Page 1 of Betrayed in the Dark
Prologue
Madeleine
The letter slips between my fingers, descending to the snow-covered dock as my heart splinters down the middle into two jagged beating pieces.
Tears fill my eyes, my vision blurring as I stare across the frozen lake, snow falling heavily around me, dusting my hair. The tips of my fingers transition into a light shade of blue, but I don’t feel the bitter cold that tries desperately to sweep over me.
Not when I’m numb.
Lost inside my head.
The only thing I focus on is the four words I just read aloud. Four words that are sure to haunt my dreams and plague my remaining days on this Earth. They repeat themselves over and over again, cruelly suffocating me by binding my lungs in an iron grip.
With a trembling hand, I rub my palm over my sternum, the tenderness in my chest intensifying. I haven’t experienced pain like this in years—a pain so strong it feels like I’m on the cusp of dying.
Tears glide down my cheeks, one after another, while my throat tightens and burns, fighting the inevitable sob that wants to escape like a caged animal seeking freedom.
A strong tremor crashes throughout me, sending my knees to the icy layer beneath me. Wind whips past me, and before it can steal from me, my hand shoots out, seizing the letter between my fingers and bringing it before my eyes.
I read it again.
And again.
And again.
The four words engrave themselves onto my fragmented heart, the pain becoming too much to bear.
Before I can stop it, a blood-curdling scream rips from my throat, echoing across the ominous night. I clutch the letter to my chest, hunched over as sob after sob wracks my body.
“Why?” The word forces its way between my lips, thunderous amidst the giant oak trees that sway fiercely back and forth.
There’s no response.
No other sound except for the relentless howl of the winds.
How could he do this to me?
After everything we’ve shared. After the years, the memories, the letters…
I shake my head, my mind unable to understand.
Unable to accept that this is my reality.
Because he wouldn’t do this to me.
But when I hold out the letter again, feeling the thin piece of paper between my fingers, I know it’s as real as a goddamn nightmare.
The urge to shred it overcomes me.
I try to hold it steady between both wavering hands, prepared to tear it right down the middle—to do to it what it did to my heart. Yet, as the seconds tick by and the snowfall slows, I can’t bring myself to destroy it.
One last agonizing scream echoes across the lands, and all the hurt residing inside me releases into the darkness.
I fold the letter, tucking it inside my coat pocket.
Eventually, I stand, wiping every single tear from my face as I retreat into the safety of my home, ensuring no one ever finds out about this moment of weakness.
A moment where I let love blind me.
