Living Hidden

22

Sam woke up to the sound of Henry yelling. It had been three weeks since Lauren had moved downstairs and Henry had moved in. He moved all of his things into Lauren's old room but he hadn't actually slept in there.

"What do you mean?" Henry's voice boomed. "You need to explain right now. No. She's not going anywhere."

Henry came storming into the bedroom. He stopped when he saw Sam sitting up in the bed. "I'm sorry baby I didn't mean to wake you." He said running his hand down his face in frustration.

"Henry what is going on?" Sam said with her brows knitted.

"Detective White called me this morning. I thought he was going to tell me how long those sons of bitches got." Henry shook his head and began pacing.

"Ok. So what did he say?" She questioned.

Henry sat on the bed and held Sam's hand. "Thomas' sentencing trial is finished and he will be serving 25 years for what he did to you."

"Good."

"Not entirely." He looked at Sam. "Gabe is still trying to strike up some kind of deal. He told the prosocuter, who told Detective White, that Thomas paid someone while you were being held to take care of things under the circumstances that he were to get caught."

Sam's mouth dropped. Fear rattled her body and her hands started shaking. "Um. Ok. So I am not safe from psycho's trying to do God-knows-what to me." She took a deep breath. "So what do I do?"

"We. It's what we will do, you aren't alone Sam." Henry encouraged. "Detective White is trying to push wittness protection."

Sam began shaking her head.

"I know that's not what you want. And it's definetly not what I want either."

"I ran once Henry. I don't want to do it again. I can't live my whole life hidden." She said wiping a few stray tears away.

"You don't have to. Detective White is searching through months of bank information right now trying to find who ever Thomas paid off. He's gonna find him." Henry wrapped his arms around her.

"It's been months though. Are they sure that Gabe is even right?" Sam's mind was racing. She was determined not to let a monster like Thomas win."I will not live in fear of that bastard!"

"They are taking it as a threat to your safety. So I guess they have some reason or proof enough to believe it's true." Henry shook his head in frustration.

"Ok. Well I'm going to work. If you hear from Detective White first will you let me know?" Sam said flatly.

"Yes of course. But I'm sure Mrs. Gaines wouldn't mind you taking today off."

"Nope. I will be careful and catious, but this will not stop me from living." She answered and then gave Henry a deep kiss. "I'm going to change now," she rose to her feet,"and you should do the same so you're not late."

Sam parted ways with Henry at the coffee shop after getting a coffee for herself and him. She began her day at the library after a quick chat with Mrs. Gaines. Around noon her phone chimed to notify her of a text message. She checked her phone and smiled when she saw it was from Henry.

Good afternoon beautiful. I hope you're having a good day. Everything ok?

She felt her insides warm at Henry's concern. She quickly moved her fingers over the touch-screen and sent a reply.

Hey baby. I'm ok. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Sam slipped her phone back into the back pocket of her jeans. She grabbed a small stack of books off one of the study tables and made her way to go return them to their designated place. When she finished she made her way to the front counter.

A middle age woman approached the counter and gave Sam a small nod when she looked up from the computer. The woman stopped infront of Sam and reached into the left inner pocket of her blazer. The woman pulled out a wallet and turned it towards Sam revealing a badge.

"Can I help you officer?" Sam asked with a smile. She hoped that this was a coincidence, but she had a feeling it was not.