All Chapters of The Day I Stopped Saving Her: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

The crash hit before I could take another breath.Metal screamed. Glass exploded. And Brenda? She bolted toward the wreck.She dropped to her knees beside the body on the pavement, screaming over her shoulder, "Forget the damn car, call 911!"Her face was done up perfect, full glam, as she pumped the victim's chest, blood soaking into her expensive little top. Anyone watching would've called her a hero.The ambulance rolled up—and so did the press.She spun on the cameras, eyes blazing. "Are you people serious? You're filming right now? Get out of the way—she needs help!"Then she turned back to the paramedics, rattling off compression times like she'd been doing this her whole life, grabbing one by the arm. "Doc, you have to save her, please!"The medic nodded, caught up in her act. "We'll do everything we can. You know her family?"Brenda shook her head, all wide-eyed innocence. "I'm just a bystander. But I'll ride with you—I'll cover her hospital bills."The guy called her a saint,

The next few days, I was locked in my room like a prisoner.The news of the Don's wife dying in a hit-and-run swept the internet. Joseph had put up a ten-million-dollar reward for any information on the driver.Comments flooded in: "This driver's got some serious balls. Hitting somebody that connected and thinking they can run? Rich guys like him find you like it's nothing."I just hummed under my breath."They say this Joseph guy used to be a straight-up butcher. Went quiet after he met his wife. Now she's gone? Bet a whole lotta people are about to have a very bad time."Too bad the person about to have the worst time had no idea what was coming.The internet was split down the middle. Half of it was Joseph mourning his wife, dangling that ten-million-dollar reward. The other half was Brenda—her rescue act going viral.That shot of her in white, soaked in blood, kneeling over the body doing CPR—it got shared millions of times. They were calling her an angel.Then there was another cl

The color drained from all three of their faces.Brenda's voice cracked. "If you knew all that... why didn't you call the cops?"Eric tilted his head, those green eyes locking onto hers. "What do you think?"Even Brenda—as stupid as she was—finally understood.They didn't call the cops because cops would've meant a trial. Jail time. Maybe life.For Joseph?Eric let out a cold laugh. "Too light. And honestly? I don't know who gave you the nerve to touch the Donna. She was the one person he actually gave a damn about. You know what happens when she so much as scraped her knee? The table that caused it ended up in splinters."Brenda's brain short-circuited. She just sat there, frozen, staring into the void.But my parents still weren't getting it. "You can't do anything illegal to us! If you do, you're going down too!"I couldn't help it. I laughed out loud."Dad. Mom. Are you not hearing yourselves? They brought you to an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere. You think they care ab

I slipped out of the room, leaving them to each other.Eric was leaning against the wall in the hallway, soaking up the sun. I walked over and called his name.He turned, a faint smile on his lips. "The Don cry pretty ugly?"I shook my head. "He just loves her that much.""Their love makes a guy jealous, honestly."I nodded in agreement.Then I hesitated. Chewed my lip. Finally, I asked:"Eric... can you tell me—what happened to the Hendersons?""Sent to prison.""Wait... really?"He read the surprise on my face and chuckled. "Wondering why we didn't just put them in the ground?"I flushed. "That's not what I meant.""Fair enough." His smile faded just a little. "But I'll tell you this—if our Donna hadn't pulled through? Those three wouldn't be seeing the inside of a cell. They'd be seeing the inside of a coffin."A shadow flickered across Eric's eyes—dark, unreadable.I didn't press.Later, I found out the truth anyway. Even though the Hendersons had been sent to prison, they didn't