Charlie knew taunting him was a bad idea, but so was sitting back and letting him take her to God knows where to do God knows what to her.
She might not be as far along as she wanted, but with Derek’s help, she’d grown stronger. She refused to cower down to this man ever again.
“Your father is a misogynistic asshole who never gave a shit about you.”
Caleb swung the gun in her direction. “Don’t talk about him that way. He may have been tough on me, but that’s only because he wanted me to grow up strong, like him. He made me who I am today.”
I have no doubt.
Charlie tried to reason with him. “Okay.” She put her hands up. “I’m sorry. Just put the gun down. Please.”
He smiled, lowering the weapon back to his leg. “That’s better.”
“Look, Caleb. I understand why you’re upset with me, but Derek has nothing to do with this. If he goes away for your murder—”
Once again, he raised his arm toward her face. This time, instead of hitting her, he grabbed the back of her hair and jerked her head in his direction.
Pain shot through her neck and the pounding in her head went full-bore. Charlie squeezed her eyes shut and clawed at his hand, but his grip was too tight.
“I don’t ever want to hear you say his name again, do you understand? He’s dead to you. Just like I’m dead to the world.”
Through the pain, her brain somehow managed to recall a news story she’d seen last year involving a charred body the police had discovered. A rush of hope filled her chest.
“They’ll find his DNA.”
“I hope so. That would be even more convincing to a jury.”
“No.” She tried to shake her head. “Not Derek’s. The man you killed. They’ll figure out it isn’t you.”
Caleb’s mouth curled up into that same, arrogant smirk she’d always hated. “That’s not possible. I told you I burned him.”
“Doesn’t matter.” She winced, feeling as though he was ripping her hair out from its roots. “They can still use dental records.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I do. I saw it on the news last year. A burned body was found in Liberty Park. It only took hours to identify the victim.”
A flicker a fear flashed behind his eyes. He sneered, pushing against her head as he released her.
“I don’t care. They still won’t find us.”
“Derek will.”
He pointed the gun at her again. “I told you not to say his name again!”
Pushing past the fear threatening to take over, she forced her voice to remain calm. “What are you going to do, Caleb? Shoot me, too? Then, what? You’ll be left all alone again.”
Caleb considered this for a moment and lowered the weapon. “You’re right. I’m not going to shoot you. There are plenty of other ways to punish you for what you’ve done.”
Old memories bubbled to the surface. Horrible, terrifying memories. Charlie had survived what she’d thought to be the worst, but now she wasn’t so sure.
Caleb would beat her worse than ever before. She’d fight back as hard as she could, but experience had told her it wouldn’t be enough.
I can’t go through that again.
Feeling helpless and defeated, Charlie glanced out the windshield to the road ahead. About a half a mile away was a very sharp curve.
An idea began to form.
