Page 105 of Dare To Fall

This game that’s being played with us was set in motion months ago, meticulously constructed to unfold bit by bit, with us as pawns on the chessboard. They wanted everyone to see Eli as a true monster, and they’d achieved their aim.

Who?

Who hates Eli that much, and why? It has to be someone who knows him well. His moods and triggers. The fact he has dyscalculia but has been hiding it from everyone. They’ve been pulling his strings just as they pulled mine.

But no one had gotten to know me. Not properly.

Chewing on my lip, I turn the question over in my head. My blackmailer knew what buttons to press to make me obey them.

Had I really been that easy to read?

They’d made me a victim and preyed on my weaknesses.

What happens when the week is up? Is Eli going back to school? Maybe I should tell him that I don’t intend to go back.

But I’m not sure I can deal with him right now. The moment we shared has been shattered, and it’s left me cold and shaken. I want the confidence that was stolen from me back. I want to be the same Arabella Gray who’d been baking cookies when Eli Travers first walked into my life.

The future looms, murky and uncertain before me.

Chapter 71

Eli

I step into the hallway and move through the cabin. I can hear Ari pottering around in the kitchen, but I don’t go there. Instead, I pull open the front door.

“I’m just going to get some firewood,” I call and walk outside before she answers me.

It isn’t really a lie. I will collect some firewood on my way back, but first, I need to clear my head.

I take a slow walk around the outside of the cabin, then veer off into the woods. I spent every year of my life here with my mom and dad, before she died, and could wander the woods for hours without getting lost. I have no intention of going too far, though, just in case Arabella needs me or gets it into her head to come looking for me.

I walk far enough into the woods that I can’t see the cabin, then stop and lean against a tree, tipping my head back to look up at the sky through the leaves.

Who the fuck was behind those texts? And why did they use Arabella to goad me?

The answer to the second question is easy. She’s the perfect target. She doesn’t have any close ties to anyone at school, no one to confide in, which makes her easy to alienate. When it looked like she had found someone in Miles, they put a stop to it.

But that should mean she is the target and not me, surely?

Is Kellan wrong? Maybe she is the target. Like Zoey was. Maybe it’s not about me at all.

Then why have both girls been targeted? I’m the only connection that links them. No, it makes sense for it to be me. Which takes me back to the question of why? What do they want from me? What do they stand to gain from goading me to react in an aggressive way toward Arabella?

I shake my head.

Nothing about this makes sense. Not without knowing who it is. And I haven’t figured out that puzzle piece yet.

Pushing away from the tree trunk, I walk aimlessly for a little while longer, hands shoved deep into my pockets, until my steps take me back to the cabin.

I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but the sun is setting when I finally open the door and step inside. The smell hits my nose the second I enter, and my stomach lets out a loud grumble.

“Ari?”

She comes out of the kitchen, wiping her hands. “You’ve been out for hours.”

“Have I? I didn’t realize.” Without my cell to set an alarm on, I have no way of keeping track of the time while I’m out.

“I was worried you might have been eaten by a bear.”

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