Chapter One
Grant’s POV
Age 25
“Grant, are you listening to me?” My wife, Addison whines.
She was on the couch, painting her toenails for her gala on tonight at the charity she works at.
Her brother, Paul died a year ago from pancreatic cancer so now she works with charities who are trying to find a cure.
“Sorry, I was daydreaming,” I say.
She huffs clearly annoyed. “I need you to stop by my parent’s place this afternoon,” she explains. “Dad has been complaining about his gutter, and he is too old to get on the roof.”
“I will swing by after work,” I promise her. I walk over and kiss her forehead. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” she says.
Addison and I met six years ago. In a University Bar. I was at college because I went into the trade business with my other friends, but we all decided to go drink after work one Friday night and I’m glad we did.
In that university bar, Addison would’ve been the kind of woman who immediately drew eyes without even trying.
Her hair was a soft chestnut brown that caught the light from the neon signs, tumbling in loose waves over her shoulders. She had warm hazel eyes, the kind that flickered between green and gold depending on the light, and they carried a spark of intelligence and confidence that most girls our age didn’t have yet.
She wore a simple black dress nothing flashy, but it fit her just right, showing off her long legs and the delicate line of her collarbone. A silver necklace with a tiny heart rested against her skin, something understated but elegant, just like her.
What caught me the most, though, wasn’t her looks it was her laugh. It was easy, real, the kind that carried over the music and made you turn your head to see who it belonged to. When she smiled, it was with her whole face eyes crinkling, dimples showing and it hit him like a punch to the chest.
Even now, years later, sitting on our couch painting her nails, I can still see flashes of that girl from the bar the same spark, just wrapped in a more polished, grown-up version of the woman he fell for.
“Hello!” I call out as I walk into the house. “Anybody home!?”
I don’t get a reply, so I head up the stairs to their supply closet. I stop midway when I hear a grunt coming from the master bedroom.
Someone was here?
I open the door and what I see has me revolting and my brain trying to take me back to days I tried to forget.
“You feel so good, Grant.”
“I love the noises you make.”
Jonathan was on top of a girl that couldn’t be more than twelve years old. Her eyes screamed at me to help her as her mouth was gagged, and he had her tied up to the bed.
I don’t think, I just grab Jonathan by the shoulders and throw him off her. I get on top of him and throw punch after punch, no longer in control of my body, till his was lifeless underneath me.
I get off of him and clutch at my hair strands.
I just killed him.
I-I just murdered him.
I notice the girl was still on the bed and quickly untie her. She removes the mouth gag herself and throws her arms around me. “Thank you,” she sobs.
I pry her arms off me as she was very naked. I strip off my shirt and give it to her. When she puts it on it falls to her knees. “Go,” I tell her. “Run far away from here.”
She nods and rushes out of the room.
I look at Jonathan’s lifeless body and don’t know how to proceed.
Addison will hate me.
Nicole will hate me.
I sit on the bed and stare at the wall for I don’t know how long. But when I zone back in, Nicole is sobbing on the floor holding Jonathan’s body.
“You murderer,” she screams. “How could you do this!?”
“Nicole please, I didn’t mean-”
“Get out of my house!” She screams. You’ll be lucky to get four blocks before the cops find you.”
“He was sexually assaulting someone,” I say in panic. "Nicole, I didn't mean to-"
"There is no one else here!" She screams. "You're sick making up lies about my husband!"
I hear footsteps out in the hall and my panic worsens when I see Addison.
Oh god
"Dad!" She screams when she sees her mother holding his lifeless body. "What the hell happened?" She demands bursting into tears.
"He killed him!" Nicole yells. "Your horrible husband killed your father."
Addison’s knees buckle as she stumbles toward her father’s body, her hands shaking so violently she can barely touch him. When her fingers finally brush his shirt, she jerks back as if burned.
“Grant… what did you do?” Her voice cracks thin, disbelieving, already breaking.
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. I’m still stuck somewhere between the image of Jonathan on top of that girl and the way Addison is looking at me now, like she doesn’t recognize me. Like she shouldn’t.
“Addison,” I choke out. “He- he wasn’t alone. There was a girl and he was-”
“STOP.” She covers her ears as if my words are knives. “Just stop. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t-” Her breath collapses into a sob that punches straight through my ribs. “Why would you say something like that about him? My dad? Why!?”
“I’m not lying,” I whisper, because my voice won’t do anything louder. “I swear to you-”
“There was no one here,” Nicole spits through her tears, clinging to Jonathan like she can pull him back to life. “You butchered him and now you’re trying to drag some innocent child into your mess? You disgust me.”
I feel like I’m drowning. The room is too small, too loud. My pulse hammers in my ears.
“I heard her,” I say, desperate. “I saw her. She was tied up- Nicole, she was twelve.”
Nicole lunges forward, pointing a shaking finger at me. “You expect us to believe some imaginary girl showed up and vanished into thin air!? You’re sick. You always have been.”
Addison flinches at her mother’s words, but she doesn’t argue. She just… keeps staring at me. Eyes full of betrayal. Pain. Confusion. A thousand questions she’s too heartbroken to ask.
“Addie…” I take a step toward her, hands raised like I’m approaching a frightened animal.
She steps back so fast she hits the dresser.
“Don’t come near me,” she whispers.
Those four words crack something inside me I didn’t even know could break.
“You have to believe me,” I beg. “I would never hurt someone unless- unless they were hurting someone else. I froze. I just- Addie, please.”
Her face crumples. She presses a fist against her mouth to muffle a sob.
From downstairs, a siren wails closer.
Nicole straightens, grief twisting into something sharp. “You’re done, Grant. You’re not talking your way out of this.”
Addison doesn’t say anything. She just sinks to the floor beside her father, her shoulders shaking, her wedding ring glinting under the ceiling light, a reminder of everything we promised each other just three years ago.
A life that is falling apart in real time.
I don’t know whether to run, to surrender, to beg, to scream. My hands are still stained with Jonathan’s blood. My heart is pounding so hard it hurts.
“Addison…” My voice cracks. “Look at me. Please.”
Slowly, so slowly she lifts her eyes.
And the emptiness there tells me everything.
She doesn’t believe me.
She doesn’t trust me.
She doesn’t see me anymore.
Red and blue lights flash across the upstairs hallway as footsteps thunder toward the room.
Everything I thought my life was shatters like glass.
