Page 1 of Veiled

Chapter one

Annalise

“He’s dead. I killed him.”

If Matt hears me, he doesn’t show it as rain batters the windshield like a thousand tiny bullets.

The tires lose their grip for a terrifying second, his jaw locking tight as he fights the wheel.

“Hold on!”

His hands are welded to the steering wheel, his split knuckles are bone white, and his swollen eyes are fixed on the slick road ahead. His pickup bucks beneath us as he pushes it faster and faster down the two-lane highway, the headlights carving tunnels through the dark.

Behind us, sirens scream. The sound is getting closer. Sharper.

“They’ll know it was me,” my voice sounds too scratchy, too shaky. “You have to go back, turn me in.”

“No! We are never going back,” he says, not daring to spare me a glance.

No hesitation. No fear.

My pulse hammers in my ears, beating in time with the sirens chasing us. My mouth is drowning in the taste of copper that I am trying hard not to think about. There’s blood on my shirt, too much of it, and it’s not mine—well, not entirely mine.

My ribs ache with every breath I take, probably broken. My vision blurs with every blink.

I want to ask him where we’re going, but I already know what he’ll say: Away. As far away as we can get.

Red and blue lights flare in my sideview mirror…closer now.

“Mattey, they’re—”

“I see them.”

He floors the gas pedal, and then everything happens so fast.

Water splashes high at both of our windows.

The engine revs.

A loud whooshing sound cuts over the sound of the rain.

Then, suddenly, the car is spinning, and no amount of Matt turning the wheel is correcting it.

The world flips.

We’re falling.

And then, everything goes black.

My eyes blink open, slow and heavy.

There is blood and broken glass all around me. I can’t hear anything, and every inch of my body aches. What the hell?

The truck shakes, and panic consumes me as where I am finally hits me: trapped in Matt’s pickup, with the lower half of my body already submerged underwater. All at once, everything that’s happened comes rushing back to me, and every sound around me rings clear and impossibly bright.

“Lee! Lee! Look at me!” Matt’s desperate voice pulls my eyes toward him. “Good, keep your eyes open. Can you unbuckle for me? I’m going to get us out of here. Just take a deep breath and stay calm. We’re going to be okay.”

“Yeah,” my voice breaks as I nod and reach for the buckle.