The Crash

by Freida McFadden

I’ve never killed anyone before. I’m not a murderer. I’m a good person. I don’t lie. I don’t cheat. I don’t steal. I hardly ever even raise my voice. There are very few things I’ve done in my life that I’m ashamed of. Yet here I am.

He is not, by the way, the father of my unborn child. He’s not my boyfriend either.

Soon, I’m going to be rich beyond my wildest dreams. And it’s all because of the baby growing inside me.

She’s judging me because I am twenty-three years old, eight months pregnant, and unmarried. But honestly, it’s none of her damn business.

But the fact is I did get pregnant at age twenty-two. It was a one-night stand. And up until recently, I didn’t know who the father was.

Even though I haven’t seen her face yet, I already love her. I want her to have a better life than I’ve had and all the advantages I never got to have. And I’ll do whatever I have to do to get it for her.

Simon slipped something into my drink. And then when we got back to my hotel room, he… Oh God.

“You raped me!” I blurt out.

This man is going to kill me. But not before he does whatever he wants to me.

And a sudden terrible certainty goes through my head: I’m going to die here.

How do you know what’s right or wrong without your mother telling you so?

One way or another, I’m getting Tegan’s baby.

“Nobody would care if she vanished off the face of the earth.” “I would care.”

I’m not going to make it out of here alive. And neither will my baby.

Is he trying to tell me that Polly was the one responsible for imprisoning me in the basement? Is that possible?

When Jackson was by my bed, I wanted him gone. But there was something he wanted to tell me. And the look in his eyes—it wasn’t menacing. It was something else. It was fear.

I’m still here, Mama. You’ve got me! I do still have my daughter. The one blessing is that she made it through this, still okay.

Polly showed up here tonight. I don’t know what her motivation for coming was, but she stopped Dennis from killing me and my baby. I hate her for what she did to me, but I also realize that if it weren’t for her and Hank, I would be dead right now. They have saved me twice over. I am only here right now because of her. I owe her. But I’m still not sure it’s enough.

Tia Marie Werner. Five pounds eight ounces. And absolutely perfect.