Chapter 4

The mountain road was pitch-black at night. Even with the high beams on, I could barely see a few feet ahead.

On top of that, the road twisted back and forth in endless hairpin turns, forcing me down below twenty-five miles an hour.

I drove for two straight hours and still hadn't made it out of the cliffside stretch.

Ryan called:

"What's with the disappearing act this time?"

"Do you know how many times Chlo called you? Out of service, every single time."

"Are you only happy when everyone's out looking for you?"

I answered flatly:

"My leg is broken."

He let out a long sigh on the other end:

"Okay, enough. You already used that excuse."

"You got her so upset that Chlo's period came days early. Now she's got awful cramps, and her birthday is ruined because of you."

So he had heard me call for help earlier.

He just couldn't give me even the concern a stranger would.

I finally ran out of patience:

"Ryan, we broke up. You have no right to talk to me like this anymore."

The line went quiet for a second, and then he exploded.

"Eight years, and you just say it's over? Do you even have a heart?"

The other three joined in, shouting:

"Desperate to get married and still that bad-tempered. Who'd ever marry her?"

"Let her break up. Once nobody wants to marry her, she'll learn her lesson."

I couldn't stand to hear another word and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat.

When I looked back at the road, there was a sharp curve right ahead.

I turned the wheel too late. I stomped on the brake with everything I had, but the front of the car still crashed through the guardrail. The wheels hung over empty air, and only the chassis, caught on the guardrail, kept me from going over the cliff for the moment.

Through the window, I looked down into the bottomless drop, and my breath caught.

Once I'd calmed myself down, I carefully felt around for my phone and called for emergency rescue.

But the dispatcher said:

"Ma'am, please hold on a little longer. The rescue team will be there in an hour."

The car had already started to rock, and I didn't know how much longer the guardrail under the chassis would hold.

In my panic, I realized I was only a fifteen-minute drive from Glenwood Springs.

With no other choice, I tapped the group chat invite link Ryan had sent me.

The chat was lively.

Chloe had posted a sticker of someone writhing in pain:

[I'm dying here. Which pads actually help?? This is all Sadie's fault. Why does she have to throw a fit right now?]

Ryan posted a pair of heated overnight period underwear:

[I think Sades uses these every time she has cramps. The packaging looks about right.]

Jake replied within a second:

[I'll go get them. I'll beat any delivery, guaranteed.]

Hayden jumped in too:

[Get a few extra packs, and grab some heat packs while you're at it.]

With shaking hands, I sent my location.

Then I took a photo of where I was and sent that too.

The next second, a notification from the admin popped up:

[You have been muted by the group owner for 24 hours for violating the group chat rules.]

The group owner was Ryan.

I gripped the phone so hard that the screen cracked and the shards dug into my palm.

Crash.

The guardrail gave way. The car lurched sideways and finally went over.

Wind roared in my ears, and I closed my eyes.

By the time Ryan saw the news, it was already the next morning.

[A car has gone off a cliff on a road in the San Juan Mountains. Rescue efforts are underway.]

He stared at his phone screen for a long time. Suddenly he remembered that the moment he hung up on Sadie last night, he thought he'd heard her scream.

Could something have happened to her?

After that, Sadie seemed to have joined the group through the link he shared.

But everyone had been busy taking care of Chloe at the time, and he was afraid Sadie would butt in, so he'd muted her.

A sense of dread settled over Ryan.

He hurried to unmute Sadie.

In the message thread sat a location pin, a photo taken from where Sadie hung just barely over the edge of the cliff, and one message begging for help:

[Help!]

The time and the place matched the news exactly.

His phone slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a smack.

The color drained from Ryan's face, little by little.