‘Even if by some miracle it goes well, you’re definitely getting another warning from the boss, and you already have too many on your record.’ Her fingers clamp around his forearm. ‘That’s some damn thin ice you’re walking out onto there, Jaden.’
Without responding to her words, he shakes off Alex’s hand. ‘I can get to the car, that’s not a problem.’
Not a problem?
Has he lost his mind?
My heart skips a beat as he passes Alex and keeps racing on. Then he’s at the cliff, right where it’s most dangerous, and there is nothing but determination in his expression.
Chapter Sixteen
JADEN
‘Stop it, Jaden, that’s too dangerous!’ I hear Nyla shout from far away. Fear dominates her tone.
Behind me, the passenger is crying. This young woman with the long dark hair, the big blue eyes, and the skinny body.
Can you take a few photos of me? I want to apply for Canada’s Next Top Model.
Camee’s voice suddenly wavers through my head.
My chest tightens painfully. I focus on the car that I spot wedged deep down between two rocks.
As I move into position to climb down, someone pulls me back. Nyla. She’s holding a fall arrest kit in her hand, a firefighter standing beside her.
‘Put this on. Now.’ Her expression is relentless. She kneels down in front of me and spreads the leg loops out on the ground.
‘I don’t nee…’
‘No arguments,’ she snaps at me. ‘You’re only wasting time.’
And that’s the only reason I step into the loops without a word. She pulls the safety harness up. It takes only seconds for her to fasten the waist belt while I slip my arms through theshoulder straps. At the same time, the firefighter clips in the carabiner for the safety line.
Nyla gives me a nod. ‘Take care of yourself.’
‘Don’t worry,’ I reply, and start inching my way toward the edge, centimeter by centimeter.
Once again, adrenaline surges through me, but it’s not enough to drown out the memory.
The house, Jaden. My mom’s words from earlier on the phone echo inside me.
My God, why can’t she just shut up?
You finally have to take care of it.
My hands clamped tightly around a rock, I let my legs move faster downward.
The rocky ledge I step on breaks away immediately, but that doesn’t stop me from climbing on. Down there someone needs my help, and nothing is more important right now than that.
Sell it, otherwise this will never end.
No! I don’t want to think about this house, or about what’s supposed to happen to it. Because the truth is, I can neither repair it nor sell it. Shit, I can’t even look at it!
Hurriedly, I keep climbing down, slip, catch myself again. Adrenaline floods me as the small branch I’m leaning on starts to sway. It tears away what I don’t need—the past, the future, the pain, the guilt—and leaves behind only this one moment, in which nothing matters except the woman who has to be saved.
‘Jaden, be careful!’ Nyla yells in terror.
I block out everything around me. The unstable ground, the blue lights, the noise of the fire truck crane, the shouts of the police officers, the sea crashing against the cliffs below me.
