Chapter 3
1262 Words
None of it moved me anymore. All I had left was a hard, stubborn urge to get free.
"Let go of me."
William's face darkened, anger banked low behind his eyes. "Your father's barely in the ground, your mother's health is failing, and your family's in chaos right now. I'm the only one you've got left to lean on."
'Lean on him?' I laughed.
"Lean on you? Have you ever once stood beside me? You never did. Worse, you had me thrown in jail and made me a punchline. My father, at the very end, wanted one thing: to see me in a wedding dress. And what did you say? You said you were busy and that I should think of the bigger picture. Now he'll never see it. He never will."
William watched the tears break loose down my face, and his throat worked once.
He reached for me, then his fingers hung there in midair. For once, his voice came out softer. "Annie, I'm sorry. I thought that after we delayed it so many times, one more wouldn't cost you anything."
Something in my head went white, and my hand flew up and cracked across his face.
Every ounce of patience I'd ever given him had never bought a scrap of his in return.
It had only become proof that he could treat me however he liked.
He thought I'd always wait, always forgive, always be standing in the same spot.
I turned to leave, sliding into my car without looking back.
The next second, however, a thick wave of perfume hit me. It was the one Julie always wore, sickening sweet, and it had soaked into the passenger seat and refused to fade.
Julie had never once ridden in my car, not with me.
William had used my car, too.
Instead of stopping to think about it, I hit the gas and shot out of the drive.
William ran after me. I watched his figure shrink in the rearview mirror without easing off the pedal.
It didn't take long for me to realize something was wrong.
I hit the brake, but the pedal dropped all the way to the floor, dead under my foot.
I wasn't going fast, but there were already pedestrians right in front of me.
All I could do was wrench the wheel as hard as I could, and the car plowed straight into a lamppost at the curb.
The impact roared through my ears, and everything in front of me went black.
"Annie!"
Just before I lost consciousness, I thought I heard William's voice go hoarse shouting my name.
It didn't sound anything like the William I knew, the one who was always so effortlessly in control.
*****
When I came to again, every inch of me hurt like hell.
One of my ribs was broken, and the rest was just scrapes and bruises.
The doctor's voice was full of relief. "It's a good thing you weren't going fast. Nothing ruptured inside. Any faster and you'd be dead, or crippled at best."
William stood beside the hospital bed, the rims of his eyes gone red, listening carefully to every instruction the doctor gave.
There was a time when I'd get sick, and he'd listen to the doctor just like this, then take care of me himself.
Every time he shut me out, I'd remember how good he'd been back then, and I'd go soft all over again.
This time, though, I wasn't going to let that softness win.
I forced my left arm out, reached for the phone on the nightstand, and started dialing.
William's head snapped around, instantly on guard. "Annie, who are you calling?"
I pointed at Julie, who was standing in the corner of the room.
She leaned against the window with that trademark innocent look on her face, a bouquet in her hands.
They were white roses, the kind that always dragged me straight back to my father's funeral.
She'd been at that funeral too, so she definitely had done it on purpose.
"Who else would it be? Get her out of here."
Julie's eyes went red on cue, her voice pitched to just the right note of hurt. "Annie, I sent someone to fix that car, and it wasn't done yet. I had no idea you'd be driving it today."
Anger clamped down on my chest until it ached. My voice came out barely more than a whisper, every word shaking. "Then why didn't you tell me? I almost died."
I hit call immediately. But before it could connect, William snatched the phone out of my hand and killed the line.
"Annie, it's all a misunderstanding. There's no need to blow it up."
The room dimmed in a rush. For a moment, I couldn't tell which was worse, the broken rib or the way my chest seemed to close up. I had just enough strength left for a few words. "Get out. Both of you."
Julie stuck out her lip with a huff and dropped the white roses on the nightstand. The petals brushed my arm, cold enough to bite. "Annie, it's just a little scratch. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?"
A sharp c***k split the air, cutting Julie off mid-sentence.
William's palm had landed across her cheek, and the whole ward fell silent.
"Out." His voice was low and rough, a vein bulging at his temple. He'd clearly hit his limit.
Julie clutched her cheek, and for once, the tears weren't an act. She stared at William, her voice gone cold and dark. "You hit me? For her?" She threw one last look back at me before she slammed the door on her way out.
That look sent a chill straight down my spine.
The room went quiet. William stood at my bedside, my phone still clenched in his hand. He seemed to have something to say, but I closed my eyes.
"William."
"Yeah."
"We're done here."
William froze for a moment, then broke into a laugh. "Annie, after everything, you're still throwing out words you don't mean. You're going to be my wife one day. Can't you show a little sense?
"I slapped Julie for your sake. What more do you want from me?"
With that, William slammed the door. He was gone.
For five whole days, I didn't see William at all.
Maybe he was truly angry with me, or maybe he'd been with Julie all along.
I'd assumed the two of us were finished for good, with nothing left to tie us together.
What I didn't expect was that on the sixth day, as I was being discharged, William showed up. Only it was not out of any concern for me.
I was standing outside the hospital waiting for a taxi when a black Maybach pulled up in front of me.
William climbed out of it.
He called out to me, seething, his face so dark and vicious he looked like the devil himself.
"Annie!"
He flung a bloodstained shirt into my face.
I'd only just been discharged, and my body was still weak.
The blow knocked me straight down onto the ground. The skin of my palm scraped raw and began to bleed.
He saw it, but he didn't offer a single word of concern. Instead, he reached down and fisted a hand in my collar.
His voice dropped low, low enough to shake. "Julie's missing. Your family has done this. They kidn*pped her. Let her go, or I swear I will never let you walk away from this!"
- Writer
