"Look at yourself. You're acting like a lunatic."
I straightened slowly, one hand pressed against my side. "Ryan, she said my father deserved to die. Do you agree with her?"
Something flickered in his gaze. Sandra clung to him, crying, twisting the truth. "No, I only said it was an accident back then, and she just started hitting me..."
Ryan's stare grew colder.
"It was an accident. Can't you let it go?"
"Noreen, I'm the one who owes your family—not her. Stop taking it out on Sandra."
"Besides, I married you. I've given you five years. What more do you want?"
"From now on, stay in your lane and you'll always be Mrs. Stephens. But my business is none of your concern."
"Consider this my debt repaid—for everything your father did for me."
He walked out with Sandra in his arms.
Never looked back.
By the time I finished with the lawyer, night had fallen.
At the corner of the street, blinding headlights seared my vision.
The screech of impact. My body launched into the air, then slammed into the pavement.
Every bone felt crushed. Pain everywhere, all at once.
Blood surged up my throat. I tried to scream but no sound came.
Through the haze, a dark figure approached, backlit by the headlights.
"Next time, don't mess with people you can't afford to cross."
A pause. Then, quieter:
"We killed your father. We can kill you too."
Footsteps faded into nothing.
I lay on the frozen ground, unable to move.
The phone buzzed in my pocket.
With every ounce of strength I had left, I pressed answer.
Sandra's voice purred through the speaker—syrupy, intimate, dripping with desire.
"Ryan... I miss you so much. Every cell in my body aches for you..."
His voice came back low and rough. "Sandra. These past five years, I've been a walking corpse. Seeing you again—that's when I finally started living."
Muffled groans. The rustle of fabric.
"What about Noreen?" Sandra's tone sharpened. "Didn't you say she'd always be your wife?"
"If her father hadn't died like that—if she hadn't been so hellbent on dragging you through the courts—I would've divorced her years ago."
"Shh, baby. Don't talk about boring people." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Tonight, I'm going to love you until you can't breathe..."
The sounds blurred together. Then darkness swallowed me whole.
When consciousness flickered back, chaos surrounded me.
"Internal bleeding—she needs surgery immediately! Get her emergency contact on the line!"