“He is a monster, Evelyn,” she said.

I pulled my hand away, my skin crawling.

“I need to think,” I said.

“There isn’t time,” Rose said. “He knows I’m here. He knows I have the records.”

Before I could answer, the phone in my pocket began to vibrate again.

It was a text from Claire.

I pulled it out, my fingers fumbling with the screen.

*Hey Mom, Dad just called me from the road. He said he’s coming to pick me up from campus. Is everything okay?*

My heart stopped.

I looked at Rose.

“He’s going to get her,” I said.

“We have to go,” Rose said, reaching for the envelope. “We have to get to her first.”

But before we could move, the sound of a car engine rumbled in the driveway.

It wasn’t the sound of Richard’s sedan.

It was his SUV, heavy and fast.

He was back.

The tires crunched on the gravel outside the kitchen window.

I stood frozen, the phone still vibrating against my palm.

Rose’s face went entirely white, the skin around her eyes tightening.

“He’s here,” she whispered.