Uncovering You: The Contract

Chapter Sixteen

(Present day)

I did not renege on that promise.

I just avoided it. When things went wrong, I didn’t call anyone at all.

A little bit of saliva goes down the wrong way and I start to cough violently. My insides spasm and scream. I feel raw, stretched, and very, very thin. My whole body is wasting away in this prison.

I keep coughing, shaking with convulsions, until the fit finally goes away. My throat feels scratchy and blistered. I taste metal on my tongue. I don’t need any light to see that I’m coughing up blood.

I pride myself on understanding people?

I sneer at the naivety I once had. You can read every psychology book in the world and still be blindsided by the cruelty of the human heart.

I am at my very limit. I am a woman on the edge of a precipice. I know that I only have one choice right now:

Die, or sign the contract.