He was confused and I didn’t blame him. But he needed to understand because I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t continue to bring him down. He would follow me anywhere, but I couldn’t do that to him.
Fox’s life was here, in Ember Hollow. His family was here. I couldn’t be the reason he left everything. I wasn’t good for him.
“I don’t understand,” he said slowly.
I bit the inside of my cheek so hard the bitter taste of iron coated my tongue. “I don’t want to be with you anymore.” Each word felt vile and wrong. There was nothing right about them, but this was for the best. “There’s nothing left for me here, Fox. But there is for you. I just need…I need you to let me go.”
I saw the moment realization hit him.
It was worse than what I imagined. It was worse than when he watched me go white and collapse from the internal bleeding.
Fox Ramsey shattered right in front of me. It was clear in his expression. In the tears that welled.
He begged with me. Pleaded with me. He said he’d give me time, but I didn’t want time. I didn’t want to give myself room to back out of this.
I was in that hospital for three days. Fox never left my side, but we didn’t speak. We didn’t touch.
A few weeks later, Fox drove me home in silence. He’d stayed with me as I recovered, maybe hoping I would change my mind. I didn’t, though.
When we arrived, he watched over me as I shoved my life into a bag. My father glared at us, face red and arms crossed tight over his chest. But he couldn’t hurt me while Fox was there.
“Leaving like a coward,” he spat. “Like your mother.”
The words hit me square in the chest but as I slung my bag over my shoulder, I couldn’t react. Couldn’t give him what he wanted. Not anymore.
As we headed toward the front door, I caught sight of my little brother leaning against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. My heart broke for him. But I was helpless. He was fifteen. I couldn’t take him with me. My father wouldn’t let that happen.
Throat tight, I approached him. He didn’t look down at me as I wrapped my arms around him. His body tensed. He didn’t return my embrace. I squeezed him as tight as I could.
“I’ll come back for you,” I promised under my breath.
And then I let him go.
Without looking back, I walked out of my childhood home of nightmares.
Fox and I walked off my father’s property and to my car parked along the street.
I’d promised I’d come back for my brother.
But I made no promises to Fox.
He stayed behind as I loaded my bag into my car and got inside. He stood motionless and silent as I drove away from everything—
Even him.
1
Skye
Present Day
I’dfaceddownsomeof the worst crimes imaginable, confronted liars and dangerous secrets head-on—yet the simple act of driving into Ember Hollow made me want to turn the car around.
I hadn’t set foot in my hometown since I was still a teen. As barely an adult, I’d left small-town life behind me. I’d gone to college and earned my degree in journalism and digital media. I’d had so many dreams and had nothing to focus on but work and putting my all into my future.
Forcing my hands to relax their death grip on the steering wheel, I drove through the town at what felt like a snail’s pace. Everything looked precisely as when I’d left, from the quaint, tree-lined streets to the cozy brick buildings. It was unsettling, how normal everything felt—like Ember Hollow had been frozen in time, waiting patiently for my return.
But Ember Hollow wasn’t the same as it had been, no matter how it appeared from the outside. This town had been through a nightmare.
