Chapter 2
Just before that small silhouette disappeared, I burned it into my memory.
Hoping that in another life, I could find her again.
The alley was dark, empty.
The knife plunged into my neck without hesitation.
The man laughed wildly in my ear.
"You didn't really think that playing nice would save your life, did you?
"My brother begged in court, swore he'd never hit his wife again, but you showed him no mercy!"
Blood gushed out.
Only a sharp, piercing ringing remained in my ears.
My vision spun, bathed in crimson.
Suddenly, my phone rang in my coat pocket, a final lifeline in my darkest moment.
With fading consciousness, I fumbled for it.
William's name flashed across the screen before the man snatched it away.
His face twisted with rage, and he looked ready to reject the call.
Then, for some reason, a perverse grin spread across his face as he pressed the answer button.
He enjoyed my dying struggle and taunted me on the phone.
"She's about to die by my hand. Still hoping to beg for help?"
Blood soaked my clothes. The stench of iron filled the air.
Survival instinct forced my broken plea.
"Will... please..."
On the other end, William cut me off with utter revulsion.
His voice, seething with rage, jolted me back to reality.
"Disgusting. Don't call me that!
"Charlotte, save the pitiful act. I won't delay the divorce a single day!"
In my daze, I finally managed to realize.
It had been years since I'd called him "Will."
Years since we'd spoken a single kind word.
Just as it was now, he and I lived apart in two different cities.
Even if he wanted to save me now, he couldn't.
And besides...
He wouldn't want to.
I tried to speak, to beg him to care for Mia.
But I couldn't even muster the strength to say a word.
Only blood, pouring out, stealing my warmth.
Even the killer let out a surprised laugh.
"So, you're her husband? She's dying. Don't you want to save her?"
In my fading consciousness, all I could hear was William's icy sneer.
"Then by all means, don't hold back."
How cruel.
Though we were no longer close, we'd been married for seven years.
The killer, provoked by William's indifference, drove the knife into my heart.
Agony ripped through me. My whimpers faded to silence.
He must have heard it through the phone.
The man, exhilarated by my suffering, hissed into the phone.
"Did you hear that?
"She can barely even whimper for help now!
"How about this? If you're willing to come over and talk to me...
"Maybe I'll let her live... for now?"
Given his deranged state, he wasn't bluffing.
If William agreed, the killer would wait.
So William could watch how brutally I died.
I needed William to say yes.
A delay might buy time for Mia to return with the police.
A sliver of hope.
I wasn't ready to die.
I still have my daughter... and my dad.
If given a choice, no one would truly want to die.
Agony consumed me, leaving me utterly voiceless.
In my fading consciousness, all I could hear was William's mocking sneer.
"If you're really going to kill her, why all the goddamn chatter?"
Then, with utter impatience, the line went dead as he hung up.
Seething with rage, the killer redialed, but William wouldn't pick up.
Enraged beyond control, the man in front of me stabbed the knife again and again into my neck and chest.
He roared in a fit of irrational rage, "You think I dare not? You think I dare not?"
I felt my body tear apart.
The overwhelming stench of blood engulfed me like a raging flood.
The last thing I seemed to hear was Mia's voice, trembling with fear yet pleading.
"Mommy, I brought the police! I am here!"
I forced my eyes open, but Mia wasn't there.
Everything went dark, and it felt like I was falling.