ana

tered shoulders, demanding answers to a crime I hadn't committed. His fury was a wild, untamed beast, unleashed by Ba

d with a terrifying edge. He slammed the car into gear, speeding off, leaving the city behind. The ro

head out the window, heaving bile onto the asphalt. The p

ou're doing this just to be difficult, aren't you?" He revved

agged me out of the car. My legs, still weak from the hospital and the torture, bu

haking dramatically. An older couple, clearly her parents, huddled close to her, looki

he bad guys! And Elliana... she was with them!" She pointed a tremb

ton commanded, his eyes burning wit

te charade clicking into place. She had staged the entire kidnapping, implicating

I rasped, my voice hoarse.

wing at my face, her sharp nails digging into the fresh bandages on my fingers. A jol

rying to push me over the cliff!" she waile

wed fury. "You monster! How could you?!" He he

ther. The "kidnapped" parents, seeing their opportunity, bolted. The masked men, instead of stopping them, seemed to nod, the

t his grasp. This wasn't part of

e dangerous! Please! My family is safe, let's just go!" Her eyes, howev

d. But then, he looked at Baylee's terrified face, at her "traum

t save you from your own madness." He turned his back on me, his arm still around Baylee, an

abandoning me to my fate. Again. The last thr

from Britton's company, a disgruntled employee I had exposed for embezzli

y for ruining her life. And for what you did to my family." He pushed me towards t

r around my face. I struggled, but he was stronger. I looked down at the churning b

sted, tumbling into the void. A primal scream tore from my throat, a single, desperate cry as I plummeted towards the

mate end. Just before I hit the water, I felt a strange sense of pea

arried on the wind, a sound that pierced through the roar of the engine. He

mumbled, feigning weakness.

The scream. Had it been real? Had it been Elliana? A pang

e accelerator, pushing the thought, the sound, the woman, out of his mind. The mountain

ling the last of my breath. The ocean swallowed me whole, a dar