Page 251 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
Uncertainty whipped through her, and her conscience screamed.
She had to report this. Do what was right.
He’ll kill everyone you love.
Alarm blared inside her. A feeling that she might already be too late.
No.
She shoved the car back into drive and rammed on the gas.
She had to get help. Warn her family. Tell them what happened.
Her dad would know what to do. He always knew what to do.
The deepest, most gut-wrenching type of regret burned through her insides as she raced back toward her childhood home.
Afflicted by what she’d been a part of.
Infected by the memory of ever allowing Justin to touch her.
Sickened that she hadn’t listened when her Nelly had been trying to warn her that she was being taken down a path that she didn’t want to travel.
She had been so blind.
So foolish.
So stupid.
And now, that poor, kind man was dead because of it.
Tears blurred her eyes, and she frantically wiped them away so she could see.
She just had to get home.
Her father’s car skidded as she took a sharp left as she flew into their neighborhood.
She whipped around another turn then came to a screeching stop in front of the house.
Her heart ravaged her chest as she jumped out and ran for the front door.
She threw it open, her father’s name a shout at the tip of her tongue, though it shriveled into a whimper when she stumbled through the door.
Blood.
It was everywhere.
Her mother was face down in a pool of it in the sitting room to her left.
Piper’s knees buckled, and her hand shot for the wall to keep herself from falling.
No.
“No, no, no, no.”
Bile rushed her throat, and she stumbled deeper into the house.
Grief a knot that closed off her throat, her hands clinging to the walls as she went to keep her standing.
