The 22 days

Day: 21

Carter kept opening his eyes throughout the night, partially to check if Beyoncé managed to fall asleep and partially to listen for sounds around the house. He didn't think Malcolm would try to come in again and even if he did, he wouldn't succeed this time, the bolts were in place now, but he didn't want to be too trusting.

He was pretty sure he knew the kind of man Malcolm was. Too cowardly to fight man to man.

He had kept alert the past few days, trying to think what steps Malcolm would take to track his wife down, what he would do when he found her.

When Darnell acted strangely to a random man on the street, he could have shrugged it off, thinking it could be the smell like the man said, but he couldn't brush off the blue Ford SVT Raptor parked three houses down, at the most isolated side of Beyoncé's new house. He could remember Beyoncé's reaction to that same model and color. At the time he focused on her, so he didn't memorize the plates and couldn't know if it was exactly the same truck, but he could get the plates of the truck he kept seeing and call on a favor from his friend, Lt. Sanchez, to get the name of the owner. He wasn't at all surprised to find out it belonged to Malcolm Gavin Whitley. He wasn't surprised that he was the one lurking around, watching the house and even causing Beyoncé to stay awake at night, sensing something bad was too close.

He knew lurking would lead to more than that at some point. He expected something sneaky and low.

He actually expected Malcolm to try and come into the house when he left to go buy tools, after Beyoncé and Joey left for school, trying to find a good way to surprise her at a weak moment.

He couldn't know if Malcolm was actually inside the house earlier, but he thought a plan was made to do so at night. And he was sure Joey would be his first target, since he was the most fragile, at least in Malcolm's mind. In reality, Darnell had been keeping his eyes on the boy ever since they reunited and would definitely have protected the child if Malcolm succeeded in entering the house unexpectedly. He was glad Malcolm had been predictable.

He needed that to happen again, just one more time so they could be with Malcolm for the last time.

She was surprised she was able to fall asleep. She was shaking so much when she reentered the house, she was sure it'd never stop. Carter was the only reason she had been able to calm down at all, especially since he had anticipated it all. He knew Malcolm had found her, he knew that his first move would be toward Joey, and he gave her courage to face her husband.

When he told her his plan earlier in the day, she was nervous about it. And she was afraid something would go wrong, but now she felt relieved and safe. She trusted Carter.

Still, there was part of his plan that she just couldn't go along with. Her son was her priority and she needed to know that it would be his too.

As she opened her eyes to a new day, she kept playing Carter's words in her mind. If she was able to do everything they talked about, she would finally be able to live her life the way she longed for so many years. She wouldn't have to run. She wouldn't have to hide, and she wouldn't have to be afraid ever again.

"Morning", She heard Carter say softly, his eyes watching her as she sat up in bed.

"Good morning", she replied, almost whispering, "did you sleep at all?"

"Just a bit, but I'm good, though", He said smiling.

"I'm going to wash up and make us some breakfast, can you get Joey ready?"

He smiled harder at her, "Sure."

She did just as she told him, she brushed her teeth then her hair before going into the kitchen and getting started on juice and pancakes.