Chapter 1

Lucas took me camping, then suddenly disappeared.

I have severe night blindness, but I still took a flashlight and went into the mountains alone. I searched for three hours.

I struggled the whole way, until I missed my footing and tumbled into a ditch.

As I called for rescue in tears,

several harsh flashlight beams suddenly lit up on the slope above me.

"Three hours and she's already crying? Lucas, you lose!"

Lucas Sinclair sighed, jumped down, and pulled me into his arms.

"Good girl, why are you crying again? I was right behind you the whole time, protecting you."

Two years ago, Vanessa Wells shone a high-powered lamp into my eyes and permanently damaged my retinas.

Back then, Lucas forced her to kneel and apologize, and he swore he would never have anything to do with her again.

Later, though, she became a regular in our lives.

In the name of "rehabilitation training," she did every cruel thing imaginable: releasing snakes, swapping my medication, staging a fake kidnapping.

After I was brought back to camp, I heard someone outside the tent ask Lucas,

"You know full well Nessa's the one who ruined your girlfriend's eyes. How can you still help put her through all this?"

He took a drink. His voice was calm.

"Because I've fallen in love with Nessa."

"She's spent these three years away paying for what she did. She's paid enough. I don't want her to suffer even the slightest bit more."

The mountain wind stirred the anniversary pennants on the tent, and they rustled softly.

I closed my eyes. For the first time, I wasn't afraid of the dark in front of me.

...

Lucas ducked into the tent carrying a first-aid kit.

I was propped against my sleeping bag. My right knee had been split open, mud mixed with blood, and the pain was piercing.

My severe night blindness left me almost blind in the dim light. I could only make out his blurry outline.

I thought he had come to take care of my wound.

Just now, when he carried me back from the ditch, he had said he would always protect me.

But he only set the kit by my feet, dug out iodine and gauze, and turned to leave without even looking at my leg.

"Lucas."

He frowned and looked back. "What is it?"

I pointed at my bleeding knee.

"My leg really hurts, and the bright lights hurt my eyes. I can't see anything. Could you help me put the medicine on?"

Lucas sighed, bent down, and pulled me into his arms.

"Nessa got carried away tonight. I already talked to her about it."

He took my hand and brushed a light kiss over it.

"Because of what happened to you, I forced her to go abroad and do hard labor. It messed with her head a little. She doesn't really want to hurt you."

"Good girl, don't hold it against her. From now on I'll always be with you, okay?"

If I hadn't heard those two things he said outside the tent, I probably would have believed him.

I didn't pull my hand away. I just closed my eyes.

Lucas waited a moment. When I didn't say anything more, he finally crouched beside the sleeping bag.

He wiped away the mud with a wet wipe, then dabbed iodine on the wound to clean it.

A sting shot through me, and my leg flinched on reflex.

He held my calf down and gentled his touch.

"Hang in there. It'll be done soon."

He wrapped the wound in gauze and carefully pressed the edges flat before packing up the kit.

Once that was done, he figured both the wound and the woman had been soothed. He lay down beside me and fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning, I packed my backpack and stood by the SUV waiting for him.

Vanessa came limping over, red-eyed, and grabbed his sleeve.

"Luke, my foot hurts so much. I'm scared to ride in anyone else's car. Will you take me back to the city?"

"What happened to your foot?" I asked.

Vanessa hid behind him.

"I twisted it by accident. Lena, please don't be mad. I'll ride in the supply truck."

Lucas immediately caught hold of her.

"Your foot's this swollen. The supply truck's way too bumpy."

He handed me a set of car keys.

"Ride with Porter. He's a steady driver. I'll take Nessa to the hospital."

I didn't take them.

Even in daylight, my eyesight was weaker than most people's, and I wasn't comfortable riding with strangers. Lucas knew that better than anyone, but he still pressed the keys into my hand.

"Be good. Don't throw a tantrum."

He ruffled my hair, then helped Vanessa into the car and drove off.

I rode back to the apartment in Porter's car. By nine that night, Lucas still hadn't come home.

My phone suddenly buzzed. An unknown number had sent a voice message.

"Lena, Luke was in a car accident at the abandoned parking garage on the south side of town! He's bleeding so much, come quick!"

It was Vanessa.

Right after that, she sent a photo of Lucas with his head covered in blood.

My heart clenched. I knew Vanessa had done plenty of awful things, but the blood in that photo looked too real.

"I called a car for you. I sent you the plate number. Get downstairs now."

I grabbed my coat and my white cane and stumbled down the stairs. A black sedan was already waiting outside the building, its plate number exactly the one she had sent.

I opened the door.

"The abandoned parking garage on the south side."

The driver didn't say a word. He stepped on the gas.

The car reeked of cheap tobacco. I gripped my seat belt and tried to make out what was outside the window, but the streetlights were getting fewer and fewer.

This wasn't the way to the main road to the south side.

"Excuse me, are we going the wrong way?"

I tightened my grip on my cane. The driver gave a cold laugh and hit the central lock.

With a click, the doors locked.

"Not the wrong way. Miss Wells gave me instructions. I'm supposed to take you somewhere nice."