The accident

Arman’s POV

I got out of the car, hoping to speak more sense into Zoe. She couldn’t just dash off into the streets like that. I knew she had been indoors throughout her entire stay in the city and didn't know her way around.

But a car swerved and stopped right behind mine. M.J.

I gave a small smile; even M.J. had predicted that Zoe would not make it to her destination in my car. I gave the older man a salute as the car drove past me with Zoe in it. She didn’t even spare me a glance as she poured out her feelings to Manager Jeremiah.

“Good riddance,” I said to the air, even though I knew I didn’t mean it. My car smelled like her, and because I wanted it to stay that way, I rolled up the windows.

I did not feel like going home to an empty house, so I drove around the city. I had no destination in mind. Three trophies lay in the backseat, but I had no buddy to celebrate with. I should have stuck with Bri; maybe she would have had some drinks with me or gone to get ice cream. I smiled at the thought. Bri was my favorite person in the world.

My thoughts drifted back to Zoe. I pictured the first day I had seen her in Canada, with a pencil in her hair and her eyes buried in a book. That was six years ago, and I had been trying to make my parents notice me. I had followed my mom to a movie shoot where she played the role of a genius doctor. I did everything I could to spend time with her while she was off-set, thinking that maybe with my dad absent, she would not mind my company. It hadn’t worked. One time she agreed to have lunch with me but FaceTimed my dad the entire time, telling him every detail of the scene she had just shot.

“Love is a bitch, isn’t she?” I said the words aloud. Maybe that was why I was yet to fall in love. The closest feeling I’ve had to love is with Bri, because she is more of a mother to me than my real mom ever was. I couldn’t even brag that I loved Molly. I still wonder what made me think I was ready to propose. I knew the answer, though.

I was tired of being alone.

The buzz of a phone dissipated my thoughts. I first assumed Zoe had left her phone in my car, but as the song “Cheap Thrills” by Sia filled the air, I knew it was Bri’s. She must have dropped it when she helped me put the trophies in the car.

I swerved the car out of the fast lane and slowed down before I leaned back to reach for the phone. My eyes took in the unknown number. I made a rough estimation in my head of where Bri would be and guessed that she would still be at the awards venue; most managers stayed behind and celebrated together, so they’re usually the last to leave.

I tried to think of who to call to reach Bri; I did not want her worrying that her phone might have been stolen or missing.

The phone stopped ringing only to start again. It was then my heart froze. What if it was *the* person? The person who wanted to destroy my career—to destroy everything Bri and I have built together. My heart began to race.

I turned my attention back to the road as I came across a U-turn. It was the right thing to do: return the phone to Bri and not pick up the call.

What was that saying again? “Curiosity killed the cat,” but that wasn’t all, was it? “Satisfaction brought it back.” With that thought in my heart, I answered the call.

I held the phone against my ear and held my breath, not daring to say a word.

“Bridget.” It was a man. A man with an unfamiliar voice. His voice was calm, though—that was my first thought. The man had a calm voice for someone trying to ruin my life. His voice was, in fact, posh—like someone playing a character from the British Empire.

It was the man’s next words that shocked the hell out of me. My eyes were on the road, waiting patiently for enough distance to enter the opposite lane. My car stood in the middle of the road, my foot lightly on the accelerator, one hand on the wheel and the other on the phone.

“How long will you keep the boy from meeting his grandfather?”

What?

“You should persuade him to meet his grandfather. Alexander Moore doesn’t have much time left and he wants to see his grandson. Please, let me talk to him in person.”

Shock ran through my body like spasms. My brain seemed to disconnect from my body as I forced it to make sense of the words I had just heard. Instead, my foot hit the accelerator and my car jerked forward. I didn’t even see the truck coming.

One second, the phone was in my hand; the next, my car was somersaulting. I hadn’t put on a seatbelt when I entered the car again after M.J. took Zoe.

Is this the end of my life? Would I die with the knowledge of such a betrayal? Would I never kiss Zoe again?