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Hilly braced one arm behind her, and with all the remaining strength in her body, she thrust one last time.
The stone teetered for a split second…
…then fell with a series of clamorous bounces, ending with a loud, satisfying crash far below.
Knowing she had no time to waste to appreciate her effort, Hilly bit the inside of her cheek and shuffled her way back to the rock wall, managing at the final moment to tuck herself under some overhanging greenery where she folded in half and made herself as small as possible.
“What the…?”
She heard Cottins’ growl from above, and a beam of light cut through the dark, raking down over the ledge where she was wedged.
Hilly closed her eyes and held her breath. Not that it would do any good. Cottins would either spot her or he wouldn’t…
The light tracked from side to side, and eventually a jubilant laugh sounded from somewhere above her.
“Well, looky there.” Cottins’ triumphant sneer reached Hilly’s ears. “The cunt managed it all by herself.” He laughed almost hysterically. “Fell over the edge without my help. All the better, bitch,” he yelled down toward her supposed dead body. “Now, nobody can blame it on me. It’ll look like you were despondent after setting your boyfriend on fire, and in your grief, took your own life.”
Hilly wanted to groan at the reminder that she didn’t know what had happened to Cisco, but she didn’t dare twitch.
Cottins had taken her bait, but he had yet to move on. As far as she could tell, he still stood above her, gloating. She wished he’d disappear so she could figure out how to get herself off the ledge. Going up was going to be a lot more difficult than coming down, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her. She’d gotten herself this far; she’d managed the rest. Cisco would be so proud…
Hilly suppressed another sob.
When she got out of this, she’d make sure Cottins paid.
All of a sudden, from up above, she heard a loud, “oof”.
What the hell?
Fists hitting flesh reverberated through the darkness.
“Where is she, you bastard?”
Cisco?
Oh, my God. Cisco! He wasn’t dead!
Joy flared inside of Hilly, growing so intense it threatened to consume her. The feelings that had been attempting to take over her heart since the moment she’d reconnected with Cisco—something she’d desperately been trying to ignore—were suddenly let loose, and securing them deep inside again was no longer on her agenda. Her feelings for Cisco were far more powerful and all-consuming than she’d previously allowed herself to admit, and now that both she and Cisco had faced death and survived, Hilly was ready to let her emotions loose; to shout them to the world.
She loved Cisco.
She. Loved. Cisco.
Admitting it didn’t scare her any more, and she had to tell him, right the hell, now. If she could make herself heard.
“Cisco,” Hilly rasped, but frustratingly, she couldn’t manage to get any volume behind her cry.
It didn’t help that Cottins was still spewing vitriol.
“She’s dead,” the developer chortled from above, “and she did it herself. She threw herself over the edge because she thought you burned.”
“I’ll kill you, you bastard.” Cisco’s cold voice wasn’t one she’d heard before. It was filled with grief, anger, and the dark promise of pain.
The sound of Cisco’s renewed punches carried down to her, and she worried for him. If he killed Cottins, he’d go to jail. The developer wasn’t worth it. She had to stop him.
And seriously, Hilly didn’t actually want Cottins dead. That would be too easy an out for the vile man. She wanted the asshole to stand trial; get locked up for a very long time over everything he’d done.
Hilly drew in a pained breath and tried again. “Cisco!”