Chapter 26 - 47 % X I unlocked my phone and saw a message from Ephraim waiting for me . Ephraim : Landed an oil fund from Dubai . Five percent equity . Not bad for a Tuesday . I grinned before I could stop myself and started typing . Me : You're insufferable when you win . Me : Proud of you . Eat something . Don't charm your way into another incident . You still owe the Finnish ambassador an apology . He replied instantly . Ephraim : I only flirt with you . Everyone else gets taxes and bad jokes . Ephraim : You alright ? Where are you now ? Me : Halfway to the farmhouse . Fields are still yellow . Rain's starting . There was a pause . Then another message came in . Ephraim : I'll call you when the summit's done . There's something in the pipeline . Might change things . I hesitated a second before responding . Me : I want to tell you something too . Later . The car hit a small dip , and I looked up from my screen . Saul glanced at me in the mirror . " Was that the oil prince again ? " I raised an eyebrow . " Since when do you ask questions ? " He smirked . " You were smiling . That's rare these days . " I rolled my eyes and leaned back . " It's Ephraim . He's busy selling pieces of the planet , but he still finds time to ruin my day . " He gave a short laugh , one of the few I'd ever heard from him . " You light up when you talk about him . You try to hide it , but it's obvious . " I stared out the window . " Well . Don't tell anyone . I have a reputation to maintain . " " Cold and terrifying ? " " Exactly . " He was about to respond when a sleek black car came out of nowhere behind us . No plates . It swerved past a truck and slid into our lane so fast Saul cursed under his breath and tightened both hands on the wheel . " What the hell , " he muttered . " They came out of nowhere . " I turned around . The car was following too closely . My heart gave a sharp jolt . " They're tailgating us ," I said , my voice tightening . " Just let them pass . " He Left Me for Dead , Now He Begs Me for Mercy 1/3 76.8 % Aug 47 % X Saul slowed a little , giving space . But the car didn't move past . Instead , it lunged . The first hit wasn't loud , but I felt it in my spine . A shudder through the seat as the black car clipped our rear bumper hard enough to make the whole vehicle jerk sideways . " Shit , " Saul said , correcting fast . " Hold on . " " What are they doing ? " I asked , my voice rising . " Why are they hitting us ? " " This isn't random ," Saul said . " This is deliberate . " Another impact . Stronger . More precise . I screamed as my head hit the seat in front of me , and Saul swore again , fighting the wheel with both arms now . The road narrowed . On one side , steep hillside . On the other , a drop into mist and rock and trees . The black car rammed us again . Hard . I clutched the seat . " Saul- " " I see it ! " he shouted . " They're trying to push us off . " " Then drive , goddammit ! " He slammed the accelerator , but the tires squealed . The road was wet now , slick with that cursed drizzle . I looked behind us and saw the car lining up for one last push . " They're going to do it , " I whispered . " They're actually going to- " The last hit came like thunder . The side of our car scraped the guardrail with a sound I'll never forget . Screeching steel and tearing bolts and then … The world went sideways . I screamed Saul's name as the SUV broke through the railing . We were in the air . Weightless for a second . Then everything happened too fast . Glass exploded . The roof crumpled . The air filled with the sound of twisting metal and my own voice screaming over and over again . My seatbelt snapped tight across my chest as the world flipped once , then twice . Then black . Not sleep . Not peace . Just black . ** Far above us , on the edge of the hill , a shepherd dropped his crook . He had seen the whole thing . The smoke rising from below . The broken pieces scattered along the slope . He ran to the edge and pulled out his phone , voice shaking . " Emergency ! There's been an accident - horrible . The car fell … down the ravine . " 2/3 77.8 % 22.32 Sun , Aug 10 " I think … I think someone survived . A woman . I saw her hand move ." 10 X EPHRAIM'S POV My jaw clenched when I walked into that hospital room and saw her lying there like that . Therese . Her face was nearly unrecognizable . Wrapped in gauze and tape , pale as hell , lips split . Tubes were coming out of her like some kind of machine experiment , and the steady hiss of that damn ventilator made my chest cave in . The monitors beeped softly like the universe was mocking me . A fucking heiress . A queen . And now reduced to a bruised , broken thing barely clinging to life . I turned to the doctor . Some fancy piece of shit with a trembling clipboard and eyes that couldn't even meet mine . " She's in a coma . We're doing everything we can . " I stared at him . " Everything you can ? She was thrown off a cliff . Find a way to fucking wake her up . " He swallowed and backed a little . " It's a wait and see , sir . The swelling in her brain- ' I grabbed a glass of water from the side table and hurled it at the wall . It shattered like my insides . " You think I'm paying millions for wait and see ? I want full security on every fucking hallway . No press . No fake visitors . No one touches that room unless I say so . " The doctor nodded fast and stumbled out . I sat beside her . My hand hovered over hers , scared to touch it because of all the needles . She looked so fragile . And I hated that word . Fragile . That wasn't her . I pulled out my phone . The screen lit up , and that's when I saw it . One unread message . From her . Sent just before the crash . " I need to tell you something . It might ruin everything . But I can't carry it anymore . " I stared at it for a full minute , then two , then who the fuck knows . My legs gave out and I slid to the floor beside her bed like some fucking idiot in a romance film . Except this wasn't a film . This was real . She was broken . And someone did this on purpose . ** Later that night , Torren Massaro showed up . Torren . In a black suit like he was attending her funeral early . No flowers . No warmth . Just that fucking look like he was already two moves ahead of the rest of us . I didn't even let him get near her room . He tried . " I just want to see her . "