“Brian, listen to me. This is all a big mistake! I love your daughter and would never—”
Lance’s eyes flicker past my dad and land on me.
He sees me.
I quickly leap out of the way and race for the back door, but I hear the sound of his footsteps racing towards me. “Wait, Faith! Wait!”
The backdoor sticks, so I tug hard, almost ripping my shoulder out of its socket in the process. It opens, and I race out into the snow. When I glance behind me, I see Lance racing after me. “Faith!”
“Go away!” I shout, heading for the trees. There’s an old trail to a bridge over the creek. I know the area and Lance doesn’t. I can lose him there.
“That message you saw! It was just a joke between me and an old friend!”
“Go fuck yourself!” I snap.
My foot slips on some ice, and I spill into the snow, but I’m back on my feet and running in a second. But I can hear Lance closing in on me. God, why is he so persistent? Why can’t he ever just leave me alone? Why does he seem to run my entire life? Even now that I want nothing to do with him and he’s no longer my boss!
I duck under the tree branches and start racing down the trail. I jump the tree stump and watch my footing so I don’t break an ankle in the deep ruts by the young pines. I keep running, getting closer to the bridge. But when I see it, my heart sinks again.
The creek must have been high when it iced up. One entire footing of the bridge has been lifted out of the ground, and the whole thing is teetering precariously over the sunken ground, as though one strong breeze could send it toppling over. But I don’t even care right now. The last thing I want is for Lance to catch me.
So I go for it.
“Faith, no!”
I jump from the snowy bank onto the bridge. It creaks beneath me, like a painful yawn of an old ice giant, and begins to sway. Something cracks. I hear the sound of ice splintering and start to lose my footing.
This was a bad idea…
Then, with a strong jolt, the whole bridge begins to fall.
I look down at the riverbed, chilled and studded with ice-covered rocks, and brace myself for impact. But at the very last second, I feel a set of strong arms around my waist and am lifted into the air.
“Christ, girl,” Lance curses as he sets me down on the bank beside him. “You trying to get yourself killed?”
“You jerk!” I slap him straight in the face. “If you think that’s going to make up for what you did—”
I try to slap him again, but he’s ready. He catches my hand, then my other hand when I swing out again.
“Stop.”
“Don’t you tell me what to do! You’re not my boss anymore!”
There’s no point in fighting it anymore. The tears spill down my cheeks, freezing before they reach my jaw. Behind me, the bridge crashes down, and the sound of cracking ice and shattering wood echoes throughout the woods.
“Faith—”
“I trusted you!” I cry, pouring my heart out through my lips. “I wanted to prove myself to you and you—you screwed me over!”
The cold, Winter air tears at my throat as I gasp for breath. I struggle against Lance’s grip, but he’s too strong. As much as I want to get away, I’m not going anywhere.
“It’s not what you think, Faith,” Lance says firmly. “Danielle is an old friend. It’s all just a long-running joke between us.”
“Joke my ass!” My heart is definitely going to explode. “You just want to save your business relationship with my dad!”
Lance shakes his head firmly. “No, Faith. No, that’s not true. I want to save my relationship with you. The message from Danielle was a joke, and I can prove it to you. I can show you all the old messages, and I can even have you talk to her, and she will back me up.”
“She’ll just lie too…”