For a breathless second, there was only silence.
Then the wind screamed.
And Maya's body hit the asphalt with a sickening THUD—bones cracking like shattered glass beneath porcelain skin.
The pain didn’t come right away. First, there was numbness. Then the shock peeled back, slow and ruthless.
Agony surged up her spine, wrapped around her ribs like a vice. Her eyes flew open as the white-hot stab of broken bones and bleeding limbs made her gasp.
"F-Fuck..." The word tore from her lips, raw and trembling.
She couldn’t breathe. The night sky spun above her, cruel and detached. Her blood was warm and sticky. Spread in a dark halo around her body.
Tires screeched just ahead. Smoke curled into the cold air. The luxurious car that had slammed into her reversed slightly, just enough not to
