Chapter 1: Ten Minutes Left

The first thing I noticed was the ticking.

Not a clock.

Not a watch.

Something sharper.

Mechanical.

Precise.

Terrifying.

I opened my eyes slowly and immediately wished I hadn't.

My wrists were tied behind a metal chair.

My ankles were bound with thick plastic restraints.

The room smelled like dust, rust, and old rainwater.

A single bulb swung above me.

Then I looked down.

There was a bomb strapped to my chest.

For several seconds, my brain refused to understand what I was seeing.

Red wires.

Black tape.

A digital timer.

00:10:00

Ten minutes.

My throat closed.

"She's awake," someone said.

A man stepped out of the shadows.

I recognized him almost immediately.

Gavin Mercer.

Kevin had testified against him three years ago.

Kevin's forensic report had helped prove that Gavin had murdered a convenience store owner during a robbery.

He had been sentenced to fifteen years.

Apparently, fifteen years hadn't lasted very long.

"You know who I am?" Gavin asked.

I forced myself to nod.

"Good."

He crouched in front of me.

"Then you know exactly why you're here."

"Kevin..."

"That's right."

His smile was cold.

"Doctor Kevin Woods."

My boyfriend.

The man I had loved for four years.

The man I had planned to marry.

The man Gavin wanted.

"He put me away," Gavin said.

"No," I whispered.

"You put yourself away."

His expression darkened.

"Careful."

He tapped the device strapped to me.

"You don't have enough time left to be brave."

The timer changed.

00:09:32

My heart pounded.

"What do you want?"

"Kevin."

"He won't come."

"We'll see."

A second man stepped forward and held my phone in front of my face.

"Unlock it."

I stared at him.

"Now."

My thumb shook as he pressed it against the screen.

The phone unlocked.

Gavin opened my contacts.

"Call him."

"No."

He grabbed my jaw.

"Call him."

"If he comes here, you'll kill him."

"Maybe."

"Then I'm not calling."

He smiled.

"You don't understand how this works."

He pressed a button on the device.

The timer jumped.

00:08:45

I screamed.

"Fine! Fine!"

He handed me the phone.

"Put it on speaker."

My hands were useless behind the chair, so Gavin held the phone near my face.

I watched Kevin's name on the screen.

For one absurd second, I expected everything to become normal.

Kevin would answer.

He would hear my voice.

He would know.

He was a forensic doctor.

He understood danger better than almost anyone.

He would save me.

The call connected.

"Michelle?"

Relief nearly broke me.

"Kevin—"

"I told you not to call me while I'm working."

His voice was sharp.

Impatient.

I froze.

"Kevin, listen to me. Please."

"What is it now?"

"I've been kidnapped."

Silence.

"They strapped a bomb to me."

Another silence.

"Kevin, the timer says eight minutes."

He sighed.

"Michelle, seriously?"

I stared at the phone.

"What?"

"Is this what we're doing now?"

"Kevin—"

"You know I'm busy."

"I'm not joking!"

My voice cracked.

"Gavin Mercer took me. The man from your old case. He's here. He wants you to come."

Gavin smiled beside me.

Kevin's tone became colder.

"Enough."

"Please."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes!"

"Because Violet called me?"

My breath stopped.

"What?"

"You always do this."

"Kevin, I am tied to a chair!"

"And I'm supposed to drop everything because you're jealous?"

The timer kept moving.

00:07:12

"I'm not jealous."

"Really?"

"Violet's cat has been stuck in a tree since yesterday."

I almost laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because my brain couldn't process the absurdity.

"A cat?"

"She loves that cat."

"Kevin, there's a bomb on me."

"And Violet is terrified."

"Kevin..."

"Do you know what would happen if that animal fell?"

I stared at the timer.

00:06:41

"I might die."

"Stop saying that."

"I'm telling you the truth."

"No, you're trying to make me feel guilty."

Then I heard her.

A soft female voice in the background.

"Kev? Did you get her down?"

Violet Rae.

His childhood friend.

The woman he had always told me was like a sister.

The woman who somehow always came first.

Kevin's voice changed instantly.

"Almost. Stay back, Vi."

Gentle.

Patient.

The voice I had begged him to use with me for years.

"You're amazing," Violet said.

"I don't know what I'd do without you."

Something inside me finally broke.

Not loudly.

Not dramatically.

Just quietly.

Like glass cracking under too much pressure.

"Kevin," I said.

"What?"

"If I don't call you again..."

"Michelle, don't start."

"I just want you to remember this moment."

"What does that even mean?"

"Nothing."

My voice became strangely calm.

"Go save the cat."

"Finally."

The call ended.

The room became silent except for the timer.

00:05:58

Gavin stared at the phone.

Then at me.

"Wow."

His accomplice gave a short laugh.

"We really picked the wrong woman."

Gavin frowned.

"He doesn't care."

I looked down.

"No."

Saying it out loud hurt more than I expected.

"He doesn't."

Gavin stood.

"Forget this."

"What?" his accomplice asked.

"We're leaving."

"And her?"

Gavin looked at me.

"Not our problem anymore."

My blood turned cold.

"Wait."

They started walking toward the door.

"Wait! You wanted Kevin!"

"He isn't coming."

"Then disarm it!"

Gavin stopped.

For one second, hope surged through me.

He glanced over his shoulder.

"I don't know how."

The door slammed behind them.

I was alone.

00:04:39

I pulled against the restraints until the plastic cut into my skin.

Nothing.

I twisted my wrists.

Pain shot through my arms.

Nothing.

I screamed for help.

No one answered.

Then, because there was nothing else left to do, I started thinking about Kevin.

The first time we met.

He had spilled coffee on my sleeve at a bookstore café.

He bought me another drink and apologized three times.

I thought he was shy.

I thought he was kind.

Maybe he had been.

Just not with me.

I remembered the first dinner with my parents.

My mother had cooked for hours.

Kevin had arrived late.

Twenty minutes after we sat down, Violet called.

She was scared because her apartment building had lost power.

Kevin stood up immediately.

"I'll be back."

I had followed him to the door.

"Please stay. My parents have been looking forward to this for weeks."

His face had hardened.

"Michelle, Violet has no one else."

"She has friends."

"You don't understand."

"Then explain it to me."

He had looked at me like I was exhausting him.

"Vi and I have been part of each other's lives for twenty years. If you can't accept that, don't talk to me about marriage."

I had apologized.

I actually apologized.

The timer beeped.

00:03:00

Tears slid down my face.

I had spent years making excuses for him.

He's busy.

He's stressed.

Violet is like family.

He doesn't mean it.

He loves me in his own way.

How many lies could a person tell herself before they became a life?

My phone was lying on the floor several feet away.

I stretched my foot toward it.

Too far.

I rocked the chair.

Once.

Twice.

On the third attempt, it tipped sideways.

I crashed onto the concrete floor.

Pain exploded through my shoulder.

But I was closer.

I dragged the chair inch by inch.

00:02:04

My shoe touched the phone.

I pulled it toward me.

The screen lit up.

No missed calls.

No messages from Kevin.

Of course.

Using my toe, I managed to open the messaging app.

Kevin's conversation was at the top.

My last message from that morning still sat there.

Don't forget dinner tonight.

He had replied with one word.

Busy.

I stared at it.

Then I started typing with my toe.

It took forever.

I made mistakes.

Deleted them.

Tried again.

00:01:21

Farewell.

My vision blurred.

I added another sentence.

I hope we never meet again in another life.

My foot hovered over send.

For four years, I had wanted Kevin to choose me.

Just once.

Not over his career.

Not over everyone.

Just over Violet.

One time.

The timer showed forty-eight seconds.

I pressed send.

Delivered.

No reply.

Thirty seconds.

I closed my eyes.

Strangely, I wasn't thinking about Kevin anymore.

I thought about my mother.

My father.

The beach trip I kept postponing.

The bakery near my apartment where the owner always saved me the last cinnamon roll.

All the ordinary things I had assumed would still be there tomorrow.

Ten seconds.

Nine.

Eight.

I stopped crying.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Somewhere far away, my phone began to ring.

Four.

Kevin's name glowed across the screen.

Three.

For the first time that day, he was calling me.

Two.

I looked at his name one final time.

One.