The roads got bad last night with the snow that came through, and I find myself distracted as I scan the ditches and shoulders for her car.

  Shit, what if she got into a wreck?

  I press my foot down on the pedal to speed up, and when I turn off the highway and draw closer to Carly’s house, I’ve almost convinced myself that she must’ve gotten into an accident.

  When I pull into the circular drive, I look at the impressive home before getting out and heading up to the front door.

  I ring the bell and then wait, but when no one answers, I ring again. I pull out my phone and try Emma one more time, but her battery must be dead because it doesn’t even ring, just goes straight to voice mail.

  I walk back down the front porch steps and scan the property. Her car is nowhere to be found, and it doesn’t appear as if anyone is home either. I consider calling Carly’s office to see if she knows where Emma is, but I choose to walk the property instead. I’m not sure why, but something isn’t right.

  There’s a dense fog in the air with no footprints in the fresh snow, aside from my own, as I make my way around to the back of the house. Nothing is disturbed, and everything is quiet and peaceful. Clearly, she isn’t here.

  Looking out at the bay, which has frozen over, I can just make out the form of a large boat that’s along the side of the dock. There’s a dense fog that practically sits on the icy water’s surface. Curiosity pulls me down the property and onto the dock, confused as to why they don’t have it lifted out of the water at a marina during this time of year.

  My foot slides, and as I regain my balance, a large rope that’s tied to a piling catches my eye. I follow the line down the dock and find a large crab cage sticking out of the ice. Grabbing the rope, I tug, but the cage is hung up on something. I yank a couple times, and when it comes loose, I pull it out of the water and notice something caught within the wiring of the trap. I squat down and almost topple over when I see a wad of hair tangled in the hex mesh.

  My gut hallows, and I quickly crawl to the edge of the dock on my knees and look down at the hole where the trap has broken through the ice. The surface is at least three to four feet below the dock, and with the recent snowfall, it’s hard to see anything. I lie down on my stomach and stretch my arm down. It’s too far for me to reach, but it’s close enough for me to see that something is trapped beneath the ice. It’s hard to make out what it is, but when a gust of wind cuts through, it takes enough snow with it that I can make out the form of a hand.

  “Fucking, shit!”

  I pop up to my knees and shuffle back on my hands, my heart pounding like a beast.

  For a split second, I question my sanity, wondering if I just spooked myself out or if there’s really something in the water. Creeping back over to the edge, I peer over, and freak the fuck out when I see it again. Panic fires off inside me when I make out the thin gold ring on the first finger, the same ring that Emma wears on the same goddamn finger.

  Adrenaline detonates deep inside me, and I panic. Pushing myself out farther, I dangle my chest off the dock and reach down as far as I can, but I can’t even get close to her.

  “Fuck!” I grunt helplessly as sheer hysteria takes me hostage. I scream her name, but there’s no way I can get to her, but I know it’s her. If I lower myself onto the ice, it’ll crack and I’ll slip under too. With how low the surface is, there’s no way I’ll be able to pull myself back up. I’d drown.

  “Emma!”

  She’s trapped under the ice, and I’m powerless to get to her. Tears build in my eyes as I look on in horror, unable to digest what I’m seeing.

  But I see it.

  Right here in front of me.

  There’s no way I’m imagining this because she’s right fucking there!

  Crazed delirium stifles my head, and I go into shock. I can’t even think straight as my pulse races in pure insanity. My chest heaves against my shallow breaths, and for a moment, my vision blurs. Pushing myself up from the dock, I look to the crab trap and grab on to the wad of hair—her hair. The very hair I used to drop kisses into because I was too much of a coward to cop to my feelings and kiss her on the lips.

  Tears fall, and there’s no doubt, not a single one, that this wasn’t an accident. There’s no reason for that cage to have been in the water. Visions terrorize me when I think about all the possibilities, but they all funnel down to one thing—one person—Carly.

  Panic bleeds out of me and rage starts to consume. I stand, my hands in fists, and I charge up the dock and toward the house. I bang on the back door, and when no one appears, I punch the glass so hard it shatters, slicing through my knuckles, but I don’t feel a thing. There’s nothing left of me but fury as I break into the house, broken glass crunching beneath my heavy boots.

  Knowing that either she or her husband could come home at any moment, I race through the house as blood drips off my fingers, finding myself tearing through the large desk in the den. In one of the drawers, I discover a revolver, stopping me dead in my tracks. I release the cylinder to find each chamber is loaded. With the gun in my hand and no sign of anyone here, I run back outside, but something stops me from going out to the dock.

  I slow my steps and drop to my knees in the bitter snow as I stare into the fog that veils the monstrosity in the water. My lungs strain against my erratic breaths, and with the gun gripped tightly in my hand that’s still bleeding, it all becomes too much, and I release a godawful barbaric scream. My strained voice rips through my vocal cords like barbed wire, echoing into the sky, and when I deplete all the air in my lungs, I drop my head and lean forward. I can’t even think straight. Tears fall from my face as a vicious storm erupts within me, taking all my rationale hostage.

  I want to go to her, pull her out of the icy water, and hold her until she’s warm, but what good would it do?

  She’s dead.

  There’s so much roiling inside me that I can’t even find the sadness I know is in there. I’m unable to grasp on to a single emotion. It’s a maniacal assault to my system, and I swear to god I’m going to fucking kill Carly.

  With tears dried on my face, I stand and stare down into the dense cloud that blankets my fucking heart that’s submerged in the water. That girl is my everything, and there’s no question that I will make that woman pay for what she’s done.

  I debate calling the police. I’m not blind to the Montgomery wealth that can afford the country’s best legal team, plus his political status. People get away with murder every day.

  I won’t let that happen, not after what that bitch just took away from me. No amount of justice will ever be enough, but if justice is going to be served, I’m going to be the one serving it. I’m going to fucking annihilate Carly.

  Turning around, I look up at the house. I contemplate going back inside, waiting for them to get home and killing them—both of them, because William is a piece of shit just like his wretched wife. I cringe when I think about him putting his hands all over Emma, him undressing her, him kissing her, him fucking her. The thought alone makes me to want to put a bullet in his head.

  In an instant, my eyes catch something that silences those thoughts and makes me pause.

  There is a security camera under the eave on the back of the house. My legs, which are numb from the snow, lead me closer to find the camera is aimed right out toward the dock. I scan the property and find a few more cameras as I force myself to slow down and think.

  Frozen in place, I continue to stare into one of the cameras.

  And then it hits me.

  When I get to my car, I toss the gun onto the passenger seat and grab my phone. Running on sheer panic, I easily find her number because it was the last one I dialed. Throwing the car in drive, I pull away from the house to head back to DC.

  It only takes a couple rings for Olivia to answer.

  “Hey, Luca. Any word from Emma?”

  “I need another favor,” I say, still short of breath.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Listen, are there people around?”

  “Um, yeah, why?”

  The phone starts to slip in my bloody hand, so I quickly place her on speakerphone, and tell her fervently, “I need you to go out to your car.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  There’s shuffling around on her end, and it takes a few moments before I hear the chirping of her alarm followed by a door closing.

  “Okay, I’m in my car,” she says, and I can tell she’s nervous. “What’s going on, you’re scaring me.”

  “I need you to do something for me, but I need your word that you’ll keep quiet, and no matter what, you have to promise me that you won’t involve the police.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I turn onto the highway. “Promise me, Olivia.”

  “I-I . . . yeah, okay, I promise.”

  “William has security cameras at his house,” I say, and she’s nothing but silent on her end. “He most likely has an app on his phone that’s connected to them. I need you to get his phone and see if there’s a way for you to send the videos. If there is, I need you to email them to me. I only need the footage from last night.”

  “Luca, what’s going on?”

  “I can’t explain anything right now, but I need your help. I wouldn’t be asking you if it wasn’t important. Can you trust me?”

  She hesitates and doesn’t respond right away, but then she gives in reluctantly. “Yeah . . . I trust you.”

  “When you email them to me, make sure you email them from William’s campaign headquarters’ email account, not yours. And not a word to anyone, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Ending the call, I drive the rest of the way home completely disconnected. It’s as if I’m stuck in an alternate universe or something. Maybe it’s shock, but it has me completely severed from reality. I’m withdrawn from all emotions, completely numb to the core as I head back to the city.

  An hour and a half later when I pull into my driveway, I can’t recall the drive home. With Emma’s car gone from here and at the Montgomery’s as well, I can only conclude that it’s been disposed of. It’s probably sitting at the bottom of the inner harbor.

  I blink, and when I open my eyes, I’m inside the house.

  I blink again, and I’m sitting on Emma’s bed.

  Another blink slams me back into existence.

  She’s all around me, her smell, her voice, her touch. My eyes close, and I slip off the edge of the bed and onto the floor.

  My cell rings, and when I answer it, it’s Olivia.

  “Did you get it?”

  “I think so. I was able to share a secured link to the videos. I sent it to your email.”

  “Thanks. I owe you.”

  “What’s on the videos that’s so important?”

  With a heavy exhale, I tell her what I can, “Look, you need to know something. Emma’s missing,” I lie, not wanting anyone to know where she is or that she’s dead. “I’m telling you this because I’m about to call the police, and they’ll most likely want to talk to you. Whatever you do, do not mention anything about the security videos you just sent me, understand?”

  She’s quiet, but it spans for longer than what I’m comfortable with.

  “Olivia?”

  Her voice cracks, and I can tell that she’s crying when she asks, “Luca, what’s going on? Are the Montgomery’s involved?”

  “Whatever you do, don’t ever mention this video,” I repeat and then quickly hang up. I open my email, and sure enough, I have the secured link waiting in my inbox.

  When I click on it, it takes me to a home screen that gives me six different camera options. There are two options that would’ve caught what happened: Backyard and Dock. I click on Dock and it brings up the last twenty-four hours of footage, so I drag the toggle on the video player to fast forward. It takes a few minutes until I catch something. Hitting play, I watch, and there she is, Emma, standing on the dock alone. The video is pixilated, but it’s clear enough for me to tell that it’s definitely Emma.

  Leaning in closer to the screen, I watch, and soon Carly walks into the frame. There’s no sound in the video, but it’s clear they’re arguing. I then see Emma fall into the water. I rewind a few seconds to watch again, but it isn’t until the third time that I realize she slipped on something, most likely ice.

  I stare in horror as Carly stands over her and does nothing. Not a fucking thing. And then she reaches down and grabs the rope to the crab trap and picks it up. She brings it over her head and then slams it down.

  My stomach caves in on itself, and I drop the phone. Tears fill my eyes, blurring the world around me, and I couldn’t possibly feel any emptier than I do right now. Words can’t even begin to describe my feelings for that girl. Fuck if I didn’t love her from the moment I met her, but I was always too damn scared to say anything because I knew I wasn’t good enough.

  She was so perfect, and I was nothing but careless, screwing random girls who never meant shit to me. I was worthless next to her, but that didn’t stop me from loving her the best I knew how—as a friend. Although she was always so quiet and closed off, she was vibrant and full of life in her own reserved way. Others could never see it, but I could. All I could ever see was her.

  But then her parents died and she lost herself. She completely shut down, and I felt helpless. That was when she started pushing me away. It wasn’t until she moved in here with me that I heard her cry for the first time. She would wait until late at night when she thought I was asleep, but I wasn’t asleep. Shit, sometimes I’d force myself to stay awake just to listen to her because I hated the thought of her suffering all alone. It was my pathetic way of being there for her.

  Hell, even my parents loved her. My mother would talk about her often. She always hoped that I would pull my head out of my ass and ask her out. I just can’t believe it took me so long.

  Two nights ago, she finally opened her heart and let me in.

  Two nights ago . . . and now she’s dead.

  Finally, being able to have her changed everything about me. If I could go back, I would tell her exactly how, but I was nervous. I feigned it well, but shit, making love to her was scary because I had never in my life allowed myself to be that vulnerable with anyone. But I should’ve said more because she deserved to know how special she was, how much I truly did love her and that I had loved her for years. I’ll always love her.

  All I ever wanted was her—every piece—including her fragments, her bad days, her broken hopes and soul aches. The pieces so small that they lost their place when she would put herself back together after every heartbreak she ever suffered.. I wanted it all, and two days ago I was on my way to having it all and now . . .

  Dropping my head in my palms, I cry for the girl who never deserved any of this. All I ever wanted to give her was everything that had been taken from her.

  God damn, I love her.

  My phone rings next to me, and when I wipe my eyes, I see it’s Matthew calling. I stare at his name, but I can’t move. I can’t answer because, what the hell am I going to say? The ringing eventually stops, and it’s in the hollow silence of this moment where I vow to take care of him.

  He was Emma’s world, and even though she was too prideful to ask for help, I’m not. I’ll talk to my parents, and we’ll figure it all out, but I just can’t deal with that right now. I can’t deal with anything when I feel like dying myself.

  I swear to God that I will make Carly pay for what she’s done. I will fuck her life up in the most unimaginable ways, and I’ll make sure I do it slowly so that she suffers.

  There’s no way I’m going to let that piece of shit get away with this.

  Fuck no!

  I call Olivia back.

  “Luca, I’m freaking out over here,” is the first thing she says when she answers my call.

  “I need one more thing.”

  “Tell me what’s going on,” she demands.

  “I need you to listen to me.”

  “Have you been crying?” she asks, but I avoid her question.

  “I hate to involve you in this, but I am going to email a file to William’s campaign headquarters’ account, and I need to make sure that you are logged in so you are the one who retrieves it, okay?”

  “I don’t know if I can do that because there are lots of people here who have access to that email.”

  “Can you temporarily change the password? If you do that, by default it’ll kick everyone off until they log back in, which they won’t be able to do.”

  “Yeah, I can do that,” she says.

  “Stay on the phone with me and let me know when the password has been changed.”

  “Okay.” Her whispered voice rattles. “I’m doing it now. Just give me a minute.”

  “When I send this file, I need you to email it to William’s wife, Carly, and then delete it from the email and make sure it’s off the computer as well, okay?”

  I give her these instructions, not bothering to tell her not to watch it. I know she will, and when she does, she’ll have a million questions.

  I need this to happen now. I’ll deal with Olivia later.

  Her voice is addled with nerves when she responds, “Okay, it’s done.”

  Putting Olivia on speakerphone, I open the video and fast forward to when both Carly and Emma are on the dock. With my screen recorder on, I record my own copy of the video, only the small clip that matters.

  “All right, I’m emailing this over right now. When you get it, move fast.”

  It’s silent on her end aside from the sound of her clicking the keys on her computer. My heart races as seconds pass, and when I hear her gasp, I know she just watched it.

  “Luca?” My name is a frightful whimper.

  “Just send it.”

  Her breathing becomes erratic, and a moment later, she mutters through the tears I’m sure are spilling down her face, “It’s sent—”