Windmere

Crack. Thunder lit up the sky, and fat raindrops started hammering down, kicking up splash after splash on the pavement.

Bang!

The car suddenly lost control. Tires screeched sharply, and then it flipped, tumbling across the ground with a loud crash before coming to a stop.

"Broderick Ackerley!" A sharp, heart-wrenching scream tore through the rain.

Leslie Green unbuckled in a hurry and bolted out of the car.

She had just received word that the Green family wanted to stage a car crash to kill Broderick. She rushed after him immediately, but it was already too late—she could only watch helplessly as his car spun out.

The rain hit her face hard, blurring her vision instantly.

The driver’s side window had shattered. Broderick’s head was pressed against the ground, blood streaming from his forehead.

His consciousness was slipping.

Was he hallucinating? Could’ve sworn that was Leslie screaming his name.

Wasn’t she the one who had always wanted him gone? Now, at last, he was dying—shouldn’t that make her happy?

But then—

"Broderick!"

Not a hallucination. Her desperate cries cut through the pounding rain like knives, jarring him awake.

"Broderick, don’t you dare die on me! Stay with me!"

Leslie stumbled over and fell to her knees beside him, crying as she dragged him out of the wreckage. She cradled his head on her lap, tears mixing with rainwater on her cheeks, her whole body shaking with sobs.

"Why… why is this happening?!"

Her hands trembled as she gently cupped his face—once so proud and untouchable, now barely breathing, barely alive.

She leaned down, kissing his bloodied forehead with cold lips.

"Broderick, hang in there. Please don’t die on me."

She leaned over him, shielding his face from the relentless rain.

Broderick blinked slowly, one hand trembling as he lifted it and reached up to touch her cheek like she was the most precious thing in the world.

"Leslie… are you crying for me? You don’t want me to go? Do you... do you love me now?"

Her mind went blank for a second.

Did she? Was she really in love with Broderick?

She found herself nodding before she even realized it.

A spark flickered in Broderick’s eyes, faint but real.

"Really? That makes me so happy, Leslie..."

She shook her head hard. "Broderick, I never wanted you to die. I begged them; they promised they wouldn’t hurt you. But they lied. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry…”

"I’ve got no blame for you. Just knowing you loved me… that’s enough. I can go in peace now."

A cold voice suddenly cut through the rain behind them.

"So, you really did fall for him?"

Samuel Green stood there staring, disappointment etched deep in his eyes.

He was dressed to the nines, a black pistol gripped tightly in his hand, aimed straight at them.

Standing beside him, holding an umbrella over his head, was Leslie’s second sister—Lydia Green. She wore a bright red dress and had a cruel little smile tugging at her lips.

"Do it, big brother," she urged. "Didn’t I tell you? After four years by that man’s side, you really thought she’d stay clean? Look at her. She’s completely fallen for him. And she tried to claim there was nothing between them?"

She wrapped her fingers around the pistol and started to squeeze the trigger along with him.

"Come on, don’t tell me you’re hesitating. Just look at your dear sister—so heartbroken. Once she finds out you killed her precious Broderick, what then? She’ll come running for revenge. Better to be done with it. Take them both out. Nice and clean."

Leslie gawked at them in disbelief, her eyes full of pain.

"Big brother… I’m your sister. You… you really want to kill me?"