Page 158 of Aria

Offering a strained smile, I glanced at Sam, who was sitting on the couch with a sullen expression. “Take care of your brothers, okay, Sammy?”

Sam continued to look straight ahead. “Can I come with you?”

“I’d rather you stay here. I’ll be home soon.”

Sam crossed his arms and leaned back against the sofa cushions. “She left, didn’t she?” he muttered. His voice was wounded. “They always leave.”

My muscles locked, and my next breath lodged in the back of my throat. I blinked slowly, grinding my teeth together, my own harrowing memories sweeping through me. “No, Sam. Beth would never leave you. She loves you.”

“Yeah,” he whispered. “That’s what they all say.”

I watched as my son rose from the couch and stormed over to the staircase, his feet pounding each step with defiance.

“I’ll go get the plates out for their Happy Meals,” Chrissy said, breaking through the sudden bout of tension. “I hope everything is okay, Mr. Hayes.”

A sigh left me, and I nodded my thanks.

Pulling up the address to the Prager estate, I noted it was only a few miles east. I decided I would drive the same route and be on the lookout for any stalled cars or accidents along the way. Beth couldn’t be far.

I drove uncharacteristically slowly, my eyes roaming over both sides of the road. Cars honked and swerved around me as the inconvenienced drivers flipped me off. Every car horn and flashing light put me on edge as I continued to call Beth’s cell phone over and over, until I turned onto Prager Court. The estate loomed in front of me, all six-thousand square feet of it casting its eerie shadows onto the cul-de-sac.

My bones froze with ice when I spotted Beth’s Tesla sitting dormant in the driveway.

Fear bubbled in my gut. Bile burned my chest, then climbed into my throat. I swallowed it down and threw the car in park, kicking open the driver’s side door, leaving my keys in the ignition, and racing toward the front of the estate. “Beth!” I pounded on the door with furious fists, peering through the narrow glass window to the right. It was dark inside. There was no sign of life.

I twisted the doorknob, surprised when the door creaked open. Panic coursed through my veins as I stepped inside. Something was wrong… I couldfeelit.

“Beth?” My voice echoed through the sky-high ceilings and endless rooms. I flipped on a light switch and was greeted by a sleek lion statue staring back at me. “Beth?” I called again.

Silence.

My lungs squeezed as I swallowed giant gulps of air, tasting my own fear on my tongue. I had to force my legs to move because my shoes felt glued the marble tile in the entryway.

I took a hesitant step forward. Then another.

And another.

Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump.

The resounding lub-dubs of my heartbeat were deafening against the excruciating silence of the sprawling home. The walls laughed at me with their gaudy floral wallpaper. The shadows watched as I traipsed from room to room. “Beth…”

Fucking answer me!

When I made my way into the kitchen, my eyes landed on a bloody handprint smeared across the granite island countertop.

“No… fuck…” I glanced up and saw a similar bloodstain wrapped around the doorframe of an adjoining room. My body teetered between shutting down completely and running full speed into the room ahead. I lowered my gaze, discovering a trail of blood staining the hardwood floor. My stomach lurched. I’d never been more terrified in my entire life. “Beth.”

She didn’t answer.

When I finally gave my limbs permission to move, I stumbled forward, slipping on the streaks of blood, my shoes squeaking in protest. I caught my balance as I entered the adjacent room, my hand landing on the bloody palm print.

That’s when I saw her.

Her legs were peeking out from behind a wooden dining table. A chair was tipped over beside her, one of her high-heeled shoes lying crooked near her ankle. Her cell phone had fallen out of her hand, the screen cracked and peppered in blood spatter.

I couldn’t process it. I couldn’t even breathe.

My wife was lying in a pool of blood, her favorite pantsuit torn from knife holes and saturated with bloodstains.

---