The path no longer stretches on in front of me, and instead I’m standing at the edge of a small cliff, the ground below hard to see through the darkness and distance.

Shit.

“Allie!”

Damien’s voice makes me whirl around, and I exhale shakily, watching him race toward me, James in tow. Zoe appears shortly after, looking furious. The one missing face makes my heart clench.

“Stop running,” Damien pleads, holding his hands out in surrender, his eyebrows tipping upward. “I never wanted any of this to happen. Please, just stop!”

I want to take a step away, but there’s nowhere else to run. Maybe this really is the end.

He motions for the other two to stay behind then continues to walk toward the top of the hill, looking at me imploringly. “Allie, I love you,” he says, voice clogged with emotion, looking disheveled. “I told you, I don’t care what you did in the past! I’ve made mistakes too. I’m not proud of what I did. But all I care about is being with you.”

Damien extends his arms to me, beckoning me to embrace him. I watch him warily, keeping my guard up.

“If you come with me now, we can put all of this behind us,” he says. “I promise I won’t let her hurt you anymore.”

He gets closer, nearly within reach now. I take the tiniest step back, extremely careful of my footing, knowing full well that one wrong move could send me careening over the edge.

I let him take one of my hands in his. “I just want to have a happy life with you,” he declares.

“For Christ’s sake.” Zoe’s irritated voice causes him to flinch. “She doesn’t love you, Damien. She never has.”

“Yes, she does. Right, Allie?”

I know I should speak, but my heart is pounding too quickly, my head is spinning.

His smile fades, demeanor changing. “Right?” he presses.

“I love you.”

The answer makes his eyebrows draw together, though realization takes him a few moments longer. “You’re lying,” he says, voice breaking. He lets go of my hand. “You’ve been lying this whole time.”

“No, I—”

“How could you?” he shouts, face contorting in rage. “My life revolves around you.”

Damien grabs my arm roughly. I let out a cry of pain and wriggle to get out of his grasp, dangerously close to the cliff’s edge, breathing hard.

“Let go of her!”

The sudden new voice causes all of us to freeze, and my heart leaps. Mason appears, hurrying up the hill, dried blood sticking to his skin and fury visible on his features, even in the low light. The sight of him makes relief swell in my chest.

He’s okay.

He storms toward us, never breaking stride for a second. Damien looks between Mason and me, becoming even more outraged.