I stop as I can’t physically get the words out over the lump in my throat. I need Slade here. I don’t know If I can get through this without him.
I take a deep, calming breath and try to remove the emotion. It’s just a story that needs to be told.
With that resolve, I swallow the lump and try to push through it. “It happened so fast. One second he was behind us and the next, he’d pulled out and rammed the back of Slade’s truck. We went spinning and I was trying to find something to grab hold of when we hit the barrier and went flying.
“I’ve never felt anything like it. It was kinda like a rollercoaster but one I didn’t want to be on. We crashed into the water and the windshield just shattered.” I brush a hand over my face. “I guess that’s how I got all these scratches. Slade said I hit my forehead at some point but I don’t remember that, just the water as it started rushing in.”
Shay shakes her head. “What kind of person would do this?” she questions, tears running down her cheeks.
“It was Lucien,” I tell her. “I didn’t see his face but I know it, Shay. It was him.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because he stood there at the top of the bridge and pointed a gun at us while we were trying to free our seatbelts. It had to be him, I just know it.”
Shay leans over and grabs me, wrapping her arms around me. I gasp in pain but she doesn’t let go as she cries into my chest. “I’m so sorry,” she sobs. “I’m so, so sorry.”
I curl my arms around her, taking short breaths to try and ease the ache in my chest. If this was anyone else, I’d push their bitch ass off, but Shay needs this and honestly, I think I need it too. Screw the pain. I’ve been through worse.
“The water was so cold,” I whisper. “It was so hard to breathe even before we went under. All I know is that I was so scared. I could see the water rising and it just wouldn’t stop. I thought I was going to die. We were trying to pull at the seatbelts but they wouldn’t release. We were trapped.”
A tear rolls down my cheek and splashes down onto the pillow beside me, but I force myself to finish the story. “It was only thirty seconds before I went under that he shot at us. It hurt so bad, but I couldn’t focus on it. I had to get out. The water hit my chin and in the blink of an eye, I was under. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t, that was the only oxygen I had. I didn’t know if I should be scrambling for Slade or the seatbelt, all I knew is that I had to make my oxygen last. I kept pulling, trying to get free with one hand while trying to hold my leg. I guess it’s a good thing that the water was so cold because it kinda numbed it but not much.
“I couldn’t see anything under the water and I could feel myself slipping away. I remember thinking that I was finally going to see mom and dad.” A sob tears from my chest and I have to give myself a moment as it travels up my burning throat. “I wasn’t ready to go, but that thought made it easier. Do you know it’s peaceful?”
Shay pulls back and looks down at me. “How do you mean?”
“After the struggle, once everything starts to shut down. It’s peaceful. There was no white light or anything like that, just peace.”
Shay’s face cracks and she crumbles to the side of the bed, crushing her face into her hands. “I never wanted any of this for you. Being four years old and witnessing what you did…I thought that was as bad as it gets and then that awful man…Oh, honey. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to make this end.”
“I wish I had answers,” I whisper.
“I know,” she says into her hands, desperately trying to wipe at the tears staining her face. “Tell me you-”
“FUCK, SKYLAH,” Ben shrieks, barging through the door and making both me and Shay jump. “Please tell me you’re alright.”
Shay flies to her feet, hastily wiping her face. “What do you think you’re doing here?”
“She’s my niece,” he demands. “I have a right to know how she is.”
“Are you serious? She is not your niece. She is my niece. You lost all rights to her when you led Anton Mathers to her parents’ doorstep. Without you, none of this ever would have happened. She would have been home with her parents, not on the run from a fucking psychopath.”