The Reason

I grabbed Mila's gloved hand before leaving the diner I worked in. It had become dark outside, and the streets were quiet, cold, and covered in snow. The streetlights were dim and weary as they fought hard against the cold.

"Mommy, I'm cold," Mila whined and I worriedly looked around me as we walked over to my car.

"I know, baby. We're almost at the car." I cooed at her as we quietly continued our walk down the sidewalk. I wouldn't usually have Mila out in the cold this late but I can't trust her with a nanny or a daycare. Now she spends her afternoons with me at the diner.

Mila suddenly stopped in her tracks before bending down to pick something up.

"My bracelet!" She yelled out in panic so I bent down to help her look for it.

"Did it fall over here?" I asked her in a gentle tone and she nodded at me in response.

"There!" She excitedly yelled out before running over to her bracelet lying in the snow.

"Mila watch out for the cars!" I yelled out before running after her. Luckily there were no cars on the road. She grabbed the bracelet before she came running back to me.

"Mommy, who's that?" She asked while staring at the space behind me. I spun around, my eyes wide with fear, and found a tall shadowy figure standing in the middle of the road staring at us. He didn't move, he was just standing there like a statue.

I grabbed Mila's hand before running over to my car in fear. There's a strong possibility that this man is working for Mateo.

I unlocked the car doors before helping Mila into the backseat. I buckled her seatbelt and ran over to my side of the car. I opened my door before looking over to the man from earlier and found him walking over to us at a steady pace.

I jumped into my car before locking all the doors and putting the key into the ignition.

"Mila, put your headphones on and close your eyes," I told her in panic, and she calmly grabbed her iPad and headphones from her backpack. She followed my instructions while I struggled to start the car.

Sudden continuous banging against my car window shook me to my core. I looked up and found a masked man harshly banging against my car window.

I finally managed to start the car and sped out of the small parking lot behind the diner. I drove home as fast as I could in the snow. The roads were dangerous during this time of the year, but so were Mateo and his men.

After a few more minutes of driving, we reached our house. I parked my car in the garage before switching the engine off. I jumped out of the car before getting Mila from the backseat. She sleepily rested her head on my shoulder. I carried her into the house before closing the door behind us.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Mila mumbled against my shoulder, so I gently placed her on the ground.

"What do you want to eat?" I asked her and she lightly tapped her chin.

"Pizza!" She excitedly yelled and I tried my best to keep a smile on my face.

"I don't think there's any tomato sauce left," I told her and she dramatically dropped her shoulders. "We ate pizza twice this week, remember?" I reminded her and she tilted her head to the side.

"Enchiladas Mami!" She uttered in the same tone of excitement.

"Enchiladas!" I clapped my hands at her before placing a kiss on her cheek. I have some left in the freezer so I'll just warm them up for us. "We definitely enchiladas," I uttered while taking them out of the freezer. I placed the container inside the microwave before turning around to face Mila.

"You should get another job, Mommy." Mila softly told me while looking at me as if she felt sorry for me.

"And what's wrong with this job?" I smiled down at her and she shrugged at me.

"We never have money and you never do fun stuff with me. We're always at the house." She uttered in frustration.

"We do fun stuff together. Like when I take you to the park on the weekends or when we watch the Grinch together, or when you help me bake cookies." I told her and she let out a soft sigh.

"But we haven't baked cookies in a long time." She whined.

"Mila, Mommy has a lot of things to take care of at the moment. Your insulin is really expensive, and then there's the mortgage on the house and a bunch of other grown-up stuff that you don't have to worry about. But it won't always be like this. I promise you, this is temporary, my love." I said before placing a kiss on her forehead but she just sadly stared at the ground.

"Fine, I'll get a new job," I uttered in defeat. I don't know where I'm going to find a better job than at the diner, but Mila's right, we're barely getting by on my current paycheck.

The microwave finally stopped, so I took the container out before placing it on the countertop.

Mila opened the lid before she helped herself to an enchilada and I just quietly watched her as she ate.

Mila is the only reason why I'm still alive. If it weren't for her, I would've let him kill me. I wouldn't have run all those years ago. But when I found out that I was pregnant with her, I had no other choice but to run from him. And there was a rumor- that Mateo killed my father. So, I took all his money and all the guns from his safe before fleeing.

If Mateo ever finds us, if he ever finds out about Mila- I don't even want to imagine what he'll do to me. I've been hiding from him for six years now and I've been living here in Hollowfalls for a year now because I know that this is the last place he'll come looking for me.

A sudden knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts. I went over to the front door before peeping through the hole, and my breath got stuck in my throat.

I placed my hand on my mouth to stop myself from gasping when I saw Mateo’s righthand man standing on my doorstep. This means that--

Mateo knows where we are.