it’s designed to protect us. I’m not that out of touch with reality that I don’t recognize my attempt to do just that—but Sully really had it coming.
I drop the rock and use the hem of my dress to wipe the blood from my face. It’s spattered across my arms, shoulders. I give up on the task and pluck the phone from his back pocket. Then I use my bare heel to roll him toward the edge of the cliff. My hair clips my eyes as the wind batters the side of the mountain.
I remember the story Carter told me about Devil’s Tooth—how the ravine floor is littered with bones, how people disappear up here. How if someone had wanted to get away with murder all they had to do was toss the body into the ravine.
With a hard kick, I shove Sully over the toothed ridge. The sound of his body hitting the bottom never comes.
18
Fate
Ellis
Voltaire wrote: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
In other words, be careful who you trust.
Sully said many unfathomable things—things that made me doubt, if only for an instant, not only Carter but myself. We have to be strong in our convictions.
It would be an atrocity to doubt Carter’s love for me.
Ever since Dr. Leighton failed me, I’ve been wary of allowing anyone to get too close. Carter was the first to break through my boundaries, and I love him for that, but he’s also naïve when it comes to people and their intentions.
Had he not surrounded himself with leaches like Sully and Addison, then I wouldn’t have been forced to take such extreme action. However, I can’t have either one of them filling his head with absurdities about me either.
I have to protect us.
As such, I collect the blood-stained rock and the discarded flask and beer bottle and toss it all into a black trash bag. Then I tug down my dress and toss it in the bag, too. It’s filthy and covered in droplets of blood.
After throwing everything into the trunk of the Honda, I pull on a T-shirt and jeans. I didn’t think far enough ahead to bring comfortable shoes, but at least I didn’t forget the most essential item.
I grab the knife from the console.
A little too late, I realize, but I improvised with the rock. I hadn’t planned to use the weapon on Sully; it was for protection, just in case. But after what happened, I can’t risk making another mistake. Everyone has become a danger.
I walk down to the waterfall’s edge and find a seat on a large boulder. With a deep breath, I swipe open Sully’s phone. Adrenalin spikes my blood as I scan his text messages, searching for the ones sent to me—but there’s none. No proof that the messages came from Sully. If his phone was used, the texts have been deleted.
Heart knocking painfully in my chest, I hover my thumb over a message from Addison. I click it open.
Addison: Stop dicking around. We need to make her go away. Now.
Hand trembling, I check the timestamp. The text was sent two hours ago.
Addison wants to make me go away. So she can have Carter. So she can be the only girl in his life.
I push my hand into my hair and grip at the roots. “She’s doing it all over again.”
She’s not Irina, Dr. Leighton’s voice whispers.
No, she’s not—she’s worse. Irina was cruel to my face. Addison is calculating. She’s been feeding Carter lies, and she’s been plotting with a vile piece of filth to extort me and force me to leave Black Mountain. All the while, pretending to be Carter’s best friend.
All I want is to protect Carter, and Addison is dangerous.
Carter and I were so beautifully happy before her deceit. “Do you know how hard it is to find love a second time?”
But does he love you?
“Yes,” I say, as I turn to stare into the white cascade. “Carter loves me.” I recall the look in his blue eyes as he gazed down at me in this very spot—the look of pure adoration. I want that look back.
Then you know what you have to do.
A chill skitters along my skin and I shiver. I place Sully’s phone in my lap and glare down at the dimmed screen. Dr. Leighton makes is sound so simple, but it never is. Loving someone from the depth of your soul is crushing, knowing what has to be done takes all of your