Chapter 3

Despair swallowed me whole, like a black hole opening beneath my feet.

I gripped the empty inhaler, my fingernails digging into the plastic hard enough to crack it.

"Susan!!!"

I screamed into the sky, a sound so raw and broken it didn't even sound human.

In my arms, Nora had stopped convulsing. She'd gone soft and still.

That terrible silence was more terrifying than the desperate gasping had been.

"Nora? Nora, don't scare Daddy!"

My hands shook as I checked her breathing.

Almost nothing.

Her warmth was draining away fast, like a piece of metal cooling after the heat is cut.

I couldn't just stay here.

This was a private hillside neighborhood. The snowstorm had cut off the road. An ambulance couldn't get up here.

The only way out was inside.

Heat. An oxygen bag. The real medication.

I scooped Nora up and threw myself at the front door.

"Bang. Bang. Bang."

I used my body. My head. My fists. I slammed against that heavy wooden door with everything I had.

"Susan! Open up! That was an empty canister!"

"Nora's not going to make it! Please, just let me in!"

"You don't even have to let me in — just let Nora in! I'll stay out here! I won't set foot in your house!"

Blood ran down from my forehead and into my eyes.

I couldn't feel it.

The video doorbell flickered on again.

On the screen, Susan was cutting a steak, her movements calm and composed.

Jason sat across from her, casually twirling a fresh blue inhaler between his fingers.

Nora's real medication.

"So annoying."

Susan furrowed her brow, looking thoroughly inconvenienced.

"Ethan, are you done? It's the middle of the night and you're out there wailing like a ghost. We're trying to eat."

I pressed my face against the camera lens. My blood smeared across the glass.

"Susan, that was an empty one! If you want to hurt someone, come after me. Leave Nora out of it!"

"Give me the medication! Unlock the door!"

Jason held up the inhaler and gave it a little wave at the camera.

"Oh wow, looks like we grabbed the wrong one earlier."

"Babe, he seems pretty desperate. Maybe we should... give it to him?"

He wore a saint's smile, but his eyes were full of amusement.

Susan sliced off a piece of rare steak and chewed it slowly.

"Give it to him? Why?"

"He barked like garbage before. No sincerity whatsoever."

"Want to come inside? Fine."

She set down her knife and fork and dabbed the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

"Get in the dog cage."

"Stay in there for one full hour without coming out, and I'll have someone bring the medication to you."

In the corner of the yard sat a large iron cage.

It was the kennel for Susan's two Tibetan Mastiffs.

Those dogs only ever listened to Susan. They had never treated me as their owner — just shown me teeth.

Right now, both of them were in the cage, barking furiously at me and Nora.

Saliva dripped from their fangs and hit the snow, steaming in the cold.

"Not going to do it?"

Susan's voice dropped.

"Then freeze to death out there."

"Honestly, that little bastard dying would be a gift. One less person to split the inheritance with later."

"You have three seconds."

"Three."

"Two."

I looked down at my daughter. Her face was white as paper.

Frost had gathered on her eyelashes. She looked like a shattered porcelain doll.

I had no choice.

"I'll do it!"

"I'll do it — don't cut the feed! Don't cut it!"

I carried Nora and stumbled toward the kennel.

The two Mastiffs saw me coming and lunged at the iron bars, unleashing a roar that rattled the whole cage.

I set Nora down in the most sheltered corner outside the cage and peeled off my last layer — my sweater — and wrapped it around her.

I had nothing left but a thin dress shirt.

"Be good, baby. Daddy's just going to put on a little show for Mommy, and then she'll give you your medicine."

I pressed my lips to my daughter's ice-cold forehead.

Then I pulled open the iron door and climbed inside.

Both Mastiffs launched themselves at me instantly.

Their teeth sank through my arm, tearing at my flesh.

The pain was blinding. I bit down on my lip and made no sound.

I couldn't scream.

If I screamed, Susan would be displeased.

If she was displeased, she wouldn't give me the medication.

I curled into a corner thick with filth and let the dogs tear at me.

My blood soaked red into the snow.

On the video doorbell screen, Susan and Jason were laughing so hard they could barely breathe.

"Incredible! This is incredible!"

Jason clapped like he was watching a gladiator fight.

"Babe, look at this pathetic creature. Even the dogs don't respect him."

Susan sipped her wine, her eyes bright with satisfaction.

"This is what happens when you cross me."

"Ethan, you used to be so proud, didn't you? Tell me — how exactly did you force me into this marriage?"

"Now I'm going to grind you into the dirt. You will never, ever get back up."

The seconds crawled by.

Every one of them felt like a year.

My vision was going dark. Blood loss and cold were pulling me under.

But I kept my eyes locked on Nora through the bars.

As long as she was still alive, I could hold on.

Finally, the hour was up.

"Susan... time's... up..."

I turned toward the camera and pushed the last of my strength into my voice.

"The medicine..."

Susan yawned, like she'd nearly dozed off.

"Oh, I got so caught up watching I lost track of time."

"Fine. Since you've been such a good boy."

"Jason, go. Take him the medicine."

Jason stood, grabbed the inhaler, and walked out onto the second-floor balcony.

I dragged myself out of the cage, crawling on ruined legs, and pulled myself to the spot beneath the balcony.

"Ready to catch?"

Jason smiled and let go.

The inhaler dropped straight down.

I reached up with both hands.

And then, in the split second before it landed — a basin of foot-washing water came pouring off the balcony.

The force of it knocked the inhaler sideways, sending it crashing into the stone several feet away.

The blue plastic shattered.

The medication inside spilled across the snow and was swallowed up in seconds.

Jason covered his mouth in mock surprise.

"Oh no. Butterfingers."

"What do we do now? The medicine's gone."

"Ethan, looks like even God doesn't want to save that little bastard of yours."