Chapter Thirty-nine
I groan, the pulse inside my head pressing against the inside of my skull.
It thumps to the beat of my heart, thump, thump, thump, making it nearly impossible to open my eyes.
My face is pressed into something hard; it bites into my cheek, and when I try to move my arms, I find them stuck behind my back.
What the hell is going on?
“It’ll be in your system a while,” comes a voice, sounding far away and close all at the same time. I recognize it, the sound, and I can feel my mind fighting to catch up.
Where am I?
Prying one eye open, I find Darcy looking over me, but it’s not the friend I know. No, her face is twisted in hate, pure hate, lip curled as she drags her eyes down me and back up.
“I don’t know what he sees in you.” She sneers, “Weak. Useless. Even your husband knew that. Why do you think he treated you the way he did? Wasn’t deserving of anything else.”
My stomach churns as I remember what she did to me. She fucking drugged me.
Darcy.
I thought she was my friend.
She reaches down for me and tugs me up roughly, shoving me back until my spine hits a wall.
I don’t know where I am. The walls are all made of wood.
A cabin maybe? Natural light streams in through several windows, and the place looks tidy and organized with light-colored furniture and a fully fitted kitchen.
I keep scanning the space, praying I recognize something that may tell me where I am, but then I see someone else in here with me.
They lay face down on the ground in front of the fire, and there’s a puddle of blood beneath his head. I don’t need to see his face to know it’s Calvin.
“What did you do?” I breathe, watching his back, waiting to see a breath. They’re slow to come, but he is breathing, just unconscious.
Darcy strides toward him and pushes him with the toe of her boot. He groans with the movement.
“Poor Juniper Scott,” she sighs, “tried so desperately to escape her abusive husband only to be killed by him weeks later. They’ll talk about it for months, tell the world how sad it was that you tried but ultimately failed to escape him.”
My throat burns as her words slide over my skin, tightening the knot in my gut.
“And me, I tried to save you. Came to your rescue when no one else did, but I was too late. I pulled the trigger to stop him, but you bled out before the paramedics could get to you.”
“You don’t have to do this, Darcy,” my voice scratches out of me.
“No, Juniper, I do.” She cocks her head, “I had a plan, and you ruined it. It’s not meant to be you!
” Her back molars grind as she comes back toward me, crouching so she’s on my level, “It’s me!
I’m the one who’s been here! Him and I are the same!
We’re meant for each other and you fucking ruined it! ”
I shake my head, “Then why aren’t you together?”
She curls her lip, “It takes time! You would know that if you had any idea of what he has been through!”
“I do know,” I wet my dry lips, “And I know he doesn’t have feelings for you.”
She lashes out so quickly, I don’t see it coming and my head whips to the side, pain radiating across my cheekbone and jaw with the force of her strike.
“He’ll see when you’re gone.” Fingers dig into my cheeks as she forces me to look back at her. “When he realizes I did everything I could to save you. I’ll be the one to comfort him, help him with his children.”
She’s delusional.
“You should have left,” she snatches her hand away and stands up, “I gave you warnings but you’re too stupid to listen to them.”
“It was you that night.”
I knew the shape was all wrong. She’d disguised her figure under baggy clothes, made herself appear bigger so I wouldn’t know it was her. She was at the bar. The one who threw the rock.
She wanted to frame Calvin so no one looked her way.
“You need help, Darcy,” I keep my voice soft, meeting and holding her stare. I don’t know if any of the interactions we had were real or if she just played the game to keep me close, but I have to hope some part of her recognizes that she’s ill.
“That’s what they said.” She casually walks over to the kitchen area and tugs open a drawer.
“That I need help. But they don’t see what I see.
I thought my ex was the one; it’s why I tried to show him how much of a mistake he was making, but then I came here and realized he was just a test. I had to be pushed, so I knew what to do when I found the one. ”
“Let me help you,” I try again. She truly believes this is right, that this is what she needs to do.
“You caused this!” She explodes, spittle flying from her lips, “This is all your fault!”
She rips a gun from the drawer and levels it in my direction. My heart thuds in my chest, sickness churning in my stomach.
“Darcy, please,” My voice shakes as I speak, eyes burning.
Her eyes widen manically, and she whips the gun toward Calvin before she presses the trigger and shoots him twice in the back.
A scream rips from me, the deafening pops of the gun ringing inside my ears.
I watch in horror as blood blooms on the back of his shirt, two swelling stains that seep through the material.
He doesn’t make a sound, not a single whimper as blood pours from him, draining whatever life was left.
She killed him.
My eyes move back to Darcy, following her as she paces back and forth, mumbling beneath her breath. I can’t make out what she is saying, but she’s waving the gun around, shaking her head before she freezes and twists her face in my direction.
“That was your fault.” She sneers, “You made me do that.”
I can’t look at him.
“I had a plan, Juniper,” she continues, “I needed to wait, but you make me so fucking mad! Coming here like you’re owed something, taking what is mine!”
A tear slips from the corner of my eye, but I say nothing more. I remain silent. She is going to kill me; that much I know. The ropes are too tight, I don’t know where I am. No one is coming for me.
I wanted forever so badly. I wanted the happiness, the joy, I’d risked everything to look for it and now…
Now I’ll never get that life.
Never get to see Silas and the children again.
It’s over.