Chapter 3

The next afternoon I set out for my follow-up at the hospital.

I called a driver I'd used before.

But ten-odd minutes in, the car suddenly turned into an underground parking garage.

He stopped it at the very back.

Unease shot through me at once.

"Open the doors."

The driver watched me in the rearview mirror, and then he smiled.

"What's the act for, sweetheart?"

Something in me went cold.

"What are you talking about?"

His smile turned even more disgusting.

"Nora told me everything."

"That after you had the kid, you and Captain James were done a long time ago."

"Said you've been going crazy lately. That male therapist at your house must've been taking good care of you, right?"

My stomach heaved. I grabbed for the door at once.

But he'd locked it.

"We're all adults here, sweetheart. Drop the act."

"Nora said you like a man to make the first move."

A roar went off in my head.

"Let me out!"

I threw myself toward the other side.

What came after.

For a long time I couldn't make myself remember it.

I only remember fighting the whole time, screaming the whole time.

The wound that had never fully healed tore open again.

The blood kept coming.

The driver finally panicked.

He swore.

Then he dumped me in the garage and drove off.

I lay on the cold ground.

Trembling, I reached for the phone that had fallen beside me.

The first call I made.

Was still to Miles James.

Even though I'd already asked about divorce.

Even though I'd given up on him completely.

But he was a detective.

He'd worked so many cases like this.

He would know what to do now.

The phone rang a long time before it finally connected.

Tears spilled out of me in an instant.

"Miles James, the driver assaulted me…"

"I'm in an underground parking garage, come save me…"

The other end went quiet.

The next second, what I heard was Nora crying.

"Miles, don't worry about me. Go find my sister…"

My whole body went rigid.

"Why is Nora with you?"

Miles's voice sounded tired.

"Someone followed her this afternoon. She just finished giving her statement at the station."

I stared at my blood-soaked legs.

"Miles James, come get me."

"I've lost a lot of blood. I can't stand up."

He gave a cold laugh.

"Mabel, nothing's off-limits for you now, is it."

I froze.

"What?"

Miles didn't answer.

He sent over a few screenshots.

【Don't rush off after you drop me at the hospital today.】

【Find somewhere with nobody around.】

【I've really been going out of my mind lately.】

The profile picture. The name.

All me.

The person on the other end of the chat was that driver.

I shook my head hard.

"It's not real! I never sent those!"

"Miles James! This is fake!"

He was silent for a moment.

"I'm with Nora right now dealing with her stalking case. She's under a real threat."

My breath stopped.

"So don't waste police resources just because you're jealous."

I closed my eyes.

"Understood."

I hung up.

I called the police myself. I called the ambulance myself.

When they lifted me onto the stretcher.

I never made a second call to Miles James.