Chapter 10
1023words
Liam dropped his gym bag. He stared at Sophia, who was curled up on the floor, clutching her stomach, wailing.
"My baby! Liam! She tried to kill my baby!" Sophia sobbed, pointing a shaking finger up at me.
Liam looked up. His eyes were wide, filled with a terrifying mix of shock and fury.
I stood at the top of the stairs, my hand frozen in mid-air from where I had tried to reach her. To him, it looked exactly like I had just shoved her.
"Elena?" Liam's voice was a low growl.
"I didn't touch her!" I shouted, panic rising in my throat. "Liam, she jumped! She saw the vitamins and she, "
"You monster!" Liam roared. He didn't listen. He fell to his knees beside Sophia. "Soph! Soph, look at me! Is the baby okay?"
"She... she said she wouldn't raise another woman's bastard," Sophia cried, burying her face in Liam's neck. "She said she'd kill it!"
Liam looked up at me again. This time, there was no recognition in his eyes. Only pure hatred.
"You tried to kill my son," he said.
"Liam, please, listen to me, "
"Get out," he said. He stood up, leaving Sophia on the floor, and started walking up the stairs toward me. His fists were clenched.
I had never been afraid of Liam before. But now, looking at the vein bulging in his neck, I was terrified.
I turned and ran.
I ran to the bedroom, grabbed my car keys and my purse. I didn't pack. I didn't look back.
I ran down the back stairs, through the kitchen, and out to the garage.
As I fumbled with the door handle of my Audi, I heard Liam shouting from the house.
"You're dead to me, Elena! You hear me? You're done!"
I slammed the door, started the engine, and peeled out of the driveway.
I had the evidence. I had the truth. But as I drove away, shaking uncontrollably, I knew this wasn't over.
Liam wouldn't just let me leave. Not after he thought I tried to kill his heir.
Rain lashed against the windshield, blurring the world into streaks of grey and red.
I was driving too fast. I knew I was. But every time I looked in the rearview mirror, I expected to see Liam's black SUV.
My phone, tossed on the passenger seat, wouldn't stop ringing.
Liam. Liam. Unknown Number.
I didn't answer. I just needed to get to the city. To a police station. To Noah? No, I couldn't drag Noah into this yet.
I was on Route 9, the winding road that hugged the cliffs. It was dangerous in the rain, but it was the fastest way out of the Hamptons.
Unknown Number called again.
I reached out and hit the speaker button, thinking it might be my lawyer.
"Hello?" I panted.
"Mrs. Sterling." A deep, unfamiliar voice filled the car. "Liam sends his regards."
"Who is this?"
"You hurt what belongs to him," the voice said calmly. "Now you have to pay the price. Pull over, Dr. Vance. We just want to talk."
I looked in the mirror.
Two bright headlights appeared out of the gloom behind me. A large pickup truck. It was gaining on me fast.
"Leave me alone!" I screamed, slamming on the gas.
"Don't make this hard," the voice warned.
The truck rammed my bumper.
Crunch.
My car lurched forward, tires spinning on the wet asphalt. My head slammed against the headrest.
"Stop!" I cried. "I'm pregnant! Please!"
But they didn't know. Or maybe Liam had told them, and they didn't care.
The truck hit me again. Harder this time. It clipped my rear left side.
Use the PIT maneuver. They were trying to spin me out.
I fought the steering wheel with my one good arm. My broken arm throbbed in agony.
"Liam!" I screamed at the phone, as if he could hear me. "Stop them!"
But only the static answered.
The truck came alongside me. I saw the driver, a shadow in a baseball cap. He swerved into my lane.
There was nowhere to go. To my right was the cliff face. To my left, the guardrail and the drop to the river below.
The truck slammed into my side door.
Metal shrieked against metal. Glass shattered.
My car was shoved sideways. I lost control. The world spun.
I saw the guardrail coming. I saw the sky. I saw the trees.
No. My baby.
I curled my body around the steering wheel, trying to create a cocoon. Trying to be the shield Liam never was.
CRASH.
The impact was bone-shattering. The airbag exploded in my face, a punch of white powder and suffocation.
The car flipped. Once. Twice.
Silence.
Then, pain.
Pain everywhere. But mostly, in my stomach.
A sharp, tearing pain that felt like my soul was being ripped from my body.
I was upside down. The seatbelt cut into my chest. I tasted copper. It was blood.
"Baby..." I whispered.
I tried to move my hand to my stomach. I felt something warm and wet soaking through my jeans.
It wasn't rain.
"No," I whimpered. "No, no, no..."
The darkness began to creep in at the edges of my vision.
I heard footsteps crunching on glass. Someone leaned down to look through the shattered window.
"Boss," I heard a voice say. "She went over. Looks bad."
"Leave her," another voice said on the phone. "Liam said just a scare. If she dies, she dies. It's an accident."
The footsteps walked away. An engine revved. They left.
I was alone.
The pain in my stomach faded to a dull, cold numbness. I knew. As a doctor, I knew.
The life I had fought for. The secret I had kept. The only thing that was truly mine.
It was gone.
Tears mixed with the blood running down my face.
Liam killed us, I thought as the blackness swallowed me whole. He didn't just kill the baby. He killed Elena Sterling.
If I wake up...
If I wake up, I will burn his world to ash.
And then, there was nothing.
