"Leo! He’s not breathing!"

The scream tore through the morning silence like a jagged knife.

I jolted awake, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I ran toward the dining room.

Alicia was on the floor, clutching Leo. His face was turning a terrifying shade of red. He was gasping, his small hands clawing at his throat.

"What happened?" I cried, dropping to my knees beside them.

"He ate a cookie!" Alicia shrieked, her eyes wild. "He’s allergic to peanuts! You know he’s allergic!"

She pointed a trembling finger at the plate on the table. Peanut butter cookies.

"I didn't give him that," I stammered, panic rising in my throat. "I didn't bake anything today! I just woke up!"

"Liar!" Alicia screamed. "You put them there! You tried to poison him because you hate him!"

Anthony rushed into the room, his face pale. He saw Leo gasping and immediately grabbed the EpiPen from the counter, jamming it into the boy's thigh.

Leo let out a wail, air rushing back into his lungs.

Anthony turned to me. His eyes were not human. They were the eyes of a wolf looking at a wounded rabbit. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to the basement door.

"No," I begged, digging my heels into the floor. "Anthony, please! Not the basement! You know I can't—please, it's too small!"

I was claustrophobic. He knew that. He knew that ever since I was a child, tight, dark spaces made me feel like I was dying.

"You should have thought of that before you tried to kill Leo," he spat.

He shoved me down the stairs.

I tumbled into the darkness. The heavy oak door slammed shut.

Click.

The lock turned.

"Anthony!" I screamed, pounding on the wood. "Anthony, please! I can't breathe in here! Open the door!"

Silence.

I was alone in the dark. The air was stale, smelling of mold and old fear. I curled into a ball at the bottom of the stairs, rocking back and forth. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to imagine I was in a field, under the sky.

But all I could see were walls. Closing in. Crushing me.

When the door finally opened, the light blinded me.

"Get up," Anthony’s voice drifted down. "Dinner needs to be cooked."

I crawled up the stairs, my limbs stiff, my throat raw from screaming. I blinked against the harsh hallway lights.

"I... I need to change," I rasped. "I need to wash my face."

"Make it quick," he said, turning his back on me.

I stumbled toward my room. I froze.

The room was empty. My clothes were gone. The photos of Alexus I had hidden under the mattress were gone. The blanket that smelled like him—gone.

I ran to the window.

Outside, in the center of the manicured lawn, a fire was burning. A metal barrel was spewing black smoke into the gray sky.

I sprinted through the house, out the back door, and across the grass.

I reached the barrel.

The heat seared my face. Inside, the flames were devouring fabric. Blue fabric. Dinosaur patterns.

"No," I whimpered.

I reached in, trying to grab a burning piece of cloth, but the heat forced me back.

It was Alexus’s blanket. His clothes. The few toys I had managed to save.

I fell to my knees, watching the last physical pieces of my son disappear.

"Why?" I sobbed into the grass. "Why are you doing this?"

I stayed there until the fire died down to embers. Until there was nothing left but gray dust.

Numbly, I walked back into the house.

I walked down the hallway, my eyes fixed on the floor.

Then I heard a sound.

Shake. Shake. Shake.

I looked up.

Leo was sitting in the middle of the hallway. He was holding something heavy. Something marble.

My breath hitched.

The urn.

Alexus’s urn.

Leo was holding it upside down. He was shaking it violently.

"Rocket ship!" Leo giggled, banging the urn against the floor. "Empty rocket ship!"

I felt my soul leave my body.

"Stop!" I shrieked.

I lunged forward, snatching the urn from his hands. I clutched it to my chest, falling to my knees.

I frantically pulled the lid off.

I looked inside.

Empty.

Clean.

There was nothing. No ash. No bone fragments. No Alexus.

"Where is he?" I whispered, my voice trembling so hard it hurt. I looked at Leo. "Where is he?!"

Leo looked scared. He pointed toward the trash chute at the end of the hall.

"It was just dirt," he whimpered. "I dumped the dirt so the rocket could fly."

I screamed.

"What is going on here?"

Alicia stepped out of her room, looking annoyed. She saw me clutching the empty urn. She saw Leo crying.

"Oh," she said, her voice dripping with fake boredom. "He must have thrown it away. Honestly, Amber, you shouldn't leave such morbid things lying around where children can find them."

"You..." I choked out. "You let him..."

I stood up. The empty urn fell from my hands and shattered on the floor.

I didn't care. He wasn't in there anymore. He was gone. Truly gone.

Anthony looked up from his desk, startled.

"Divorce me!" I screamed. "Divorce me now! Let me go!"

I slammed my hands on his desk. I was sobbing, my tears dripping onto his expensive paperwork.

"Just let me go, Anthony! Please! I can't do this anymore!"

Anthony looked at me. He didn't look angry. He didn't look sad.

He laughed. A cold, dry chuckle that sent shivers down my spine.

"Let you go?" he asked, leaning back in his leather chair. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you hate me!" I cried. "Because you have Alicia! Because you have your son!"

"I don't just want you gone, Amber," he said softly. "I want you miserable. I want you to suffer every single day for the rest of your life."

"Why?" I whispered. "I loved you. I gave you everything. You’re hurting me for no reason! You don't love me anymore, fine—but why this cruelty?"

Anthony stood up. His face hardened into stone.

"I'm returning the favor," he said.

"What?"

"You think you're the victim?" He walked around the desk, stopping inches from my face. "You’re the one who cheated on me first."

My mouth fell open. "I... I never..."

"Don't lie to me!" he roared, slamming his fist against the wall. "Alicia told me everything, and the DNA proved that Alexus is not my son!”

I stormed past the reception desk, my heels clicking sharply on the linoleum.

I found the lab director’s office. I burst in.

He looked up, startled, adjusting his glasses. "Mrs. Smith? Do you have an appointment?"

"Who paid for it?" I demanded, slamming the crumpled DNA test onto his desk.

"Excuse me?"

"The test!" I shouted, my voice cracking. "The one that says Alexus wasn't Anthony's son! Who paid for it? Who ordered it?"

Dr. Thorne sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Patient confidentiality—"

"I am the mother!" I screamed. "And my son is dead! And my husband thinks he wasn't the father because of this piece of paper! Tell me the truth!"

I reached into my purse. My hands were shaking. I pulled out a small velvet box. Inside was a diamond necklace—my grandmother’s heirloom. The only thing of value I had left that Anthony hadn't taken.

"Here," I said, shoving the box across the desk. "Take it. Sell it. It's worth more than your salary for a year. Just tell me who paid you to lie."

Dr. Thorne looked at the necklace. Greed flickered in his eyes for a moment, then guilt. He looked at me, at the desperation etched into my face.

He sighed again, heavier this time. He opened a drawer and pulled out a file.

He slid a receipt across the desk.

PAYER: ALICIA GREY.

SERVICE: EXPEDITED PATERNITY TEST (MODIFIED).

My breath hitched.

"Alicia?" I whispered.

"She came in months ago," Dr. Thorne said, not meeting my eyes. "She said it was a surprise for Mr. Smith. She wanted the results to show... certain discrepancies. She paid double for the modification."

He pulled out another paper. The real results showed that Anthony is indeed the father. Of course, I only have Anthony in my life, and my best friend ruined it.

Alicia had lied. She had falsified a medical document to make Anthony hate his own child. To make him believe that saving Leo with Alexus’s organ was justice, not murder.

I grabbed the real results and ran. I drove home in a daze. The world outside was gray and blurry.

When I arrived at the mansion, the house was quiet. Anthony’s car was in the driveway.

I walked into his study. He wasn't there. I went to his desk. My hands were trembling so hard I could barely hold the paper.

I placed the real DNA test right in the center of his blotter. Where he couldn't miss it.

Then I went upstairs.

I pulled a suitcase from the closet. I started throwing clothes into it. Anything. Everything. I just needed to leave. I couldn't breathe in this house anymore. I couldn't look at Anthony without seeing the monster he had become.

"What are you doing?"

Anthony’s voice boomed from the doorway.

"I'm leaving," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "I can't do this anymore, Anthony. Read the paper on your desk. Then you'll understand."

"I don't need to read anything!" he roared.

He crossed the room in two strides and grabbed the suitcase. He hurled it across the room. It hit the wall with a sickening thud, spilling clothes everywhere.

"Didn't I say?" he hissed, grabbing my shoulders. "You will not leave me! You belong to me!"

"Let me go!" I screamed, struggling against his grip. "You don't want me! You hate me!"

"I don't hate you," he said, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. "I need you to suffer. I need you here to remind me why I did what I did."

"You're insane!"

"Maybe," he laughed. "But you're coming with me."

He dragged me out of the room. Down the stairs. Into the kitchen.

He forced me into a chair.

"Drink this," he ordered, shoving a glass of water and two white pills into my hand.

"What is it?" I asked, shrinking back.

"Medicine," he said. "To help you relax. To help you..."

"No," I said, pushing his hand away.

He grabbed my jaw, forcing my mouth open. He shoved the pills down my throat and poured the water in until I choked and swallowed.

"There," he said, stroking my hair. "Good girl. Now we can be happy."

My vision started to blur. My limbs felt heavy.

"We're going on a trip," he murmured. "Just you and me. And Alicia and Leo. A family vacation."

I slumped forward onto the table.

Through the haze, I heard him talking on the phone.

"Yes, Doctor. She took the pills. Do whatever you have to do to make her forget. Electroshock, therapy, I don't care. She can't leave me. She has to stay here and suffer for what she did."

The next morning was a blur of bright sunlight and nausea.

I woke up in a cabin. The floor was swaying.

We were on a yacht.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Alicia chirped. She was wearing a bikini, looking fresh and vibrant. Leo was playing with a toy boat on the deck.

Anthony was at the helm, steering the boat through the sparkling blue water.

I stumbled out onto the deck. My head was pounding. The pills were still in my system, making everything feel unreal.

"We're going to an island. Just for the day. To celebrate,” Anthony said.

"Celebrate what?" I asked, leaning against the railing for support.

"Our new life," Alicia said, handing me a glass of juice. "We’ll be a happy family.”

I looked at the water. It was deep and dark blue.

The day passed in a surreal nightmare. Anthony and Alicia laughed and drank champagne. They acted like I wasn't there, like I was a ghost haunting their perfect vacation.

But Anthony made sure to torment me.

"Remember this song?" he asked, turning up the radio. It was our wedding song. "Oh, wait. You probably don't. You were too busy cheating on me to remember our wedding."

He laughed. Alicia giggled.

I sat in the corner, staring at the horizon. I felt sick.

Then the sky turned dark.

It happened so fast. One minute, the sun was shining. The next, black clouds rolled in, swallowing the light. The wind picked up, whipping the waves into a frenzy.

"Anthony!" Alicia screamed. "The storm! You said it would be clear!"

"The forecast changed!" Anthony shouted, wrestling with the wheel. "Get below deck!"

The yacht lurched violently. A massive wave crashed over the bow, soaking us instantly.

"Amber!" Anthony yelled. "Help Alicia with Leo!"

I didn't move. I couldn't. I was frozen in terror.

Another wave hit. The boat groaned, metal twisting.

"We're taking on water!" Anthony screamed.

The yacht tilted. I slid across the deck, slamming into the railing.

"Help!" I cried. "I can't swim!"

The boat was sinking. Fast.

Anthony grabbed Alicia and Leo. He threw them toward a life raft that had automatically inflated.

"Get in!" he roared.

They scrambled in.

The yacht groaned again and began to slip under the waves.

I was in the water. It was freezing. Saltwater filled my mouth, my nose. I thrashed, panic seizing my chest.

"Anthony!" I screamed, my head bobbing above the surface. "Help me!"

I saw the raft. It was bobbing in the rough water a few yards away. Anthony was pulling Alicia in.

"There's no room!" he shouted over the roar of the wind. "Only three can fit! It's the weight limit!"

"Please!" I begged, reaching out a hand. "Don't leave me here! I'll die!"

"Just wait!" Anthony yelled. "Wait for the other rescuers! They'll see you!"

He started paddling the raft away from the sinking yacht. Away from me.

I watched them go.

My strength was fading. The cold was seeping into my bones, numbing my limbs.

I grabbed onto a piece of floating debris—a cushion from the deck chairs. I clung to it, gasping for air.

The waves crashed over me, pulling me down. Darkness swallowed the sky.

I closed my eyes.

So this is it?

This is how he leaves me?

This is how he truly kills me without touching me?