Chapter 3

Skye's POV

I dug a grave in the hills behind campus.

No shovel. Just my bare hands. The dirt mixed with sharp rocks tore off all my fingernails, blood and black mud coating my hands.

But I was numb.

I placed Buddy in the hole, wrapped him in my jacket, then filled it handful by handful. Dawn was breaking, and the storm had stopped. I stood up and looked at myself—covered in mud, clothes torn, like a ghost crawled out of a grave.

I didn't go back to my dorm. Locke's men were waiting there.

I didn't go to the police either. Then Locke would hand over the hit-and-run footage to the cops.

In the end, I was still protecting him. What a fucking joke I was.

I dragged my heavy feet toward the West Side fraternity house.

The party was over, the lawn littered with empty bottles and trash. I stood outside the iron gate, staring at that familiar second-floor balcony.

I just wanted to see him one last time.

The front door opened.

Sarah walked out wearing Liam's oversized shirt. She froze when she saw me, then twisted her face in exaggerated disgust.

"Jesus, where did this crazy homeless chick come from?" She looked me up and down through the gate. "Skye, you look absolutely DISGUSTING."

"Where's Liam?" My voice was hoarse.

"He's still sleeping. Who the hell do you think you are?" Sarah sneered and yelled toward the house. "Liam! Your pathetic ex is back!"

Liam appeared in his pajamas, frowning when he saw me. "What's wrong with you? Why are you here?"

I opened my mouth, wanting to tell him Buddy was dead, wanting to tell him everything I'd endured these past six months. But the words that came out were: "Do you remember back at the orphanage? You promised you'd always protect me."

Liam's face darkened instantly. "You trying to guilt me into lending you money AGAIN? Skye, I can't stand you."

Suddenly, Sarah screamed: "AH! My FACE!"

I looked over confused—there was a shallow scratch on her cheek from getting too close to the wire fence.

But what Liam saw was me reaching toward the gate as Sarah covered her face and backed away.

"You just tried to HURT Sarah?!"

He exploded, shoving the gate open and kicking me square in the chest. I went down hard in the mud, my head slamming against the stone steps.

"I didn't—"

"SHUT UP! You're fucking insane!" He towered over me, eyes full of disgust.

I lay there in the dirt, blood trickling from the back of my head. Looking at his furious face, any hope I had left just died.

Six months ago, it was a rainy night just like this.

Liam had run to me covered in blood, collapsed in my dorm room shaking: "Skye, I'm screwed... I hit someone, the cameras got my license plate..."

The middle-aged man on the bicycle died instantly. Seeing him like that destroyed me.

"I'll handle it." I held him tight.

A hundred thousand dollars. He gave me a hundred thousand to make the surveillance footage disappear.

I found Locke. He erased the cameras but kept a copy—threatening me: "From now on, you pay me three grand interest every month. Or I turn this footage over to the cops."

So I started making up reasons to borrow money from Liam. Tuition, rent, living expenses... Every lie was killing me inside.

For six months, I borrowed from him dozens of times, getting misunderstood and mocked each time. He thought I'd turned into some greedy gold-digger, never knowing what burden I carried.

The victim's wife clung to my legs crying: "Please tell me the truth! How did my husband really die!"

I gritted my teeth and lied, enduring curses and tears. Using my meager savings to compensate them, visiting that fatherless little girl every month.

I went through hell alone, all to protect someone who no longer loved me.

"Liam..." I reached out with trembling hands. "That night six months ago—"

"You trying to BLACKMAIL me with that shit again?" He laughed coldly. "Skye, you're hopeless."

I stared at his stranger's face and whispered: "You'll never understand what I sacrificed to protect you."

"Quit playing the victim! Security! Get her OUT of here!"

Sarah added fuel to the fire: "She just tried to KILL me! Psychos like her should be locked up in a mental hospital!"

I looked at them both and suddenly laughed.

Loud, piercing laughter like a true madwoman. Sarah stumbled backward, called me a "nutjob" and ran inside.

Liam frowned at me. "What's so funny?"

I wiped blood from the corner of my mouth. "I'm laughing at how STUPID I've been. Fifteen years, and I wasn't worth five fucking grand to you."

I turned and walked toward the depths of campus.

There was a forbidden area surrounded by barbed wire—Black Lake.

They said it was bottomless, nothing but silt and weeds below.

I climbed over the fence and walked to the water's edge. The lake was like a black mirror, reflecting my pale face.

I stepped forward, the icy water rising over my ankles.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me.