Chapter 1

While I was trapped in the wreckage, my husband ran right past me and held my sister first.

"Ethan."

I called his name once.

He heard me.

I knew he did.

Our eyes met through the shattered window.

For one second, relief washed through me.

I thought he was coming to me.

Then Chloe cried out from the roadside.

"Ethan!"

He turned.

And ran to her.

He did not stop.

He did not ask if I could move.

He did not even touch the crushed door trapping me inside.

My left leg was pinned beneath twisted metal.

Every breath sent sharp pain through my ribs.

Chloe had already climbed out through the passenger side.

There was blood on her forehead, and her hands were shaking.

But she was standing.

Both feet were firmly on the ground.

I could not even tell if I could still feel my left leg.

Chloe threw herself into Ethan's arms.

"I thought I was going to die..."

"You're okay."

He held her against him, one hand protecting the back of her head.

"I'm here."

He took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders before checking the cut on her forehead.

Ten minutes earlier, we had left my parents' fortieth anniversary dinner.

A thin layer of ice covered the mountain road.

I remembered the car losing control.

The guardrail rushing toward us.

The airbag exploding.

Then the car rolling off the road.

When I opened my eyes again, the windshield was shattered.

The first thing I did was check Chloe.

She was conscious.

I freed her jammed seat belt and helped her climb out through the passenger side.

Only then did I realize my own leg would not move.

Brakes sounded behind us soon after.

Ethan and my parents had been traveling in the car behind us.

It had never occurred to me that Ethan would go anywhere except to me.

We had been married twelve years.

Twelve years was long enough to believe some things never needed to be asked.

But now he was crouched in front of Chloe.

He did not seem to consider looking back.

My mother got out of the other car.

The first person she saw was Chloe crying beside the road.

"Oh my God, sweetheart!"

She ran to her.

My father followed.

They gathered around Chloe too.

I tried to call out again.

The pain in my chest stole my voice.

The first person who came to me was a stranger.

He had stopped after seeing the wreck.

"Don't move."

He crouched beside my door.

"Your leg is trapped."

Then he looked back and shouted.

"There's still someone inside! She can't get out!"

My mother finally turned.

So did my father.

But by then, I no longer wanted to see their faces.

Rescue crews arrived and started cutting through the door.

Someone fitted an oxygen mask over my face.

A firefighter held my shoulder.

"Where does it hurt most?"

"My stomach."

His expression changed.

"Her pressure's dropping."

Everything happened quickly after that.

A neck brace.

A stretcher.

Oxygen.

My pant leg being cut open.

Someone repeatedly telling me to stay awake.

By the time they freed me, I barely had any strength left.

They lifted me out.

I saw Ethan again.

Chloe had stopped crying.

She sat beside the road wearing his coat.

Ethan crouched in front of her, one hand around her wrist while the other wiped blood from her face.

My mother stood nearby.

My father was speaking to a paramedic.

My stretcher passed directly in front of them.

Ethan looked up once.

Only once.

Then he lowered his head again.

"Still dizzy?"

The paramedics pushed me into the ambulance.

A woman checked my name, then glanced outside.

"Is that your husband?"

"Yes."

"Is he riding with you?"

I followed her gaze.

Ethan was still beside Chloe.

I looked away.

"No."