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“Where the fuck are they?” I roared.
“T-they turned r-right out of the driveway. I d-don’t…know where they were going.”
My phone was dialling another number before she’d even finished speaking. “Tristan? Change of plans. Are you already on your way? I need you at my parents’ house.”
“I’m driving down your road now. Be there in two minutes.”
The sight of his Subaru BRZ had never been more welcome. When he reached us, I stepped over to his car, speaking in a low voice so that Letitia didn’t overhear. I doubted she would have noticed anyway—she’d sunk down onto the gravel, still crying hysterically, punctured with nonsensical words. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I think Elena’s gone somewhere with my dad in his car and for some reason it’s making her mum freak the fuck out. I need to try and find my dad and Elena, but I need someone to keep an eye on her. I don’t think she’s, uh—”
He raised a brow. “Yeah. I see that. And you thought I’d be the best person to deal with a hysterical woman?”
“Honestly?” I stared at him. “No.Fuckno. But I knew you’d be closest because we’d made plans for this morning, and we’re already wasting time discussing this.”
“You fucking owe me for this,” he groaned. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just don’t let her go anywhere until I come back.”
“I guess I can do that.” His expression softened. “I hope everything’s okay with your dad.”
“Me too. Thanks, mate.” Wasting no more time, I jogged back to my car and peeled away from the house, back down the driveway, and took a right.
As I drove, I tried calling both my dad and Elena again, but there was no answer. For lack of any other options, I pulled up the GPS app that allowed us to share our locations, but as usual, my dad’s was set to private.
I banged my fist on the steering wheel. Fuck. I had no idea what was going on, but alarm bells were ringing very fucking loudly now.
Passing a petrol station, I slowed right down for the upcoming series of sharp bends that marked this part of the road.
The first thing I noticed was the set of skid marks, a thick black slash across the surface of the road.
The second thing I noticed was the crumpled parts of the metal barrier that hugged the corner.
The third thing I noticed was the heap of smoking, twisted black metal lying at the bottom of the slope.
The fourth thing I noticed before my car swept me around the bend was a flash of sudden orange brightness in my mirror.
Flames.
41
ELENA
Iblinked my eyes open. It took me a few seconds to get my bearings, but then it all came rushing back to me. The impact. Hitting the barrier. Rolling and rolling until we came to a stop…wherever we were.
I was upside down, and the blood was rapidly rushing to my head.Fuck. We needed to get out of here. Everything hurt, so much. I attempted to stretch out my arms and legs, wrestling with the airbags as I did so. It didn’t appear that anything was broken, which was a minor miracle, but if I didn’t get the right way up ASAP, I was going to pass out.
From next to me, there was a groan, and I turned my head to see Anthony. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face, and his eyes were tightly shut, his mouth twisted into a grimace of pain.
“Anthony?” I immediately began coughing as soon as I’d opened my mouth and inhaled. Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck. There was smoke billowing out of the engine. We had to get out of here,now.
He groaned again in reply, his eyelids flickering but remaining closed, and instead of wasting any more time, I looked around me, thinking fast. Okay, I needed to get the right way up because, of the two of us, I was clearly in a better state. Stretching out my arm to the ceiling, which was now at the bottom of the car, I placed my hand against the surface, and braced both my arm and my feet, then unclipped my seat belt. Carefully, I twisted my body, lowering it down to a crouch, until I was the right way up. The car creaked ominously, rocking as I moved, and I crawled forwards as carefully as I could, uncaring of the shards of broken glass from the windscreen embedding themselves in my palms. The most important thing was getting free of this death trap.
I put my hand on the handle and pushed.
No.
The door wouldn’t budge, thanks to the way the metal had bent and twisted.
For a moment, I panicked, my breaths coming fast and sharp in my chest, spots dancing in front of my eyes, but then a cough broke through my panic.
