teenager, passing threats in little notes. That’s f*cked up. I don’t know what happened in your life with this man, but f*ck it all to hell if I’m going to let him ruin what we have. I’m here if you want to talk about what happened with him or in your life. Whatever you want to tell me, I’m here,” she says placing a bottle of beer in front of me before disappearing into the living room. Well f*ck, I didn’t expect her to react like that. I thought she would be scared shitless, pack up and leave as she is used to doing.

It takes me a few minutes before I can join her. I had to try and come up with something to say, but it’s harder than I thought.

“Alina was engaged to someone when we met. She dumped him for me, and we got together the same day. He was never really a problem for the longest time. Never came around, never spied on us, at least not that I know of. I don’t remember ever seeing him around. Things started to change when we had Billy. From time to time we’d get phone calls and no one would be on the other line, just heavy breathing. They became more frequent as Billy grew older. I was always the one picking up those phone calls, at least I think so. Alina never mentioned anything. One morning, she was going to drop Billy off at school and like every morning, I was with them on the lawn to see them off.