Chapter 4

Just as Kristyn spoke, Chandler ended his call and started walking back toward us.

Kristyn' s eyes lit up with a wicked idea. She let go of my hair and, in one fluid motion, wrapped her arms around me, pulling me with her as she fell backward into the deeper water.

"Help!" she screamed, a perfect damsel in distress.

The ocean swallowed us whole.

The cold was a shock. As I sank, I saw Chandler' s face, etched with panic. But that panic wasn' t for me. His eyes were fixed on Kristyn.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips, a bubble of air and despair. My tears mixed with the salt of the sea.

My body hit something hard on the seafloor, and a fresh wave of pain shot through me. My vision blurred.

Suddenly, strong arms were around me, pulling me up. For a wild, stupid moment, I thought it was him.

But when I broke the surface, coughing up water, I saw Chandler a few feet away, cradling a sputtering Kristyn in his arms. He was murmuring soft words to her, his face a mask of concern. A lifeguard had saved me.

The sight was a final, brutal confirmation. He would have let me drown.

Bodyguards in black suits appeared, pulling me roughly to my feet. They forced a dripping wetsuit onto my body and dragged me in front of Chandler and Kristyn.

Kristyn was sobbing into Chandler' s chest. "She said... she said she wanted to die and take me with her, Chandler! I was so scared!"

"I would rather die than cause a misunderstanding between you two," she wailed, a master manipulator at work.

Chandler held her tighter, his eyes burning with fury as he looked at me. He kissed her, a long, passionate kiss meant to reassure her and punish me.

Then he turned his full wrath on me. "What is wrong with you, Ava?" he snarled, his voice low and dangerous. "Why do you keep going after her?"

The accusation stole my breath. "Do you really think I would do that?" I whispered, my heart aching.

He hesitated for a fraction of a second. That was all Kristyn needed.

"I' m leaving, Chandler. I can' t do this," she cried, making a move to stand.

That broke him. His eyes went cold as ice. "Take her," he commanded his bodyguards, his voice devoid of any emotion.

They dragged me back into the water, toward a large, ominous cage floating near the yacht. A shark cage.

"Mr. Roth' s orders," one of the guards said grimly. "A punishment for upsetting Miss Palmer."

They threw me inside. The iron door clanged shut, plunging me into a world of shadows and bars. My breath hitched. I was claustrophobic. A childhood trauma I thought he, of all people, understood.

Then I saw them. Sharks. Dozens of them, drawn by bait the guards must have thrown, circling the cage, their fins cutting through the water. They slammed against the bars, their dead eyes staring at me, their teeth a flash of white in the gloom.

I screamed.

My mind splintered, throwing me back to a dark closet, to the feeling of being small and helpless, locked away for hours by the cruel matron at the orphanage. Chandler had been the one to find me then. He' d held my hand and promised, "I' ll never let anyone lock you in the dark again."

Now he was the one who had locked me in the dark, using my deepest fear as his weapon.

I curled into a ball in the corner of the cage, shaking uncontrollably, my sobs lost to the water.

"Are you happy now, Chandler?" I thought, the question a bitter prayer.

I closed my eyes, my breathing growing shallow. Let it end.

Sometime near dawn, a fishing boat found me. The fishermen told the police I was unresponsive, my oxygen tank empty.

I was in a coma for what felt like an eternity. I dreamed of my life. The good parts-the candy bar, the way he held my hand after the surgery, the quiet nights we' d spent watching old movies.

Then the dream soured. He was holding Kristyn' s hand, his face cold and remote. "I never loved you, Ava. It was always her." I reached for him, but he faded away, leaving me alone in the dark.

I woke up with a strangled cry, my face wet with tears.

The hospital room door opened. Kristyn walked in, a victorious smirk on her face. A dark, ugly mark-a hickey-was visible on her neck.

"Are you satisfied now?" she taunted. "Or do I need to break you a little more?"

I was too tired to fight. I just stared at her.

She tossed a file onto my bed. "Chandler signed them."

It was the divorce agreement. His signature was a sharp, angry scrawl at the bottom.

My life was ending. My marriage was over. It was all a pathetic joke.

I let out a small, self-mocking laugh and signed my name.

"Good," Kristyn said, snatching the papers. "Now take the money and get out of our lives."

She left. I lay in the bed, silent tears soaking the pillow.

For the next few days, Chandler didn' t come home. The house was an empty, echoing tomb. I started to pack.

It didn' t take long. I had nothing. A few changes of clothes. The expensive jewelry he' d bought me sat untouched in its boxes. I had nothing that was truly mine.

Except for one thing. A cheap, faded keychain. The one he' d given me at the orphanage, the day we met.

I held it in my hand, along with my simple wedding band. Then I walked to the window and threw them both out into the night.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I jumped. Chandler was standing right behind me.

"Are you throwing another tantrum?" he demanded.

My heart seized. I couldn' t take any more punishment. I was too weak.

He grabbed my arm, his grip like iron. "Get dressed. You' re coming with me to see my grandmother."