Chapter 5

After a long silence, I managed a shameless little smile.

"You don't need to keep me. I wouldn't want to damage the great Vivian Hart's reputation. Just give me fifty thousand dollars. Cash."

For a moment, I heard nothing but her sharply drawn breath. When she finally answered, she sounded as though she had forced the word through clenched teeth.

"Fine."

I put one hand on the wall and began feeling for the steps.

Vivian might have meant to give me a chance, but the people around her had already decided I was a greedy fraud. Blake, in particular, wasn't going to let me climb in peace.

I'd gone only a few steps when my foot landed on something slick.

Chopped fruit. Someone had scattered pieces across the stairs.

I lost my balance instantly. My knee struck the edge of a marble step with a dull crack. I couldn't hold back a small groan.

Vivian moved toward me. I heard her shoes scrape the floor, quick and urgent.

Blake caught her before she reached me.

"If he can't do it, he can walk normally like everybody else," he said with a laugh. "Why is he pretending to be blind? Did he think fifty thousand dollars would be easy money?"

Vivian stopped.

Her silence gave everyone else permission to join in.

More fruit hit the stairs. Then oil. Small pieces of jewelry. Blake even hurled a glass. It flew past my face and shattered against the steps, spraying fragments everywhere.

Even Doug sounded frightened now. But no one stopped them.

I couldn't remember how many times I fell.

Each time, I dug my fingers into the steps and forced myself back up. Each time, another slip sent me crashing down. My elbows and knees struck the marble over and over. The blows jarred my stomach until the pain became almost impossible to separate from the rest of my body.

At first, I still made sounds when I was hurt.

Soon, I didn't even have the strength for that.

I couldn't stand anymore. So I crawled, feeling for one step at a time.

Glass bit into my palms. Tiny sharp edges opened cuts along my arms and legs. Blood made the stairs slippery beneath me. All I could do was keep moving.

Then Vivian shouted.

"Enough, Ryan!"

I heard her running toward the staircase. Whatever composure she'd been clinging to had finally broken.

"Are you really willing to die for that money?"

There was one piece of good news.

Somehow, I'd reached the top.

I hauled myself upright. My entire body hurt so badly it was starting to feel numb. I barely knew what I was saying.

"Because...that's all my life is worth. Fifty thousand."

I turned my head toward her voice.

She was running up the stairs now, desperate to catch me before I fell again.

Then she stopped short. Her breath caught, and she made a small, terrible sound. I could hear her scrambling faster, hands and feet against the steps, calling something I couldn't quite make out.

Maybe my name.

The repeated falls had finally done what I'd feared. Pain surged from my stomach, bringing a metallic taste with it.

I bent forward.

Blood poured from my mouth.

My knees gave way and I hit the floor in a widening pool of red.

The last thing I heard was Vivian screaming.

"Ryan!"