Ultimate Fear (Book 2 Ultimate CORE) (CORE Series) by Kristine Mason

made his way into the house. Boxes were on top of the kitchen table and on the floor. When he headed into the living room, he saw the same. Since the house had come furnished, they didn’t have too much and would be able to fit their belongings in the back of his truck and her car. He’d like to have more, but with as much as they moved, that wasn’t an option. Leaving paper trails could lead to discovery.
    “How’d it go?” Dimples asked, as she came out of Mr. Independent’s bedroom carrying a photo album.
    “It’s done,” he said, and didn’t hide his anger.
    Her pretty blue eyes softened with sympathy and guilt. “I’m sorry, honey. Elton was a precious boy.”
    Which Elton? There’d been four boys over the past thirteen years, and Dimples had given each one of them the name they’d chosen for the son they’d lost. At first, he’d agreed to the name, figuring it was what Dimples had needed to cope with the death of their baby. But when the next boy had come into their lives, and Dimples had begun calling him Elton, too, he’d realized this wasn’t about coping. As much as he loved his wife, she had…issues. After the coma, her doctor had been concerned that she’d have neurological side effects. Series of tests had proven she was just fine. Only Wayne disagreed. Dimples had a sick need to have a baby, and would go to any length to have one. The day she’d woken from her coma, he’d promised to give her babies, and had planned on adoption, or them becoming foster parents.
    Dimples had had other plans.
    His stomach churned with guilt and resentment. Four children in thirteen years. And now she wanted another.
    She touched his arm and offered him the photo album. “Here, why don’t you take one last look at Elton’s scrapbook before I pack it away?”
    He didn’t want to see pictures of Mr. Independent. He wanted to step into the boy’s room and see him sleeping in his crib. He wanted him safe and with them, not in the arms of strangers. “No, just pack it. I’ve gotta get some sleep,” he said, and turned for their bedroom.
    “Wayne,” she called.
    He paused in the threshold of their bedroom doorway and kept his back to her. “What is it?”
    “Do you still love me?”
    When he glanced over his shoulder, he caught the childlike uncertainty in her eyes as she hugged the album to her chest. “Of course I still love you. I’m just… I loved that boy, too.”
    She sent him a soft smile and her posture relaxed. “I know you did. Don’t worry. Like I told you, we’ll have another to take his place in no time.”
    *
    Jessica parked her Ford Explorer in the driveway of the home she used to share with Dante. After his last text earlier this afternoon, she’d responded with one of her own, telling him she’d come by after work to take a look at the damage done to her garden. His garden, she reminded herself. Regardless, if he had used the organic cayenne pepper spray she’d given him to stop the rabbits from feasting on the vegetables, she wouldn’t have to be here to assess the damage.
    Before stepping out of the SUV, she grabbed the flashlight from her glove box, then stepped into the night. The tall lampposts lining the street cast shadows along the brick path leading to the front door. Katydids and other crickets filled the air with their songs. She’d used to enjoy sitting on the back patio with Dante, nursing a cocktail, talking and listening to the insects. During cooler summer nights, she’d open their bedroom window, curl up against Dante’s big body and fall asleep to the rhythm of his heart and the insects’ soothing sounds. Now all she had to lull her to sleep—when she could sleep—was traffic, and lots of it.
    But she’d reconciled her decision to move to the small, dysfunctional, crappy apartment. Living there had brought her closer to work and, with no memories lingering in the rooms, had also given her a fresh start. Her stomach seized when she reached the front