Chapter 1

While we were playing Truth or Dare,

my six-months-pregnant cousin drew the dare.

My wife's childhood sweetheart set the question. "You dare to climb that tree?"

Refuse, and she'd have to down three drinks.

But a pregnant woman couldn't drink.

And a pregnant woman climbing a tree...

Maya Hughes's eyes begged me for help, so I turned to my wife. "Maybe we should just call it off?"

Instead, her voice came out cold.

"It's just a tree. Nobody said she had to reach the top. A few branches, enough to say she did it."

So Maya was surrounded, photographed, forced up the tree.

Halfway up, the bark shredded her palms raw.

They told her she couldn't stop.

Two-thirds of the way up.

Then, all at once, blood was pouring from between her legs.

Maya was crying, begging. "Please! Someone call 911..."

No one below her moved.

I was about to dial 911 when Lowell Pruitt knocked the phone out of my hand.

"You actually thought climbing a tree would make your cousin miscarry?"

"It's your wife. She didn't want that little bastard born."

"The abortion drug went into that soup she just drank."

"As for why we made her climb the tree? Your wife just wanted to watch your cousin make a fool of herself!"

They ignored the shock and fury on my face.

Laughing, giggling, they moved on to the next round.

Lowell drew the card, and my wife asked with a smile, "You dare to kiss me in front of everyone?"

The words were barely out before Lowell shot me a smug glance.

His arm hooked around my wife's waist.

"You asking if I dare?"

"Here's your answer."

In that moment, my heart died right alongside the baby in my cousin's belly.

1

"Marlin, help me..."

The blood was still running out of Maya.

It soaked the white hem of her dress red.

Panic seized me. I rushed over, trying to catch her.

"Natalie Summers, call your private doctor, now..."

I looked up and froze where I stood.

Natalie Summers and her childhood sweetheart Lowell Pruitt were locked in a kiss, so wrapped up in each other they couldn't bear to break apart.

The crowd around them egged them on.

"So hot. Kissing like that right in front of her husband. You two have some nerve."

"You think this is nerve?"

"They've been playing games like this since college."

"Don't you remember, right after Natalie and Marlin got together, Lowell was already booking hotel rooms with her."

"They've been sleeping together since they were kids. How's an ordinary little couple supposed to compete with that?"

In the silence, the last of Maya's strength gave out. Her grip slipped from the trunk, and she crashed down.

A dull thud against the ground.

That pack of hangers-on stumbled back.

Someone sucked in a sharp breath.

"A fall like that, losing the baby is the least of it."

"What if someone actually dies?"

"Maybe we should just call the police?"

"Call the police for what?"

Someone cut her off with a cold laugh.

"The people it actually concerns aren't even worried. What are you panicking about, you gutless little thing?"

Laughter broke out all around.

That person went quiet.

I kept trying to get my phone to turn on, but after Lowell had knocked it away, it was too broken to power up.

I clenched my jaw and looked at Natalie Summers.

The two of them stood wrapped around each other, close and intimate.

So lost in it they hadn't noticed a thing over here.

"Someone help. Call an ambulance!"

"My cousin is pregnant. If this drags on any longer, she could die."

The others took a step back, terrified of getting mixed up with me and crossing Natalie Summers.

Only one young man pulled out his phone.

"I'll call for you."

Before he could even dial, Lowell slapped the phone out of his hand.

"What ambulance? The private doctor's already here for you."

Lowell clapped his hands, and a private doctor in a white coat walked over.

But one of the coat's buttons was fastened in the wrong hole.

The doctor had shifty, ratty eyes. One look and you could tell he wasn't much of a professional.

Someone nearby cracked a joke.

"Lowell, you really know how to have fun!"

"Bringing in a guy to play doctor. Isn't this the one who stole your watch last time..."

Lowell glared, and the man shut up on the spot.

"My mistake. Carry on."

Lowell gave a signal, and the doctor stepped up to examine her.

He fumbled around for a bit, then coughed into his fist twice.

"The baby can't be saved. How about I give her a painkiller shot, write her a prescription for something?"

"Women are all like this. A miscarriage is nothing unusual, is it? A little suffering is only fair."

Even Natalie Summers frowned at that.

"Lowell, is this doctor of yours actually reliable?"

Lowell soured instantly, mouth pouting.

"What? You don't trust me?"

"You think I'd hurt your husband's cousin?"

"I did put the abortion drug in the soup and made her drink it, after all."

"If we really let an ambulance rush over here, wouldn't that make it all for nothing?"

Lowell's lips were still a little red and swollen.

His gaze was heavy-lidded, lingering.

"He's the one who had to bring his cousin along to a nice gathering like this."

"I just wanted to get some payback for you, teach him a lesson."

Natalie Summers tapped the tip of his nose.

"Always the little troublemaker."

Natalie Summers turned her head to glance at Maya lying on the ground covered in blood, then looked at me.

"Fine, we'll do it your way."

"If the baby can't be saved, no big deal."

"She is Marlin Henson's cousin, after all. Just don't let it turn into a death."