8
I was too tired to even push him away. My vision went black as I collapsed into his arms.
In the hazy space between worlds, I heard a doctor’s voice. “The patient’s body is extremely weak. We can’t find the cause of her deterioration. She has three days, at most. I’m so sorry.”
Good, I thought. I can finally leave this world.
When I woke up again, the atmosphere in the room was heavy. Perry was sitting by my bed. He hadn’t shaved, and he was wearing the sarne clothes from before I passed out. A joyful smile lit up his face when he saw my eyes open.
“Zoe, you’re awake.”
He poured me a glass of warm water, but I didn’t even have the strength to open my mouth. My body was a leaden weight on the
bed. I could feel death calling to me.
Perry saw the change in me, and his expression fell, his eyes filling with a deep, bottomless guilt. He took my hand, his own trembl-
ing slightly.
“Zoe,” he began, his voice thick with emotion. “You asked me if I loved you. I’ve thought about it. I do. I love you.”
“At first, it was about saving Bianca. But somewhere along the way… I lost myself, I don’t even know when it happened.”
“Bianca and I grew up together. Her father entrusted her to me on his deathbed. For the longest time, I thought what I felt for her was love. But it was just duty. I’m sorry, Zoe. I’m so, so sorry for what I did to you.”
I watched him, my face a blank mask, my heart a silent wasteland. There’s a grief so deep it transcends sorrow. This
ng he said could touch me now.
was it. Nothi-
He brought me to the mountains again, to see the fireflies. The memory of being abandoned there before made my chest tighten, and another spray of blood erupted from my lips.
Chapter 2
and another spray of blood erupted from my lips.
“Zoe!” he cried, dropping to his knees beside me.
At that exact moment, his phone rang. It was Bianca. He frowned, ignoring it.
With a flicker of malice, I reached out and pressed the answer key.
06.43
“Perry,” Bianca’s drunken voice slurred through the speaker, “you promised my dad you’d take care of me. I’m at a bar, I’m drunk…
can you come get me?”
He looked torn, his knuckles white as he gripped the phone. He knew how dangerous a place like that could be for a woman alone.
I looked at him, a slow, mocking smile spreading across my face. “Are you going to leave me again?”
My words snapped him out of it. “No,” he said, shaking his head. He spoke into the phone, his voice firm. “Bianca, I can’t leave right
now. I’ll send my assistant to get you.”
She hung up on him.
Perry ignored it. He pulled a ring from his pocket, knelt on one knee, and looked at me with all the love and regret in the world in his
eyes.
“Zoe, will you marry me? We can start over. If we get married, it will fix everything.”
His sincerity was absolute this time, more real than it had ever been.
I didn’t answer.
His eyes dimmed with self–loathing. “It’s okay. We have time. I’ll wait until you can forgive me.”
Even though I didn’t agree, he secretly arranged a wedding for the next day. Somehow, Bianca found out.
On the day of the wedding, she had me kidnapped.
By the time Perry tracked us to an abandoned warehouse, I was tied up alongside her, dangling from the rafters dozens of feet in
the air.
Perry was always prepared. Before he even started negotiating, he had one of his men secretly pass me a rescue rope, signaling
for me to tie it around myself.
“Alright, you have the ransom. Let them go,” he said.
The kidnapper counted the money, smiling. Then his face changed. “I’ll release one of them. You choose.”
Beside me, Bianca smiled in triumph. “Watch,” she whispered to me. “He’ll choose me.”
She yelled down to him. Perry! You promised my father you would take care of me for the rest of my life! I trust you!”
Perry looked up, first giving her a reassuring glance. Then his burning gaze met mine, asking if I was ready. It was a language we had, a silent understanding.
This is it, I thought. My wedding day will be my funeral. How fitting.
I nodded at him, firmly.
Seeing my signal, he didn’t hesitate. “Let Bianca go.”
As they lowered her to the ground, she ran to him, sobbing with joy. “Perry! I knew you’d choose me!”
But he wasn’t paying attention to her. Because at the exact moment she was safe, the kidnapper, following her final order, cut my
rope
My body plummeted through the air.
Host, the time is now. Termination sequence complete.]
I closed my eyes and smiled. Goodbye, Perry. Forever.
He didn’t know. He didn’t know I never tied the rescue rope.
“NO!”
I saw his eyes widen in horror, saw his world shatter as my body hit the ground, blood pouring from my mouth, my nose, my ears. I
saw the light in his eyes turn to a dead, endless gray.
Fear, like a black net, fell over b
and dragged him down into the dark.
