Why had it stopped? Was she at a stop sign? Did she throw her phone out the window? Was she at a red light?
I pressed on the gas, my instincts screaming at me that something was terribly wrong. I sensed it, knew it. I felt the danger radiating through me, tearing me up inside.
As I sped toward her location, her dot remained stationary. I pressed another button to overlay a satellite map, which revealed she wasn’t near any structures—no houses, no schools, no businesses. Sofia was on a two-lane road near the coast, her dot still motionless.
Panic unlike anything I’d ever known before crashed over me from head to toe. I closed in on her location, agonizing over what would be waiting for me. What would I see when I reached her?
One last curve and the glow of taillights caught my eye. Speeding closer, I saw smoke pouring from an engine, the front of a car crushed against the base of a massive oak tree.
Sofia’s car!
When I made out her silhouette slouched over the steering wheel, I couldn’t get to her fast enough. I slammed on my brakes and my car skidded to a stop right behind hers, the tires kicking up gravel from the road’s shoulder. Frantic, I unbuckled my seatbelt and jumped out, my feet almost slipping in the gravel the same way my tires had. Pounding on her driver’s side window, I screamed her name, begging her to come to, but she didn’t move.
Adrenaline flooded through me as I yanked on her door handle, trying to pull it open, but it wouldn’t budge. Locked. I pulled and pulled, as if I could somehow will it to unlock and let me in.
I shouted her name again and again, my throat already raw, but she remained still, slumped over the steering wheel. This can’t be happening repeated in my head as shock turned me ice-cold.
I pounded on the window again, praying it would break.
It didn’t.
And she still hadn’t moved.
Tears slid down my face, and at first, I had no idea where the moisture was coming from. It blurred my vision, and I desperately needed to see. I couldn’t help her if I couldn’t see her.
“Sofia,” I yelled again, but it was no use.
Desperate, I ran back to my car and called 911 from the console, and gave the dispatcher my location, ignoring her as she begged me to stay on the line until help arrived. I didn’t have time to waste staying on the phone with strangers when the girl I was falling in love with was hurt, unconscious, and I couldn’t fucking get to her. So I left the line open and ran back to Sofia’s car.
“Sofia, please.” My voice strangled out a hoarse cry as sirens blared in the distance. I couldn’t tell how close or far they were, but that seemed quick—too quick, I’d only called them seconds ago—and nothing made sense.
“Turn around, Ryan.”
Derek’s voice yanked my attention away from my angel. In all the chaos, I’d completely forgotten about him.
How could I have forgotten that he was the reason we were in this mess in the first place?
“I said turn around.”
His voice was low but deadly, angrier than I’d heard before. Wary, I slowly turned to face him, wondering what the hell he wanted now. Hadn’t he done enough?
My gaze instantly homed in on his hand and the gun he had pointed straight at me.
Had he planned on shooting Sofia? I looked back at her, and for the first time felt thankful that she still hadn’t woken up. I didn’t want her to see any of this.
“You were going to shoot her?” I asked, completely shocked. This guy was seriously fucking deranged.
He laughed, taking a menacing step toward me like I’d done to him all those times before. “Her? No, Ryan. I was never going to shoot Sofia.”
My head swam. Nothing made sense. Nothing added up. “Then why do you have a gun?”
He sneered at me. “You just can’t stay away, can you? I warned her. Told her if she destroyed my future, I’d destroy hers.”
“I know. She told me you want custody,” I said, focusing on his finger hovering over the trigger.
“Custody?” He let out a sick laugh. “That’s what she told you? Genius.”
“She said you were going to take Matson from her.” I shook my head, more confused than ever.