Chapter 6

The word "miscarriage" hung in the sterile air of the hospital corridor.

Kameron's face went white. He turned to me, and the look in his eyes was no longer disappointment. It was pure, undiluted hatred.

"We're doing everything we can," the doctor continued, "but we need to transfer her to the ICU. We've called in the top specialists."

As they wheeled Carleen past us on a gurney, her eyes fluttered open for a split second. She looked directly at me.

And she smiled. A triumphant, evil smirk.

She was faking. All of it.

I opened my mouth to speak, to expose her lie, but Kameron's mother's hand flew out and connected with my cheek again.

"You! This is all your fault!" she screamed, her voice shrill. "You were jealous of her and Kameron! You pushed her down the stairs on purpose!"

"The dog..." I stammered, my ears ringing from the slap. "Shadow didn't mean to-"

"Enough!" Kameron's voice was a whip crack. He stared at me, his eyes as cold as a winter storm. "Get on your knees, Hailey. Kneel here and beg for her forgiveness until she wakes up."

My blood ran cold.

"And bring the dog here," he ordered one of his assistants. "It needs to be taught a lesson."

"No!" I lunged for him, grabbing his arm. "Kameron, please! Don't hurt Shadow! He didn't do anything wrong! He's all I have left of my mother!"

He pried my fingers from his sleeve, his face a mask of stone. "You should have thought of that before you tried to kill my child."

He walked away without looking back, leaving me with two stone-faced bodyguards. They grabbed my arms and dragged me into Carleen's private room.

She was sitting up in bed, looking perfectly fine, a malicious grin on her face.

"Looks like you're the one who's going to be put down," she taunted. "First your mother, now your dog. You're losing everything, aren't you?"

She laughed, a cruel, grating sound. "You know, Kameron loves the things I do in bed. Things a prude like you would never even imagine."

Suddenly, from outside the window, I heard a dog's cry. A sound of pure agony and terror.

Shadow.

It was a short, sharp sound, and then... silence.

My world went black. My heart stopped. I stared at Carleen, a bottomless well of hatred opening up inside me.

"I'll leave tomorrow," I said, my voice a dead, hollow thing. "I'll disappear. I won't stand in the way of Leo being recognized as a Stephens. Just... make him stop."

Carleen laughed again. "Oh, Hailey. You still don't get it. The dog has to die. And so do you."

She clapped her hands. "Bring in the durian."

A bodyguard entered with the spiky, foul-smelling fruit. My stomach turned. I was severely allergic. The smell alone made me sick.

"Kneel," Carleen commanded.

I struggled, but the bodyguards were too strong. They forced me to my knees, right onto the sharp, spiky shell of the durian.

The spikes tore through my clothes, piercing my skin. The pain was excruciating. The stench filled my lungs, making me gag.

I looked out the window. I could see him. My Shadow. Lying in a pool of blood on the pristine hospital lawn. Motionless.

"Shadow," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I'm coming."

With a surge of adrenaline I didn't know I possessed, I threw off the bodyguards and scrambled for the door. I ran, my knees screaming in protest, blood seeping through my pants.

As I burst into the hallway, I heard a man's voice, hushed and urgent. It was Carleen's father, on the phone.

"...we have to find a way to silence her. If Kameron finds out Leo isn't his son, we're all finished!"

The words hit me like a physical blow.

Leo wasn't Kameron's son.

It was all a lie. All of it.

Carleen's father saw me. "Stop her!" he yelled.

I didn't stop. I ran for the stairwell, pain and dizziness threatening to overwhelm me. I pulled out my phone, my fingers fumbling with the screen. I had one last call to make.

"Help me," I gasped into the phone when Elder Chapman answered. "He's going to kill me."

"Hailey, where are you going?"

Kameron's voice, soft and deadly, came from behind me.

I froze, a tall, dark shadow falling over me. He walked slowly towards me, his footsteps echoing in the empty stairwell.

"Who are you talking to?" he asked, his voice a terrifyingly gentle whisper.