The Ashes She Gave MeChapter 3

I let out a painful gasp, doubling over.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Nolan asked, feigning panic.

"My stomach... it's cramping really badly. I need to lie down."

Clutching my waist, I limped into the bedroom, pretending to be in agony. My plan was simple. Wait until he was distracted in the kitchen, rip the necklace off, and tie it back onto the dog.

But the second my fingers brushed the silver chain, a shadow fell over me.

"What are you doing, Harper?"

My heart jumped into my throat. Nolan was leaning against the doorframe, watching me with dead, unblinking eyes. It was the exact same venomous look the dog had given me.

"I'm changing my clothes," I retorted, forcing myself to frown. "Why are you hovering over me?"

His gaze stayed glued to my chest. "With the baby's complications today, I'm just worried about you. Just rest. I'll go start dinner."

He wasn't going to let me take it off.

I swallowed my terror and fury, waiting for another opening. But Nolan was like a shadow. Even when I went to the bathroom, he knocked on the door after three minutes.

Time bled away. The clock hit nine-thirty. Less than three hours until midnight.

Under the crushing anxiety, my head began to spin heavily. Nolan practically carried me back to bed.

A while later, I forced my heavy eyelids open. Peeking through the cracked door, I saw Nolan sitting on the living room sofa, his back to me, phone pressed to his ear.

"Relax. I've been watching her like a hawk. She hasn't touched the necklace."

He paused, a cruel smirk evident in his tone. "I slipped a little something into her soup. She'll be out cold until tomorrow morning. By then, the ritual will be locked in."

"Feel bad for her? Are you joking? She lies there like a dead fish. If it weren't for her bank accounts, I wouldn't have looked at her twice."

"Once she goes under the knife to remove the dead tissue, I'll keep spiking her food. When she finally drops dead, everything she owns is ours."

Silent tears spilled hot tracks down my cheeks.

With my parents gone, Stella and Nolan had been my entire world. I never imagined the depths of their depravity. They didn't just want to sacrifice my baby. They wanted to slowly murder me.

Hearing Nolan end the call, I snapped my eyes shut and leveled my breathing. His footsteps approached, stopping right beside the bed. Every muscle in my body screamed to run, but I stayed perfectly limp.

Thankfully, he only observed me for a moment before retreating to the spare room.

I waited another agonizing ten minutes before opening my eyes. I checked my phone. Eleven o'clock!

I pulled up the apartment's security feed on my phone. Nolan was stretched out on the sofa bed in the spare room. Moving with agonizing slowness, I slipped out of bed.

I took the leftover soup he had spiked and poured it into the dog's bowl. She lapped it up and was unconscious within minutes. Thank God I had only swallowed a few spoonfuls at dinner. I could still push through the dizziness.

Fighting the fog in my brain, I tied a towel securely around the dog's snout, scooped her heavy body into my arms, and sneaked out the back door. I hailed a cab and rode to a sprawling, dimly lit park miles away.

In a secluded grove of trees, I secured the silver locket tightly around the dog's waist.

It was five minutes to midnight.

There was no time to exhale. I pulled a brand-new smartphone out of my coat pocket, swapped my SIM card, and hurled my old phone into a nearby pond. I didn't know if Nolan had installed tracking software on it, but I wasn't taking any chances. The new phone was supposed to be his birthday present. The irony tasted like ash in my mouth.

With three minutes to spare, I called my lawyer. I was not going to let them get away with this.

The second the clock struck midnight, I dialed Danny's number.

Just as the line connected, the unconscious black dog suddenly convulsed, letting out a muffled, agonizing shriek.