Page 57 of Sacrifice

He was silent for a long moment, face etched with a mixture of emotions. “It’s basic self-preservation, Rose. Human nature,” he finally said, turning back to face the wheel. “I love Sebastian, just like I loved my wife. But I love myself too, and I can’t let myself spend the rest of my life in prison. You’d understand if you were in my position, with your back right up against the wall. You’d do anything to escape it.Anything.Anyone who says otherwise is a self-righteous liar.”

I opened my mouth to refute his claim, but I closed it again when I remembered my desperation to escape Sebastian’s underground cell after I found myself trapped down there. At the time, I felt like I would do absolutely anything to escape the cruel confinement. I’d even resorted to attempted murder.

Would I hurt or kill my own loved ones to save myself, though?

No.I drew the line there, and I hoped most other people would too.

“You’re wrong,” I murmured. “It’s not human nature. Killing your own wife and son to avoid prison is despicable. It’s not understandableat all.”

Adam scoffed. “I’m not wrong, Rose. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out here,” he said. As he spoke, he tapped one finger against his chin. “Rose…Rose,” he went on. “Why is your name suddenly ringing a bell?”

“I don’t know. It’s quite a common name.”

He snapped his fingers. “I know! You’re little Rosie from my wife’s notes, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” I said softly. “Augustus Trudeau is my father.”

Adam let out a short bark of laughter. “Wow. What a turn of events. My son ends up involved withhisdaughter,” he said, shaking his head. “Jesus fucking Christ…”

“Tell me something,” I said, squirming against my bonds again. “After you killed Miranda, why did you spend so many years telling anyone who listened that it was my father? Why did you create such problems for our village when youknewwe weren’t responsible?”

He snorted. “Well, at first, I thought my plan to frame Augustus and his little cult buddies would actually work. Then, when my brothers got involved and decided to cover everything up for the sake of our business, I couldn’t exactly go to the police or media and say something like: ‘Oh, I’ve suddenly changed my mind, and I now believe that someone else killed my wife’. It would seem odd. Suspicious.”

“But you could’ve just left us alone.” I narrowed my eyes. “Instead, you stirred up outsider resentment against us for decades.”

Adam glanced at me again. “You’re right. I could’ve kept my mouth shut and let the public hatred die down after a while. But the damage was already done, for the most part, and to be honest… I wanted to hurt your father as much as possible. You know why, I presume.”

“Because of the affair.”

“Yes. If he didn’t want me to ruin his life, then maybe he shouldn’t have stolen my fucking wife.”

“He didn’t steal her. She wasn’t a possession of yours, and she went to him of her own volition.”

He scoffed again. “I guess I see things differently.”

I finally gave up my struggle against the ropes. Adam was right—I wasn’t going anywhere. I was tied too tightly.

“Where are we?” I asked, attempting to lift my head enough to see out of the window opposite me.

“We’re nearly in Pinecrest Falls.”

“Wait… what? Really?”

Adam nodded and looked at the dashboard. “We’ve been driving for five and a half hours now.”

“Why are you taking us there?”

“For two reasons. Firstly, as I said earlier, I really don’t want to kill my own son, so I’m going to get your dad to do me one last favor.”

My blood chilled. “You want my father to kill Sebastian?”

“Yes, and I have a feeling he’ll agree to do it.”

I shook my head. “He won’t.”

“Oh, I think he will. He despises me, and the feeling is mutual, but we’ve been connected for all these years by the old coverup,” he said. “I’m sure he’ll realize the necessity of maintaining that coverup by disposing of Sebastian now that he’s become aware of it all.”

I sucked down a deep breath. “You’re wrong. My father likes Sebastian. He won’t hurt him.”

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