The Road Remembers Everything

Wanda collapsed and crawled toward me.

Her face was pale. She'd cried herself dry.

"Ms. Steele, please. Just say yes. Nobody else will take that road. You're the only one who can. Please have mercy on us."

Faye looked grim. "The Boone family can do everything they're threatening. You..."

I pulled away from her and looked at Wanda and Andy.

For that tiny bit of hope, they'd slapped themselves until their faces were swollen.

"I'll find another way for Andy. But I can't take this job. I can't."

Cassidy stormed over and grabbed my collar.

The slap cracked across my face.

The kindness she'd been pretending to have disappeared instantly.

"We asked every rescue team. Every single one said you're the only person who can drive that road. And now you're telling me no? That's a life. A real life. If you stand there and do nothing, you're a murderer!"

I laughed coldly.

Then I grabbed her hair and slapped her back.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

"You're the murderer!"

Jayden had stayed silent when Cassidy hit me.

The moment I touched her, his face darkened.

His bodyguards rushed forward and slammed me into the snow.

A polished shoe pressed against my face.

"You think you're worthy of hitting my wife? You want to do this the hard way?"

He turned to the bodyguards. "Tie up her friends. Every minute she wastes, throw one of them off the cliff."

I fought against them.

A cold smile touched his lips.

"We'll see."

His foot pressed harder.

I could hear my teeth grinding.

"This place is in the middle of nowhere. Later we'll just say you got buried in the blizzard during the rescue.

"Who's going to know the truth?"

Faye and the others were tied up and dragged to the cliff's edge.

The first person they grabbed was Celine.

Her clothes were drenched with sweat despite the cold.

"Save me! I don't want to die! I haven't even seen my son get married yet!"

My eyes burned.

I stared at them, jaw clenched so hard it hurt.

Then I looked at Jayden.

"Pull them back first."

He immediately lifted his foot.

Then he reached down and helped me up.

A gentle smile appeared on his face.

He even smoothed my collar.

Like he wasn't the same man who'd just shoved my face into the snow.

"Glad you've come to your senses. Bring my daughter back safely. If anything happens to her, my wife and I won't survive it."

I burst out laughing. "Really? Losing a child hurts that much?"

His expression tightened.

"I heard the daughter you had with your ex-wife died too. You didn't seem heartbroken. You remarried right after the divorce. You never even visited your dead daughter. Do you ever think about her? Do you miss her? Have you ever cried for her in the middle of the night?"

His lips trembled.

For a split second, pain flashed across his face.

"You..." His voice faltered. "Who are you? How do you know that? Did we know each other?"

I sneered. "You're so important. How would someone like me know someone like you?"

"Jayden." Cassidy cut in sharply. "How would some poor nobody know us? Stop wasting time. Make her go."

She grabbed my arm and dragged me toward my truck.

"Get in."

When I didn't move, she spun toward the bodyguards.

"Throw Celine off."

"Get in the car!" Faye's voice was raw from screaming. "Are you really going to watch Celine die? She's stood by you for ten years!"

Celine's face was deathly pale. Despair filled her eyes. "Why? At least let me understand before I die!"

I closed my eyes.

My body swayed.

Then I whispered, "Because I won't be able to stop myself from strangling that girl with my own hands... and dying on that road.

"I can save anyone.

"Anyone except her."