His smile was stretched thin—like a mask pulled too tight.
We walked along an unmarked trail until the trees opened onto a cliff.
The drop was brutal.
A vertical plunge into jagged forest.
I instinctively pulled Aiden back.
“Too close, buddy.”
Dad placed a hand on Aiden’s shoulder—far too tightly.
“Let me show him the drop,” he said.
The hairs on my arms rose.
I stepped forward.
“Dad, stop. This isn’t funny.”
Then Evan moved beside me, gripping my arm hard enough to bruise.
“Natalie,” he murmured, “there’s something we need to do.”
His eyes were ice.
I jerked away, heart pounding.
“Aiden! Come here now!”
But Dad lifted my son off the ground.
“NO!” I screamed.
My mother stepped behind me, voice soft and chilling:
“You always had a good heart, sweetheart. But sometimes… sacrifices are necessary.”
Then she shoved me.
Hard.
I stumbled, gravel sliding beneath my boots.
Evan lunged and pushed again.
Aiden screamed, “MOM!”
I leapt toward him—caught his jacket—
Then Evan slammed both hands into my back.
We went over.
Branches tore at us as we plummeted.
Rocks cracked against bone.
I twisted my body around Aiden, shielding him from impact after impact until—
Darkness.
When I finally surfaced from the fog, pain exploded everywhere.
My leg was wrong.
My arm was worse.
Aiden trembled beneath me—alive only because I had wrapped him in every piece of strength I had left.
Before I could even whisper his name, he pressed his hand to my cheek.
“Mom,” he whispered shakily,
“don’t move yet. They’re still up there.”
Above us, faint silhouettes appeared at the cliff’s edge.
“Any sign of movement?” Evan asked.
“None,” Dad replied. “They’re done.”
“Good,” Mom said. “Let’s go. Brad is expecting our call.”
Brad.
My husband.
And then Evan added a sentence that felt like a knife tearing through my chest:
“Once the insurance payout comes in, Brad and I won’t have to hide anything anymore.”
Insurance.
Affair.
Murder conspiracy.
My husband and my brother.
My parents helping them.
They hadn’t just tried to kill me.
They had planned to kill my child.
After their voices faded, the forest fell silent again.
I whispered, “Aiden… did you hear them earlier too?”
He nodded, tears streaking through the dirt on his cheeks.
“Aunt Evie…”
He choked.
“S-she was talking on the phone yesterday. She told Daddy… that ‘you two will be free soon.’ I didn’t know what it meant.”
My brave boy had understood the danger before I did.