I hadn’t even realized I’d said anything until Eddie’s cruel laughter washed over me like tar. “If you think that, you’re even dumber than I thought. Did you listen to my recording?” He jabbed this finger into my forehead repeatedly, punctuating each word. “Did it sink into your thick skull? He’s not going to look for you because he thinks you betrayed him. You should’ve seen the look on his face. He clearly didn’t love you like he thought. I’m surprised he didn’t come over here and kill you himself.”

Tears slipped from my eyes. I hoped he was wrong.

I hoped Ward would let me explain.

Crouching down, Eddie squeezed my face, his fingers digging in to press my already bruised cheeks against my teeth. “All our friends at home know you left me. I told them it was because you weren’t ready for motherhood, and you terminated the pregnancy. And now all your friends here hate you. They think you’re a rat who’s in hiding. You know what they do to rats?” He shook his head. “I always told you, Jane, you’re a bad friend. And here’s the proof.”

And that was why he’d done it—the restraining order and the recording. It wasn’t just to cover his ass so Ward didn’t try to track me down.

It was to cause the most pain. To punish Ward for being with me. To take away what little joy I had. He wanted to make sure I knew I had no one.

Even when I’d been the dutiful girlfriend and fiancé, Eddie had always been sadistic. At my perceived betrayal, he wanted to make sure I hurt down to my soul. Until I was completely shattered and destroyed.

He scanned my swelling face.

The dripping blood.

The tears that I couldn’t stop no matter how hard I tried.

He grinned, and it was unnatural. Evil. “I’m gonna dump your body in the middle of nowhere on my way home. No one will find you. No one will even look for you. Because I’m all you had.”

“How did you know about the coma?” I forced out. If I was about to die, and if the watch was actually recording, I wanted Mayhem to know I hadn’t done anything.

I wanted Ward to know I’d never betray him.

“Your phone. After you opened that link, I could hear everything.” His face flushed even as his expression remained relaxed.

Years with Eddie had trained me more than my college courses ever could. I’d had to get good at reading his expressions, no matter how small. How insignificant.

The way his skin mottled sent panic down my spine.

I was out of time.

I tried one last effort even though the words tasted like acid on my tongue. “What about our baby?”

It was the wrong thing to say.