Branches tore at us as we plummeted.
Rocks cracked against bone.
I twisted my body around Aiden, shielding him from impact after impact until—
Darkness.
When I finally surfaced from the fog, pain exploded everywhere.
My leg was wrong.
My arm was worse.
Aiden trembled beneath me—alive only because I had wrapped him in every piece of strength I had left.
Before I could even whisper his name, he pressed his hand to my cheek.
“Mom,” he whispered shakily,
“don’t move yet. They’re still up there.”
Above us, faint silhouettes appeared at the cliff’s edge.
“Any sign of movement?” Evan asked.
“None,” Dad replied. “They’re done.”
“Good,” Mom said. “Let’s go. Brad is expecting our call.”
Brad.
My husband.
And then Evan added a sentence that felt like a knife tearing through my chest:
“Once the insurance payout comes in, Brad and I won’t have to hide anything anymore.”
Insurance.
Affair.
Murder conspiracy.
My husband and my brother.
My parents helping them.
They hadn’t just tried to kill me.
They had planned to kill my child.
After their voices faded, the forest fell silent again.
I whispered, “Aiden… did you hear them earlier too?”
He nodded, tears streaking through the dirt on his cheeks.