Chapter 4

The storm from the night before still hadn't fully passed. The heavy rain had faded into a light drizzle, but by the time I closed my umbrella and realized Ryan had no intention of letting me inside, my hair was already damp.

The cold was biting. I sneezed, and what little patience I had left disappeared with it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Move. I want to go inside."

Ryan stood in the doorway in a long black coat, one hand braced against the frame so there was no way around him.

"Don't forget whose house this is."

His expression was cold, his voice full of accusation.

"Stop pretending you don't know. You were the one who called the hospital, weren't you? You told them not to admit anyone named Winnie Lowe."

His jaw tightened.

"Do you have any idea what it was like to rush her there with blood all over her face, only to have them turn her away at the door?"

Then he looked at me with open disappointment.

"Shay Moore, you used to be kind. How did you become this jealous and vicious? Are you not going to stop until you've completely destroyed Winnie?"

That look in his eyes cut deeper than I expected.

For some reason, it brought me back to our freshman year of high school.

My entire class had suddenly started excluding me, and not long after that, everyone began accusing me of bullying the girl who sat beside me. Before I knew it, the whole class had turned against me. Even our teacher said she was going to call my parents.

Ryan had stepped in front of me without hesitation, spreading his arms as if he could shield me from all of them.

"Shay isn't that kind of person. I believe her."

Then he'd looked at everyone else and demanded, "If you're going to accuse her, shouldn't you have actual proof? There are cameras all over the school. Why don't you check them?"

He spent the next three days going through everything he could find. By the time he finally uncovered footage proving another girl had been the real bully, his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep.

He had cleared my name.

Back then, he had believed me even when there was no evidence in my favor.

Now, he was just as quick to decide everything was my fault without a shred of evidence.

A humorless laugh escaped me.

"Ryan, you're awfully quick to pin this on me when you don't have a shred of proof."

He froze.

For a moment, genuine confusion flashed across his face.

I didn't know whether he had remembered that summer too, but his fingers slowly curled at his sides, and a crease formed between his brows.

"You..."

He seemed about to ask me something when Elizabeth's cold voice came from behind him.

"It was me."

Ryan spun around.

Elizabeth stepped forward.

"I'm the one who contacted an old friend at the hospital and told them not to admit her."

Her expression hardened.

"Ryan, have you forgotten what you promised us? You said that once you came home, you'd cut that woman out of your life for good. So what exactly are you doing now?

"If I hadn't asked someone to look into what happened today, I wouldn't even know how badly Shay had been treated. Your wife has a broken arm, and you..."

She never got to finish.

Ryan slammed his fist into the wall.

When he pulled it back, his knuckles were split and bleeding, but he didn't seem to notice. His expression darkened as he turned and strode into the house without another word.

Elizabeth came over and wrapped an arm around me.

"Ignore him. No matter what happens, your father and I are on your side."

I suppressed the bitter amusement rising inside me and gave her a calm smile.

"Thank you, Elizabeth."

Ryan and I didn't speak once during Elizabeth's birthday dinner.

He spent most of the meal making call after call, trying to get Winnie transferred from the small clinic that had taken her in to a larger hospital.

Eventually, Ryan's father, William Holt, had enough.

"Stop calling. No hospital in Jerriton will accept Winnie Lowe, and neither will any hospital in the surrounding cities."

Ryan looked at me with such obvious disgust that there was no mistaking what he thought of me.

I ignored him and finished my meal in silence.

When dinner was over, I said goodbye to Elizabeth and headed outside.

I never expected disaster to strike just as I was about to leave.

A huge pane of glass overhead suddenly came loose and looked like it was about to fall.

My expression changed, and I started backing away to safety, only for a large, strong hand to reach out and hold me firmly in place.

I turned in disbelief and found myself staring into Ryan's cold, emotionless eyes. His voice rang out like a death knell.

"Don't blame me for this, Shay."

His voice was slow and deliberate.

"Winnie can't get into a hospital under her own name, so she'll have to use yours."

He held me even tighter.

"From now on, you're Winnie Lowe, and she's Shay Moore."

The glass came crashing down.

Ryan had me pinned so firmly that I couldn't move. It shattered over me, and pain exploded through my body as I collapsed to the ground.

My vision blurred red.

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Elizabeth frantically calling for help.

"Call 911! Get an ambulance here now! Shay needs the best care available!"

Her voice seemed to drift in and out.

I tried desperately to say something, but the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth and made it hard to speak.

"We can't wait for the ambulance."

Ryan bent down and lifted me into his arms.

"Mom, stay here. I'll take Shay to the hospital."

William and Elizabeth didn't suspect a thing. They simply watched as he carried me to the car.

Ryan drove away from the Holt house at full speed. The moment we turned the corner and disappeared from view, he pulled over at the side of the road.

Apparently afraid I would interfere again, he took out a length of rope and tied my wrists and ankles.

I stared at him with bloodshot eyes.

It took everything I had just to force the words out.

"Ryan... are you seriously leaving me on the side of the road?"

He opened the car door without the slightest hesitation.

"I'll come back for you as soon as Winnie is admitted."

His tone was matter-of-fact.

"I'll be quick."

A faint, bitter smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"No. You don't need to come back."

Ryan frowned, irritation flashing across his face.

"Relax. I'm not actually going to abandon you here.

"Whatever happens between us, you're still the wife I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. I'm not going to leave you here and pretend you don't exist."

I slowly closed my eyes.

When I spoke again, my voice was cold.

"No. You can choose to abandon me."

I paused before finishing quietly, "Because from this moment on, if you ever run into a tight spot, I'll choose to abandon you too."

Ryan stopped mid-step.

For the first time since we'd left the house, his expression changed.

"What do you mean?"