Chapter 156: The Accident on the Highway
I swallowed hard. "Dom... there’s something I need to tell you."
He glanced at me, eyes flicking between me and the road. "What?"
I tightened my fists on my knees. "I know about the murder on the highway. The one that happened last year. I know you’re involved."
The car jerked.
Tires screeched as Dominic slammed the brakes.
My whole body jerked forward against the seatbelt. A truck blared its horn, swerving around us, missing the car by inches.
"Jesus Christ!" I shouted, my heart was racing, my chest kept heaving. "What the hell, Dom? Are you trying to kill us?"
He didn’t answer right away. Dominic’s face was pale, his breath came out ragged. His hands clutched the wheel like he wanted to strangle it. "How the hell do you know about that?"
I snapped my head toward him, still clutching the dash where my hand had flown. "Are we just gonna ignore the fact that a truck almost killed us two seconds ago? Why the hell did you slam the brakes like that, Dom?"
His jaw tightened. "Answer me, Ash."
My laugh came out shaky. "That’s all you’ve got to say? We almost died and you’re worried about my sources? Yeah, sure, let’s focus on my answer when we almost became roadkill." My chest rose and fell fast.
"Please answer me Ash."
"You hit those brakes because you panicked. Because you know exactly what I’m talking about."
He didn’t say anything. He just stared straight ahead, his jaw kept flexing, his breath came out ragged.
I leaned in, still trembling. "I know about the murder on the highway. Last year. I know it ties to Liam, to the coil, to everything circling us right now. People are on us, Dom. Nobody’s safe."
His voice cracked for the first time. "You weren’t supposed to know any of this."
My stomach dropped. My throat tightened. "...So it’s true."
He dragged a hand down his face and muttered, "Shit," before slamming his palm against the wheel. The horn screamed, startling me so bad I jumped.
"Dom, stop!" My voice broke. "Just listen to me. I didn’t go digging. I didn’t want this. The night Liam was stabbed, I saw the guy who did it. That’s how I got dragged in. I’m already part of this whether you like it or not."
Finally, he looked at me. His eyes weren’t cold. He looked scared. "Ash..."
I leaned closer, my voice shaking. "I keep getting messages saying I’m next. Next, Dom. Do you understand? I’m not letting you shut me out of this. Not when my life’s on the line."
He shook his head hard, like he could just erase the words if he denied them long enough. "You don’t understand..."
"No, you don’t understand!" I cut in, almost shouting. "I can’t keep doing this blind. You’re gonna tell me what happened that night. Every detail. Because if you don’t..." my voice cracked, tears burning at my eyes, "we’re not making it out of this alive."
The car went quiet. The only sound was the hum of other cars passing by.
Finally, Dominic let out a long, shaky breath.
I pressed my hand against my chest, forcing the words out softer now. "No more secrets. Not from you. Not from me. Please, Dom. I just need the truth."
He didn’t even look at me at first, just out at the road like it was the only thing keeping him from shattering.
Finally, he spoke.
"We were all drunk. Coming back from a party."
My chest tightened.
"Liam was driving," he went on. "He wasn’t supposed to drink. He promised he’d stay sober that night. Swore it to us." He shook his head, almost laughing, but it was bitter. "But he didn’t. And we let him get behind the wheel anyway."
Dominic’s eyes flickered in the glow of the headlights. I swear they looked wet, even if he wouldn’t let them spill.
"I was in the back. So drunk I could barely sit upright. Jasper was next to me. Casper was up front. Ren and Ian had Ian’s car." He swallowed hard. "It was raining so hard the wipers couldn’t keep up. Everything was just blur. We could barely see the road."
My fingers curled tight against my jeans. The way his voice cracked...like he was still there made my stomach turn.
He dragged a hand down his face. His voice cracked. "And then we saw her."
My breath caught.
"This girl... she came out of nowhere. Right in front of the car. Liam didn’t even have time to swerve. By the time he braked..." He sighed. "It was too late. It happened so fast."
I reached across the seat before I even thought about it, my hand found his. He didn’t look at me, but I felt him shaking.
When we reversed and got out, she was on the ground," he whispered. "There was blood on her. Her clothes were torn. She wasn’t moving."
He turned his head slightly then, just enough for me to see his eyes.
"She wasn’t breathing, Ash." His voice cracked in half.
I felt my own throat burn, my chest twisting.
"We panicked," he said, shaking his head like he hated himself for every word. "We thought...we thought if we left her in the middle of the road, another car would hit her. So we pulled her to the side." His lips trembled, barely forming the words. "And then we drove off."
I couldn’t hold it in, I pulled away. "You could’ve taken her to the hospital," I whispered. "You could’ve..."
"I know!" His voice snapped. His hand slammed against the steering wheel. "I know, Ash! I hate myself for it every single day."
He sucked in a breath, trying to keep it together.
"When we got back to the house, we couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. We went back to the spot, but she was gone. Just... gone." His voice shook. "Ren hacked into the CCTV. We erased everything. Every trace. Because we were cowards. Because we thought if anyone found out, no one would ever believe it was an accident."
The silence pressed harder.
I wanted to scream, to cry, to push him away...every instinct fought inside me until I didn’t know which one belonged to my heart and which one belonged to my fear.
Then he whispered. "Few days later, the news came out. They found her. She’d been sexually assaulted, beaten. Left on the road to die."
I felt sick. My throat tightened until I could barely swallow.
"We didn’t do that," Dominic said quickly, his eyes snapped to mine. There was desperation there, like he needed me to believe him. "Ash, I swear to you, we didn’t touch her. We didn’t hurt her like that. We aren’t animals that would sexually abuse someone. But our mistake..."
His voice broke completely. "...our mistake was not saving her when we had the chance. I see her every night when I close my eyes. I don’t think anyone would believe me, but it’s the truth. And I don’t know how to live with it."
His hand finally slipped off the wheel. He turned toward me, trying to reach for mine but I folded my arms.
And then he just kept looking at me.
Like whatever I said next would either break him forever or pull him back from the edge.
My chest ached. My mind spun.
How could I still want to touch him after hearing this? After knowing he’d been there, drunk and reckless, when a girl’s life ended?
I was furious at him.
I was terrified of him.
And I still loved him so much it made me sick.
If I believed him, I was tying myself to his guilt, his secret, his crime.
If I didn’t... I was leaving him to drown in it alone.