Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Right.” I roll my eyes, but my stomach is in knots. “I couldn’t hurt you. You didn’t give a shit about me.”
“He loves you!” Bridget yells, and her bottom lip trembles as her eyes fill with tears. Her hands are fisted at her sides, and her chest heaves. “I’ve done everything I can to be you. I even dyed my hair blonde. He always tells me that if I could just be more like you, he’d love me.”
I glance Anthony’s way, but he says nothing. Just watches me.
Why did I ever think this creepy-ass jerk was hot?
“I’ve done everything,” she says again. “Everything you asked me to. I broke into her house. I followed her to the campground. I even burned down her apartment.”
I choke on my own spit as I gasp. “You burned down the garage?”
She nods.
“And you’ve been following me.”
“Yes,” she says immediately, nodding her head almost manically. “Yes, I’ve never been far away. I go through your things all the time. I had to get good at disarming security, but I’m a pro at it now.”
“The flat tire,” I whisper. “No gas in my car. Even the ChapStick.”
“All of those,” she says, still nodding. “And more you haven’t found yet. All for you.”
She turns to Anthony again and hurries to him, throwing herself in his arms.
“Please love me. Please love us. I’m having your baby, and we just want you to love us.”
“My God,” I say, watching her eyes go mad as she stares up at Anthony. “He’s driven you mad.”
She whirls around, her face full of fury as she rushes over and slaps me across the face.
“I’m not CRAZY!”
“Bridget.” His voice is firm, leaving no room for argument.
“Sorry,” she says, and casts her eyes down again. “What do you want me to do to prove that you should love me?”
“You know what you have to do. What I’ve wanted you to do for months. You’ve been too afraid, wasted time. The campground was the ideal place. It would have been so easy to push her off a cliff, but you failed.”
Bridget turns her eyes to mine, and they fill with tears again. I can see a war raging inside of her, and for the first time, I almost feel sorry for her.
“You want her to kill me.”
“Well, of course.”
“Because I didn’t play the game of begging you not to divorce me.”
“No one leaves me, Sarah. We had a contract, in the eyes of the law. You’re not allowed to just walk out.”
“You kicked me out because you’d found her and wanted to marry her.”
“That’s so sweet,” Bridget whispers.
“Yes, well, you didn’t try very hard to fight it, did you?” he asks me, ignoring his pregnant wife.
“When I told you I’d contest the prenup, you punched me in the face.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the goddamn prenup!” His face is purple as he yells now, just as wild as Bridget. They’re both absolutely nuts. “You were supposed to want me!”
“Well, I don’t. I gave you what you wanted, and I left so you could make a life with her.”
I nod toward the woman who’s weeping now.
“You have what you wanted. A much younger woman who wants to give you a family.”
He’s shaking with anger, his body vibrating with the fury rolling through him.
And I know that unless a miracle happens, I’m not going to make it out of here alive. I want to panic. I want to beg and cry and scream.
God, I want to see Tanner, to tell him how much I love him.
“You know what you have to do to make me love you,” Anthony says to Bridget and takes a deep breath, calming himself down. “Make it look like an accident. Or like she did it herself.”
Tears continue to run down Bridget’s face as she pulls a butcher knife out of her bag and walks to me.
I’m sorry, she mouths.
“Don’t do this.” I’m not begging. I’m not whining. It’s a calm statement, but Bridget just shakes her head and holds my hand down while the blade hovers over my wrist. “He won’t love you, even if you do this. You’ll be charged with murder, and he’ll go free. You’re just doing his dirty work, Bridget.”
“No,” she says and sniffs. “It’s the only way.”
The blade touches my skin but doesn’t pierce it, which is a miracle, because her hand is shaking violently.
“For fuck’s sake,” Anthony says as he stomps over and wraps his hand around Bridget’s wrist, and pushes.
The pain is swift and sharp as the blade slices into my wrist, through the tender flesh and into tendons and ligaments…and veins.
When the blade swipes out, the blood starts. I swallow hard and strain against the restraints.
“Oh, God,” Bridget murmurs. “I hate the sight of blood.”
“You’ll finish it, or I’ll do the same to you and that brat growing inside of you.”