BLAKEIt was my fourth, or maybe fifth drink of the night, but who the hell was counting anymore? Not me, and certainly not Jake and Damon, who were still going strong at the corner table laughing louder with every round of shots they took.“One more,” I said to the bartender with the blue hair who’d been eyeing me for the past hour.She wiped her hands on a rag tucked into her waistband. “You sure about that? Seems like you’ve had a rough night already.”I forced a smile “Just celebrating good news.”She didn’t look convinced but poured another shot anyway and slid it to me.I stared at the drink almost absentmindedly.Good news. Was that what one calls finding out the woman you spent eight years loving was marrying someone else?I tossed back the shot and dropped some cash on the counter before standing up. I pretended the room wasn’t tilting slightly.“I’m heading out,” I told Jake.He squinted at me through the haze of alcohol.“Already? The night’s still young.”“Some of us have
AVAOne week laterFudge and I thundered across the open field. The wind whipped my hair into a frenzy behind me and the pounding of hooves against the earth became my heartbeat.Alexander was riding a couple of paces ahead of me on his own horse.“Come on, girl let’s catch up with them,” I ordered Fudge. She understood and galloped even faster until we soon caught up to Alexander and Hermes, drawing even with them along the fence line that marked the eastern border of the property.Alexander glanced over at me, the wind tousling his dark hair away from his face.I smirked at him until we overtook them.“Eat my dust, Morrison!" I laughed over my shoulder as Fudge widened the gap between us.We were soon reaching the finish line and Alexander would be obligated to serve me when I won our bet.The oak tree grew larger in my vision. Just a few more seconds…I heard a thump behind me, followed by a strangled grunt.I yanked on Fudge’s reins and brought her to a prancing halt before wheeli
AVAI sat beside Heidy’s hospital bed, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest as she slept fitfully. I was particularly staring at the darkened bruise on her jaw and her right arm which was now properly set in a cast.The doctor confirmed there was a clean break of her radius, along with dehydration and some minor contusions.“She’ll recover physically and the rest will take time,” the doctor had said.What he didn’t know, and what none of us had known until Heidy finally broke down and told us everything in the police station was far worse than we’d imagined.These parents were trying to force their adult daughter into an arranged marriage. They planned to sell their own daughter as a surrogate to a wealthy man from their church…a man in his sixties who lost his wife and wanted an heir “from pure stock,” as her father, John, had so disgustingly put it.When I listened to Heidy recount the horror to the detective, it made my stomach tighten. She described how they first approa
BLAKEFeet crossed over the lounging chair in my office, I swiped through a collection of interior designs on my phone. The renovation plans for my new place were coming together, but I still couldn’t decide on an aesthetic.My phone vibrated with a notification. I was pulled out of my deliberation, staring at the Instagram notification that Claire Renwick had just posted a new photo.We went on one date (one perfectly pleasant but ultimately inconsequential date) and have exchanged maybe a dozen messages since then. But nothing really deep going on. All we ever did online was exchange “hope you're doing well” pleasantries.I tapped on the notification anyway.It was a photo of Claire sitting on a patch of grass. She was laughing, her face turned to a shaggy golden retriever, the new puppy she mentioned getting.She looked good… and happy. The kind of effortless happiness that I’ve been trying to manufacture in my own life for the past couple of months.My thumb danced over the screen
“Cover your ears,” Bruno instructed herHe then took out his shot.Heidy pressed her palms against her ears as best she could with the limited mobility of the chains. Bruno aimed at the link of chain furthest from Heidy’s body. I stepped back.And then he took a shot through the chains at her ankles as well. Each crack of the gun made me jump, but thankfully the chain broke and he tucked the gun away and helped Heidy to her feet.“Can you walk?” he asked.Heidy tried to stand on her own but swayed weakly. Her legs were obviously weak from being restrained for a while.“I don’t know,” she admitted, her voice small.Bruno supported her weight against his side and helped bed. When we got out of the basement, I was shocked to see Heidy’s parents zip-tied to dining chairs in the living room. They glared at us and protested behind the kitchen towels Bruno had used to gag them.Bruno saw my surprised expression.“They weren’t cooperating, he said.”I urged us towards the door. “Come on. Let'
AVAHe drove past the house and parked about a quarter mile down the road, where a copse of trees provided cover. We got out silently, and I followed Bruno’s lead as he moved through the woods with surprising stealth for a man his size.“Stay close,” he said as we approached the rear of the property.We crept along the tree line until we had a view of the back of the house. A small deck led off what appeared to be a kitchen, and below it, a set of basement windows peeked just above ground level.One of them was cracked open slightly, probably for ventilation.“There,” I whispered, pointing.We moved closer and hunched low, until we were near enough to hear voices from inside.The sound was clearer now, like a man shouting.“I don’t care what you have to do, Margaret. Keep her in there until Wilson arrives! We’re ending this nonsense once and for all!”“John, I understand you but at least let me loosen it up. Look at her arm—“I felt sick to my stomach listening to them argue, definite