Chapter 3

3: 3

The shove sent me straight into the corner of the coffee table, a dull pain spreading through my lower back.

Swallowing it, I tried to explain.

“That game was your anniversary gift. I bought it for you and kept it in the cabinet. I never gave it to her...”

“You're still making excuses!”

Walter cut me off, his voice like a whip.

“If you didn't put it out, who did, Lucy herself? She can barely walk. How would she go digging through your things?”

“Can't you own up to anything? Is it that hard to admit when you've done something wrong?”

“What are you standing there for? Go get her medicine!”

He roared it loud enough to make my ears ring.

I bit my lip and stumbled into the bedroom, rummaging out the pill bottle from the nightstand.

After the medicine went down, Lucy's breathing slowly evened out.

She leaned into Walter's arms, eyes brimming with tears, her voice faint.

“Walt, don't blame Miri. It's all my fault. I only came out to get a glass of water, and I happened to see it... don't blame her...”

“You're still defending her!”

It tore at Walter's heart, and he held her tighter.

When he turned back to me, the disgust in his eyes nearly spilled over.

“I wanted to leave two bodyguards here to look after Lucy, and you dug in and refused, saying you didn't want strangers in the house, no privacy. Well, now look. I step out to see someone off, and in that little while she nearly dies!”

“I think you had bad intentions from the start. You can't wait for Lucy to die. This whole thing was planned by you all along!”

I looked at him, and all at once it struck me as absurd.

Three years.

I'd stepped back again and again, given way time after time.

I'd thought there was still some place for me in his heart, that he was just blinded by his guilt.

But it turned out that in his eyes I'd long since become a madwoman scheming to kill her best friend.

I looked at him and said it word by word.

“Walter, let's break up.”

He looked as if he'd heard the biggest joke in the world, so furious he laughed.

He set Lucy gently down on the sofa.

Then he stood and came toward me, his eyes cold and vicious.

“What, hit a nerve, so now you feel guilty? You want to break up and just walk away? It's not that easy.”

“I haven't put up with you just once or twice. You go after Lucy every single time. Today I'm going to teach you a lesson so you remember it.”

I stepped back on instinct.

“What are you going to do?”

He didn't answer. He took out his phone and made a call, his tone ice-cold.

“Send two men up. Get the safety rope ready on the rooftop.”

He hung up and looked down at me, his voice cold.

“You like watching Lucy fight for her life on the edge, don't you? Then you can have a taste of it yourself.”

Not two minutes later, two bodyguards walked in.

“Mr. Delgado.”

Walter's tone was flat, as if he were mentioning something of no importance.

“Take her up there. Tie her to the edge of the rooftop and leave her hanging for a full day and night.”

“I want her to really understand what it feels like to fight for your life on the edge.”

“No! Walter, you can't do this!”

The blood drained from my face in an instant, and I scrambled back as hard as I could.

I've been afraid of heights since I was little, and no one knew that better than him.

We used to climb stairs together, and past the third floor he'd carry me on his back, terrified I'd get scared.

And now he wanted to punish me like this, for another woman.

Walter raised an eyebrow and signaled the bodyguards to move.

“Why can't I? What Lucy went through, you should taste it too.”

The two bodyguards stepped forward and pinned my arms, one on each side.

I fought them with everything I had.

“Walter, I'm afraid of heights! Have you forgotten? Please, let me go!”

He turned his face away and didn't spare me another look.

“This is what you deserve.”

They dragged me toward the rooftop.

My nails tore open my palms and still I couldn't break free.

The wind on the rooftop was fierce, cutting into my face like a blade.

A rope was bound around my waist, and I hung suspended over the edge of the rooftop.

Six stories down below.

One glance down and the world spun and reeled.

Fear swallowed me like a rising tide.

I screamed, I sobbed, I begged Walter to bring me down.

But there was no answer.

Only the howling wind in my ears.

I don't know how long it went on.

My throat went hoarse from screaming, my tears ran dry.

The sun rose and set again.

A full day and night, not a drop of water.

My whole body went limp as mud.

When my mind was already blurring, the rope began to pull upward.

I hit the ground hard.

Everything went black, and I lost consciousness completely.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a hospital bed.