by Francis Ray
Justine was an excellent driver, and she used that skill to pull farther and farther away from Andrew. She tried to keep the image of her husband’s deceit at bay, but it kept returning.
Her hands gripping the steering wheel of her sports car, Justine threw a quick glance in her rearview mirror. Andrew was at least a quarter mile behind her. On the winding mountain road, his Escalade was no match for her Porsche on the sharp turns of the narrow descent. With each rotation of her wheels, he lagged farther and farther behind. It would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic that he had given her the means to evade him.
“This car will be carrying the most important and precious person in my life.”
Justine’s hands flexed on the steering wheel as she fought to keep the tears from falling. Lies. A man didn’t love one woman and have sex with another.
Her mind shied away from the scene she had just witnessed. She wouldn’t let herself think about it, or she’d never be able to get down the mountain and make good her escape. She had surprised her husband all right, but not in a way either of them had expected.
Her eyes shut tightly in an attempt to keep the sickening picture of Andrew’s betrayal at bay. It was useless. She heard the moans, saw the backside of the woman, her husband’s naked body and satisfied expression.
The blast of a car horn jerked her eyes open in time to see an oncoming truck directly in front of her. She yanked the Porsche back into her own lane and out of the truck’s path with only seconds to spare. Her heart pumping with fear and anger, she glanced in the rear-view mirror again. There were so many questions running through her head she couldn’t sort them all out. She’d worry about that later. Now, she needed to get away.
“Let me explain.”
There was no way in hell he could explain away what she’d just witnessed. If it hadn’t taken her those several moments on the stairs to stop shaking and compose herself enough to drive, he wouldn’t have gotten this close to catching her.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flicker of movement in the thick brush on the side of the road. Three adult deer and one fawn emerged as she passed by. Instinctively she glanced in the rear-view mirror.
She eased off the gas and onto the brakes. Her heart pounded even more as she glimpsed the deer crossing the road. She hit the horn just as Andrew’s car rounded the curve.
The fawn froze. The others scampered away. Andrew didn’t brake; he swerved around the animal, putting his vehicle perilously close to the edge of the ravine.
Justine didn’t realize she’d stopped and gotten out of her car until she felt the imprint of the door handle biting into her clenched hand.
She could see Andrew desperately wrestling with the steering wheel, his eyes wide with terror. Then the back wheels began to lose traction. For a moment their eyes locked, then the Escalade slid down the cliff.
Justine screamed, then she was running. She stared in horror as the vehicle flipped over and over before coming to a halt. Through the dense trees and shrubbery, she barely distinguished the gleam of the gray exterior of Andrew’s SUV. A plume of thick, black smoke spiraled upward.
Justine hesitated for a moment, then began to scramble down the hundred-foot embankment toward her lying, adulterous husband.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
