Page 76 of Pretend it’s Forever

He was going to kill me for nothing, and it was all I could do not to sob and scream.

And then he pulled out a knife so large it glinted underneath the dying sunlight.

“If you move, I’ll gut you. You’re going to die anyway, but let’s make it quick.”

I tried to back away, and he backhanded me again. This time blood flooded my mouth.

All I could do was stare at the man that had ruined everything, and I hadn’t been able to see it until it was too late.

He cut the bindings at my feet, then my arms. It made no sense until he put the knife against my throat.

“I’ve already written your note, one that’s going to explain what you want to do with our children and your income and your businesses. Because you made mistakes. And now I’m going to need you to walk to that cliff. Does it look familiar? I read in the news it’s the one where your sister almost died. The small town of Cage Lake apparently has a newspaper where it explains when people are so stupid at the end of cliffs that they fall off. But you’re not going to fall off. You’re going to jump, Sophia.”

I tried to look, but the knife dug into my skin. I didn’t want to die, I couldn’t. But I refused to cry in front of this man. He’d already taken so much from me, I would not give him any more tears.

I would not give him myself.

I would not die.

But it seemed he had an odd plan, one that wouldn’t work, but as it did in his head, it didn’t make much sense to fight it. At least outwardly. Or maybe I was too exhausted to think clearly.

“Cale. Please.”

“I like you begging. You never begged enough before. You wanted the perfect man, the beta who would take what you can give, and yet, you didn’t see me for who I was. You were always such a fucking idiot. Not a good wife, not a good fuck, a terrible mother. And you gave me nothing. So now you’re going to walk to that cliff where your sister almost died, and you’re going to jump. And if you don’t do it, I’ll push, and you’ll be dead. But then I’ll go to your little girls, the little brats you love so much, and I’ll end their lives just like their mother’s.”

Ice crawled up my spine as I saw the truth in his gaze.

He would kill them. If I didn’t kill myself, he would kill them.

And I wanted to cry. Hell, I wanted to die in that moment. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

I needed to find another way out of this.

So when Cale pulled me up to my feet, I didn’t fight, as the knife was still touching my neck, but my gaze shot in all directions, praying that someone would walk by.

We were on a trail after all, and it was in the middle of summer. Somebody had to come.

But nobody was coming.

Not my family, not Carson.

It would just be me.

“I would ask for your last words, but I don’t even want to hear your fucking voice.”

And then Cale let the knife drop, his hand went to my back, and he pushed.

I couldn’t even open my mouth to scream. My foot dragged on the edge of the dirt, and I twisted, not even realizing I was falling until it was too late. My arms slammed onto the ground, blood seeping into the soil as I skidded down the side, an awkward marionette with its strings pulled.

But Cale had made a mistake.

Because as I had fallen, my arm had reached out, and I hadn’t even realized I had grabbed onto his shirt in the process.

The high-pitched scream hadn’t come from me. For I had no breath.

No, it had come from the man that I hadn’t even realized had been a monster until it was too late.

Because Cale’s mistakes were his final ones.