Chapter 18
Lucas Whitmore was yanked out of the car by Victoria Montgomery, stumbling onto the roadside. He stared blankly as she double-checked her phone, then ordered him to stay put.
"Stay right here." Her voice was icy before she turned and walked toward the red Panamera.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. Lucas pulled it out to see an image Victoria had sent—a yellowed newspaper clipping.
It was a report dated May 12, 2007, detailing a rear-end collision caused by illegal parking outside S High School.
His fingers trembled. A deafening buzz filled his ears, like a swarm of bees. Frantically, he tried to call her, but the moment he pressed the dial button, the familiar roar of an engine cut through the air.
He looked up just as the red sports car screeched to a halt inches from him, so close he could see his own reflection in the chrome grille.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the pavement.
"Killing you now would be too merciful." Victoria loomed over him, her shadow swallowing him whole. "Everything you did to Ethan, I'll return tenfold."
The car sped through the night. Lucas slumped in the backseat, no longer caring about their destination. He knew Victoria was keeping him alive for one reason only—to make him pay for Ethan Sinclair.
Time blurred. When the car finally stopped, his vision swam as he watched Victoria step out and speak to a figure in a white coat.
The shock from earlier had left him disoriented. Fragments of conversation drifted through the cracked window.
"Coagulation disorder... bloodletting therapy..."
The words stabbed into his skull like needles. Lucas jolted awake, shoving the car door open in panic.
Victoria exchanged a glance with the doctor. She gave a slight nod. "Begin."
Nurses materialized out of nowhere, pinning his wrists down. A cold needle pricked his neck, and the world spun violently.
Before darkness swallowed him, Victoria's voice echoed from somewhere far away—
"Atone properly for Ethan."
It was colder than Arctic ice.
Atone? Lucas laughed bitterly in the void. The one who should atone was Ethan Sinclair! If not for him, his life would never have turned out this way.