Chapter 3

He's controlling the smart home from his phone.

The living room lights cut out instantly.

The AC. The fridge. Every appliance in the house dies in the same heartbeat. The whole place drops into black.

His voice comes through the speaker, ice cold.

"Stella. Since you don't know how to behave, you can sit in the dark and think about what you did."

"When you're ready to apologize, I'll turn the lights back on."

"Don't sit there waiting for me to feel sorry for you. You brought this on yourself."

I curl up on the floor. I bite my lip until I taste blood. I will not let him hear me scream.

I can feel the blood draining out of me. Actually feel it. Warmth, leaving, replaced by cold.

The pain in my belly is coming in waves now—each one worse than the last.

Some part of me still alive enough to think tells me: stay awake.

I crawl on my hands across the floor toward the bathroom. There are scissors in there. Towels.

If no one's coming for me—and no one is coming—I'm going to have to do this myself.

I'm almost at the bathroom door when the speaker hums back to life. The TV in the living room flickers on with it.

He's hijacked it. A video call, pushed straight onto the screen through the smart home app.

Pale blue light floods the house and washes the color right off my face.

Ruby is on the screen. Tucked into a clean hospital bed. Cheeks pink and healthy.

She's curled into Liam's chest, holding my hospital bag like a stuffed animal.

"Liam, is Nova mad at me?" Her voice is small. Wobbly. Pitiful. "I didn't mean to take her bag. My contractions just started so suddenly."

"Maybe you should go home and check on her. I'll be okay by myself."

Liam kisses her forehead and gently wipes a tear off her cheek with his thumb.

"Don't worry about her. She just can't stand seeing me be nice to anyone but her."

"She smashed our security camera. God only knows what she's smashing in there now."

Then he turns. Looks straight into the lens. His face goes flat and hard.

"Stella. Look at Ruby. Look how good she's being."

"Now look at yourself. Like some screaming, glass-breaking lunatic."

"I'm warning you. If you make one more sound that upsets Ruby—"

"Tomorrow morning I am cutting off your brother's hospital bills. Every cent."

My heart drops through the floor.

Ethan is the only family I have left in this world. He's in the ICU. He's only alive because of those machines—and those machines are alive because of Liam's money.

Every soft thing in this man—every drop of tenderness—he gives to the girl who calls me sis.

Looking at them on that screen, I think I might actually be sick.

"Liam." I force the words out. "You make me sick."

Ruby flinches against his chest like I hit her.

"Liam, Nova sounds so scary—my stomach hurts—"

Liam's face goes black with rage.

"Stella, you want to die in there?! Fine! Stay in there till you do!"

The call cuts off.

Then I hear it. A hollow sucking sound deep in the pipes.

He didn't just cut the power. He shut off the main water valve too. Remotely.

I drag myself to the bathroom sink and twist the faucet.

Two drops. Then nothing.

No power. No water. No phone.

He's buried me alive in my own house.

I slump against the cold tile, gasping. The blood has soaked through my dress. The thick, metallic smell of it fills the tiny bathroom.

The baby has gone quiet inside me.

The wild kicking is gone. There's only the faintest flutter now, like a moth dying in a jar.

"Baby. Don't be scared." My hand splays across my belly. The tears finally come. "Mommy's gonna get you out. Mommy promises."

I bite down hard and dig under the sink with shaking fingers.

Rusty scissors. Cold metal.

I close my fist around them.

This is the last thing in the world that can save me.