Chapter 6

Hayley's POV

Clara's panicked screams echoed through the car speakers, grating against my ears.

"Clara, stop crying. Send me your location right now. Stay in the car, lock the doors, I'm on my way!" Julian's expression morphed instantly, his brow furrowing into a tight knot.

He slammed on the brakes, the SUV skidding with a harsh screech against the mountain asphalt before jerking to a stop on the shoulder.

He checked the pin she sent, realizing she was stranded on an unmaintained dirt trail with terrible terrain. He turned to his bodyguard in the back. "You drive. The road's bad, you've got better control."

The driver looked troubled, glancing between me in the passenger seat and the mountains of camping gear crammed into the rear. "Mr. Vance, we stripped half the rear seats to fit all this equipment. There's one seat upfront and barely room for one person in the back. If we're picking up Miss Clara, the car can only hold three people total. This..."

A heavy silence descended over the car.

Julian froze, his gaze slowly shifting onto me.

Outside, we were thousands of feet up in the mountains. Night had completely fallen, and freezing gales howled, sweeping dead leaves across the road. It was at least six miles uphill to the campsite, and even further back down to the nearest town. It was completely deserted.

"Hayley..." His mouth opened, his voice carrying a defensive edge he probably didn't even realize was there. "Clara's in real danger right now. She's all alone in the middle of nowhere with a broken car. You... you step out and walk up the main road for a bit. It's only about six miles to the summit camp. Once I get Clara, I'll drive up and meet you there."

He seemed to think this was a completely reasonable plan.

I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I didn't even ask him a single question.

With terrifying calm, I unbuckled my seatbelt, shoved the door open, and stepped out into the freezing night. My movements were fluid, devoid of the slightest hesitation.

*Thud.* The door clicked shut.

Seeing me standing small and fragile in the biting wind, he rolled down the window and yelled out, "Stick to the main road! Don't wander off! As soon as I have her, I'm coming straight to the camp for you!"

I didn't turn around. I didn't answer.

He gritted his teeth and hit the window switch. "Drive!"

The engine roared as the SUV whipped around, its red taillights disappearing into the pitch-black night, leaving me with nothing but a cloud of bitter exhaust.

The mountain wind cut into my skin like razors. I pulled my thin jacket tight, but with my lungs still healing, every breath of freezing air sent a dull ache through my ribs.

I walked alone down the pitch-black asphalt, surrounded only by rustling leaves and the hum of unseen insects.

Yet, strangely, I felt no fear. Instead, an unprecedented sense of relief washed over me.

My mind wandered back to years ago. Our senior year of college, in the fall, Jason took me camping on a trail outside the city to celebrate his first paycheck. It started drizzling, and we missed the last shuttle back, leaving the two of us to trudge up the hill under a battered umbrella.

Worried I'd get tired, Jason insisted on carrying me on his back. He was panting on the muddy trail, but he still turned his head to flash me a goofy grin. "Hayley, once I make real money, I'm buying a massive SUV. I'll drive you straight to the top so you never have to hike like this again."

Tears fell without warning, quickly chilled by the wind.

"Jason, you big liar," I whispered into the dark, my voice completely hoarse.

I didn't know how long I walked before hitting a section of the road blocked off by a rockslide. My only option was to cut through a patch of woods on the side. There were no lights, and the dense canopy choked out what little moonlight there was.

The second my sneaker stepped onto a pile of dead brush, the ground vanished beneath me.

"Ah!"

A violent drop pulled me downward as I plummeted into a deep trench. It was an old pit trap dug by local hunters for wild boars.

A sickening crunch echoed as my right leg twisted unnaturally beneath my weight, the blinding agony instantly stealing the breath from my lungs. My forehead slammed hard against a jagged stone, hot blood trickling down my temple and blurring my vision.

It hurt. It hurt so much worse than drowning in the lake.

Lying at the bottom of the freezing pit, staring up at the tiny patch of starry sky overhead, my consciousness began to slip away. I didn't scream for help. I knew that the only person in this world who would have risked everything to pull me out was long gone.

Darkness consumed me entirely.

"Hayley! Hayley, wake up, damn it!"

Someone was shaking my shoulders violently, accompanied by a man's ragged, frantic roar.

I forced my heavy eyelids open. Harsh fluorescent lights, that familiar sterile smell, and a searing throb in my right leg and forehead signaled that I was back in a hospital.

Julian stood over me, his eyes bloodshot, his chest heaving. Clutched tightly in his fist was a small, dog-eared notebook.

It was the journal I kept on me at all times—the one tracking my search for Jason's survivor, and the vault where I poured out all my grief for Jason. It must have fallen out of my bag when I dropped into the pit.

"You're awake?" His voice sounded like it was being ground through his teeth, brimming with hysterical disbelief. He slammed the notebook onto my chest, glaring at me with bloodshot eyes like a wounded predator.

"I'm asking you... what the hell do all these entries mean?!"

He leaned over the bed, his hands gripping the guardrails, boxing me in as his voice shook with a rage he couldn't control—and a terror he didn't dare admit.

"Look at me, Hayley! Tell me right now—who the hell is Jason?!"