The water has gotten to the roof. There’s no more air to breathe.
The car is sinking so fast that all the light from the surface is disappearing fast.
I have to hurry.
I hold out the hammer, and ram it as hard as I can at the window. It breaks, and I kick it one last time to move the shards out of the way.
I try to push Liam up, but it’s no use. He’s far too heavy for me.
My lungs constrict with the need to breathe, but there is no air.
Fuck!
I swim away from him, hoping I can go get him from the other side.
But I’m running out of oxygen.
Energy.
Life.
No!
I can’t stop my body from sucking in water through my mouth and it feels like shards in my lungs.
I keep swimming, fighting against the water, but it’s no use.
The more I struggle, the more I lose.
The more I feel myself fading away …
Into oblivion.
Chapter 11
Luca
* * *
My knife is still stinging me in my pocket, but it doesn’t even fucking faze me anymore. I’m just staring at the glass of water our butler gave me. The one I haven’t touched.
Because my parents are currently crying in the fucking bathroom.
And my mother’s screeching cries go through marrow and bone.
“Sir … do you want me to fetch you some new clothes?”
I turn away, not wanting to even look at him. “No.”
My mother’s wails fill the house, and I can’t fucking stand it.
I get up from my seat and go to the window to stare out at the dark clouds. I always thought the clouds in my own heart were darker than I ever saw them out there. But not tonight.
“Sir,” our driver says as he steps inside. “The car is ready.”
I throw him a glance and nod. “Go tell my parents. I’ll wait in the car.”
Thirty minutes later, we’re walking into the hospital, my father clutching my mother as she struggles to walk, while I slouch behind them like a damn zombie.
“Follow me, please,” one of the nurses who greeted us at the entrance says.
We step into an elevator, where my mother’s soft sobs slowly eat away at my heart. Still, I ignore the sting because from here on out, everything will only get darker. Fast.
My parents step out of the elevator, my father clutching my mother tight so she doesn’t collapse. Because where we’re going, there is no happiness.
Only death.
Jill
* * *
When my eyes finally open, I feel like I’ve been asleep for hours, but I’m not rested at all. Machines bleep all around me as I blink away the crustiness. My mouth feels dry, and when I try to speak, all that comes out is a hoarse croak.
“Jill?” My mother’s warm voice makes my heart jump.
“Mom,” I mutter, tears welling up in my eyes.
I’m alive. I’m alive? How?
“Oh, Jill.” Jasmine immediately jumps up from her seat to fall into my lap and cry. “I was so worried about you.”
I don’t know what to do, so I just hug her even though my entire body hurts.
I look around to try to get my bearings. There are white walls all around me, with a painting of a flower on the wall, and a small kitchenette in the corner, while I’m lying in the only bed in this room … a hospital bed.
“For a second there, we thought we’d lost you,” my mother says, grabbing my hand.
Even my father comes to sit close to me. “What you did was very dangerous, Jill. You should be happy we have the very best care in this hospital, or you might not have made it out alive.”
Dangerous.
My eyes widen as everything that happened comes flooding back in. The fight between Luca and Liam. Driving off with the car. Toppling over straight into the water. Drowning.
And a body still sitting there in the passenger’s seat while the car sinks to the bottom.
I sit up straight in bed, ripping all the wires from my body. “Liam!”
My mother pushes me back down. “Don’t get up, Jill. You’re not healed enough yet.”
But I don’t care what she says. “Liam, where’s Liam?!”
“Shhh …” Jasmine tries to shush me even though I can see the hurt in her eyes. “You have to calm down and focus on yourself right now.”
“But Liam …!” I retort, but my father’s stern eyes force me to shut up.
“You should not have stolen my car in the state you were in, Jill,” my father says, clutching my bed railing.
I frown. “What state?”
My mother crosses her arms too now. “Jill, even though we’re glad you’re okay,” she says, sighing, “your father and I are still angry with you for what you did.”
“But … But I just wanted to get us to safety, and—”
“Safety?” my father scoffs. “There was a fucking storm outside, and you decided to take my car and drive it off a cliff!”