Once in her car, Daphne started it up and sped across town to her apartment. She avoided the stop signs and ran through the red lights, ignoring the oncoming traffic. Once at the complex, she sloppily parked and jumped out. She bounded up the steps and barged into her apartment. McKenna jumped up from the couch.

"McKenna, where's Misty?" Daphne asked.

"In her room. What's going on?" McKenna asked.

Daphne ignored her question and ran back to Misty's room. She walked inside and found her sleeping contently in her bed. She let out a small sigh of relief and kissed her forehead before walking back out. She checked in her room and found Lucas sleeping in her bed.

"Daph, what happened?" she heard McKenna asked.

Daphne shut her bedroom door and turned to look at her.

"Be honest, did anyone come by here?" she asked.

"No, why?"

"Are you sure? You didn't see or hear anyone outside?"

"Nobody was here, Daph. What happened?"

Daphne went to reply when there was a loud banging at the door. They both looked to the door, startled.

"Who is that?" McKenna asked.

"Go in Misty's room and lock the door," Daphne told her.

"Why? Who is it?"

"Go, McKenna!" Daphne hissed.

McKenna hesitated before doing what she said. Once she heard the door lock, Daphne hesitantly approached the door. She felt her heart beating out of her chest as she got closer.

"Daphne!" she heard from the other side.

She quickly looked out the peephole and saw a furious Matt and Kyle on the other side.

"You can come out, McKenna!" she called as she opened the door.

"You want to explain what the hell that was back there?" Matt barked.

"What's going on?" McKenna asked as she came out of Misty's room.

"Are the kids okay?" Kyle asked.

"They're fine," Daphne muttered.

"Kyle, could you take McKenna home?" Matt asked.

"Uh, yeah. Should I come back?" Kyle asked.

"No, I need to have a talk with my sister," Matt said, not taking his eyes off Daphne.

"Matt, you should go too," Daphne muttered.

"I'm not going anywhere," he answered, bitterly.

Daphne paid McKenna while Kyle grabbed Lucas.

"Um, I'll call you tomorrow to see how everything is," Kyle told her.

Daphne nodded and shut the door behind them when they left.

"You should really go, Matt. Everyone is probably wondering where you are," she muttered.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what the hell is going on with you," he answered.

"Nothing is-"

"Don't give me that bullshit," he spat, cutting her off.

She flinched back at the venom in his voice.

"You have been keeping secrets from me since you got here and I am sick of it. We never keep secrets Daphne! If there's someone out there that wants to hurt you or Misty, then I need to know. Now sit down and tell me what the hell is going on!" he demanded.

"Fine," she spat.

She sat down on the couch. Matt sat on the coffee table in front of her.

"Its about Derek, isn't it?" he asked.

She reluctantly nodded.

"That guy, he's friends with Derek?" he asked.

She nodded again.

"What does he want Daph? Why is he here?"

"I ran away from New York because...because..."

"Because why, Daph?" he asked.

"Because Derek is a drug lord. And he's murdered people," she finally said.

Matt's jaw hung open.

"He basically runs the streets in New York," she continued. "I found out the day I left him. He kept these papers and he finally told me everything. That's how he was so rich. He refused to stop, so I took Misty, some of his money and we took off. He's still out for us apparently."

Matt was quiet for a few minutes.

"Matt?" she asked.

"Damn it, Daph!" he spat as he stood up.

"How could you not tell me this? This is something that is endangering your life!" he shouted.

"I wanted to tell you, but it was something I had to handle on my own," she told him.

"Daph, your rent check is something to handle on your own. Your daughter is something to handle on your own. Your drug lord and murdering fiancé is not something you handle on your own!"

"Ex-fiancé."

"Whatever!" he spat.

“Now where did his friend come from? And why was he at my house?” he barked.

“Derek sent him here to keep an eye on me. He’s been here for about a week. He said he was going to come here for Misty, so that’s why I raced out like that.”

“So he threatened your daughter and that fucker is still alive? Fuck this, I’m calling the cops!” he spat as he pulled out his phone.

“Don’t!” she exclaimed.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Daph? You should’ve called the cops as soon as you got away from him!” he scolded.

“I can’t! I have no proof of what he did. He burned all the paper evidence, so I have nothing! And he’s threatening to call the cops on me for ‘kidnapping’ his daughter.”

“That’s bullshit! Its his word against yours. I’m sure they could find something against him. I’m calling them,” he told her.

“Matt, don’t! I swear if you call them, you can say goodbye to Misty and I right now. I will never forgive you. You will never see or hear from us again if you call the cops. I’ll leave again, and I won’t come back this time,” she threatened.

That caused him to pause.

“Don’t you think I’ve wanted to call the cops? It scares the shit out of me knowing that Derek is still out there! And now Jared is here and I don’t know what to do! I can’t take the risk of calling the cops. I can’t lose Misty. I just can’t, Matt!” she exclaimed, her voice breaking.

“Come here, Daph,” he muttered as he tightly hugged her.

“I just want this all to go away!” she cried into his chest.

“I know you do, baby. I can’t believe you’ve been going through all this,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she muttered.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. At least I know now though. Now, I’m going to do whatever I can to keep you two safe,” he muttered as he kissed her forehead.

***

An hour later, Daphne finally convinced Matt to leave.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay? I can always crash on the couch,” he offered.

“Matt we’ll be fine. Jared was probably just bluffing,” she shrugged.

“Call me if he shows up here. I’ll be right over,” he told her.

“I will,” she nodded.

“Alright. Be safe, baby,” he told her as he tightly hugged her.

“I will. I love you, Matt,” she smiled.

“I love you too,” he smiled as he kissed her forehead.

She locked the door behind him and checked on Misty before walking in her room. Sighing, she slipped off her shoes and dress and climbed into bed. About ten minutes later, she heard her phone go off. Figuring it was Matt checking up on her, she grabbed it and answered it.

D- Hello?

J- Thanks for showing me where you live, Daph.

Notes

Guys, its almost over!
Of course there'll be a sequel though!
We all know Derek won't stop with just a stalkerish kind of thing!
:)
<3