Page 61 of Dark Truths

He must see the threat in my eyes, the raw pain, and anguish I feel feeding the anger because he lets me go. I take a step back as he takes a step forward, his hand still outstretched at me.

“Gabriella, I—”

I know what he’s about to say, and I can’t stand to hear those three words. Not from him and not as a lie to keep me with him.

Spinning around, I run out of the room and rush down the hall like I’m being chased by a predator. Which…in a way, I am. I don’t need to glance over my shoulder to know he’s following me. I can hear his steps echoing behind mine as I hurry down the stairs. Pushing past his guards, I dive into the crowd, hoping the bodies will disguise me. It works because I make it to the front door without being caught. Bursting outside, I don’t even stop to apologize when I crash into a group of girls, which causes them to fall.

“Gabriella!”

As I approach, my car beeps, and I jump inside, throwing it into drive before Dimitri can catch up. It’s a miracle I avoid hitting other vehicles or people, for that matter, as I tear out of the parking lot. I have no destination in mind. My only goal is to get as far away as possible.

I’m turning on the freeway when my phone rings. It’s Dimitri. I hit ignore. He calls again, and I hit ignore again. On his fifth call, I finally answer.

“Leave me alone, Dimitri.”

“Gabriella, if you’ll just let me explain. I’m—”

“Go to hell, Dimitri. You fucking lied to me! You’ve been stringing me along for months. Making me think we could have a future together when all along you’ve been fucking engaged!”

I can feel my heart pounding in my chest as I struggle to catch my breath, my voice cracking with each forceful shout. With tears streaming down my face, my vision becomes hazy, and I frantically rub at my eyes to clear them.

“You’re upset—”

“Of course I’m upset, Dimitri!”

“And it’s not safe to be driving right now. Pull over and tell me where—”

Growling under my breath, I jam my finger on the end call button, annoyance spiking at his audacity to order me around right now. Not even three seconds later, he’s calling again and this time I let it go to voicemail.

When a notification pops up that he left a voicemail, I consider deleting it without even listening to it. But my stupid, bleeding heart is a dumb, hopeless romantic that takes control of my hand and hits the play button.

“Gabriella, please, I am begging you. Please let me explain what you heard because it’s not what you think, I promise. Tell me where you are. Please, angel, I’ll tell you everything. I swear I will. Just let me come to you, angel. I lo—”

The sound of a horn cuts off Dimitri’s voice and a light fills the passenger side of my car, blinding me. I feel a sharp, jarring impact before the world spins in a dizzying blur of flashing lights and chaos. And then I’m airborne and the sound of metal crumpling and glass shattering blends with my terrified screams. My head slams into the side of the door. Searing pain explodes from the hit. Black overtakes my vision, and I know nothing more.

Part 3

The End

24

Dimitri

When I was ten years old, my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer.She had the tumor removed when I was eleven and spent the next year undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. When a year passed without a relapse, her doctors declared her in remission. I was thirteen at the time.

Mom was a single mother thanks to her sperm donor skipping out before I was even born. And even though I grew up without a father, I never felt like I was missing out on something important. Mom did what she could and the fathers of my friends stepped in to teach me the things she couldn't. Everything else, I learned from the extensive time I spent in the library.

The cancer returned with a vengeance when I was seventeen. Mom fought hard, but in the end, the disease claimed her just weeks before my high school graduation. On the day they lowered her into the ground, I went to the local Marine Corps office and enlisted. Less than a month after graduation, I foundmyself on a bus to boot camp, eager to leave behind a life filled with painful memories.

Being here now in a hospital so similar to the one I held my mother’s hand in when she took her final breaths, stirs up unpleasant memories, leaving me feeling on edge and unsure of my next steps.

I’m trying hard to focus on the positives instead.Gabriella doesn’t have cancer.She’s not walking the line between life and death, but she could have. She has a sprained wrist and several bruises and cuts from the glass shards but no concussion and is otherwise okay, all things considered, given the damage to her Mercedes.

According to the police report I downloaded after hacking into their system, a truck ran a red light as Gabriella was merging onto the freeway and slammed into her passenger side. The angle of the impact forced her vehicle into the guardrail before it tipped over and rolled down into a ditch, ending up on its hood.

It was a complete accident from the officer’s reports, but I’m still going to look into it because my faith in Miami’s police is paper thin. Knowing what I do, half are corrupt, and the other half are too ignorant or too righteous to know any different.

Pedestrians returning home from New Year parties stopped to help get Gabriella free from her wrecked vehicle and stayed with her until the paramedics arrived. The driver of the truck suffered a concussion, and a broken leg from the collision, but he was taken to another hospital…lucky for him. I don’t know if I’d be able to control myself around him. He’s responsible for hurting my angel, accident or not, it doesn’t matter to me.

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