The right side of my face was on fire with pain. I touched my cheek, and my fingers came back wet. Blood. My right eye was already starting to swell shut.
Crunch crunch crunch.
“Savannah! I’m getting tired of this! Let’s get back to the cabin and have this baby, okay? No more fucking around. Don’t make me have to do what we both know I am willing to do if I have to,” Madison bellowed.
A wave of dread spread through my body, prompting more tears, the salt making the fresh cuts on my cheek burn even more fiercely. Her voice sounded so close. I knew another contraction would be coming soon. How much longer could I keep on like this? When would my body give out? When would this baby finally push its way into the world, regardless of how hard I tried to delay it?
“Madison!” I heard Max’s agitated whisper coming from somewhere else nearby.
I looked to my left and my right; I wasn’t sure how much deeper the woods went to my left. To my right, I would be heading just north of the cabin.I wish I had thought to grab Colleen’s car keys before I took off for the woods.I wasn’t sure what condition she was in, but maybe I could go back for the keys and try to escape in her car. Maybe I could manage to get her into the car too, and get us both to a hospital—if she wasn’t dead.
I stepped away from the tree I’d been hiding behind and headed in that direction, but I only made it a few steps before adark silhouette stepped directly into my path. I felt the cold steel of a gun pressed against my forehead. I froze.
“There you are. Now we can stop all this nonsense. Let’s get you back to the cabin so we can have this baby.”
“No! This ismybaby! I won’t let you take him!”
Click.
“Savannah, don’t fool yourself into thinking you have a choice here. Iwillkill you if I have to.” There was cold determination in Madison’s eyes. She pressed the barrel of the gun harder against my brow.
“You can’t kill me. Then you kill the baby too.”
“Don’t test me, Savannah. You’re far enough along now that it wouldn’t be hard for me to get the baby out if I had to—even if you’re dead.”
I barely had a moment to absorb the horror of what she’d said before another contraction gripped me. The intensity was so strong this time that my legs gave out and I fell to my knees, gasping for breath as the pain took over.
Madison lowered her arm, watching me as I writhed, screaming. I could feel the pressure in my groin growing stronger. It wouldn’t be long now. She reached behind her back, tucked the gun into the waistband of her pants, and crouched down, watching me.
“See? It’s pointless for you to try and fight me, Savannah. You need me. I can help you get through the rest of this labor. So let’s go … before poor Charlie falls out right here on the forest floor.”
Madison pulled me up into a standing position. As the contraction started to ease up, I hatched a hasty plan in my head.
I was on my feet again, but I stayed bent over, clutching my belly with my right hand, grunting and screaming so Madison would think I was still in the throes of a contraction. While she still had both her hands around my left bicep, I gritted my teeth and went for it—I reached around behind Madison’s back andfelt my fingers close around the gun. I yanked, pulling it out of her waistband.
Madison’s eyes widened as she realized what I’d done. She let go of my arm, throwing me off balance. I stumbled back.
I lifted my arm, pointed the gun at her, and pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER37
I’D NEVER FIREDa gun before. I wasn’t prepared for how loud the sound could be when you’re so close to it—or the power of the kickback. I stumbled backward, colliding with a large tree behind me. My eyes shut. I heard a scream of pain.
But it wasn’t Madison’s.
I opened my eyes to see Max standing behind Madison, his eyes wide. He gripped the right side of his rib cage with both hands. Inky black liquid oozed from his side as he fell to his knees.
“Max!” Madison cried.
I was too shocked to move.I shot someone. I shot Max. I shot the father of my baby.
I watched as Madison rushed to her husband’s side. She pulled his hands away from his wound, prompting a thicker river of blood to pour forth. I heard her curse as she placed his hands on the wound and told him to press down hard. Then she whirled her head around and glared at me.
As she stood back up, my eyes found the gun, lying next to me on the forest floor. It had slipped out of my hand as I fell. I picked it up and tried desperately to brace against the tree with my free hand. I felt a surge of superhuman strength and gotmyself to standing. I lifted the gun and pointed it at Madison again. “Don’t come any closer!”
Fury and resentment in her eyes, Madison raised her hands over her head and stood still.
Do it, Savannah. She’ll never leave you and your baby alone.
