Sterling and Vanessa froze at the top of the stairs as Mira's body hit the ground with a sickening thud.
For a moment, there was nothing—no sound, no breath, just the sharp echo of what they had done.
Then Sterling whispered, trembling,
"God… Mira?"
They ran down the stairs, tripping over each other in panic. Sterling reached her first, falling to his knees beside her. Mira lay on her side, eyes half-open, her breathing shallow but still there. Her hands were curled protectively over her stomach.
"Mira—baby—Mira, hey—stay with me," Sterling said, voice cracking.
Vanessa hovered behind him, shaking. "Is… is she dead?"
"No!" Sterling snapped, placing a hand near Mira's cheek. "She's breathing—Vanessa, she's breathing!"
Mira's lips moved weakly.
Not begging for her life.
Not even looking at Sterling.
Just a whisper so fragile it barely existed:
"Please… my baby… don't… hurt my baby…save my baby...please"
Sterling's eyes widened, horror and guilt clashing in his chest.
"I need to get her to the hospital," he said, voice rising. "We can still save her—Vanessa, help me carry—"
Before he could finish, Vanessa grabbed his arm.
Her nails dug in.
"Sterling, stop."
"She's alive!" he shouted.
"And she saw us!" Vanessa hissed, panic twisting her features. "She walked in on us! If she lives—if she survives this—our lives are over. Do you understand?"
Sterling looked torn, shaking his head. "I didn't mean to push her! I was trying to stop the fight—Vanessa, this wasn't supposed to—"
"Wake up!" Vanessa snapped. "She's going to tell the police you pushed her. And the baby—Sterling, the baby—this is attempted murder!"
Mira let out a faint groan, her fingers twitching toward her stomach.
Sterling whispered her name again.
"Mira…"
But Vanessa's eyes hardened.
"This is our only chance."
Before Sterling understood, Vanessa reached for the flower vase on the console table. She lifted it with trembling hands.
"Vanessa—no—"
"Sterling, if she wakes up, we're done!"
She swung.
The vase hit Mira's head with a dull crack.
Sterling covered his mouth, stumbling back.
"What have you done?" His voice was barely a breath.
Vanessa dropped the vase, her chest heaving. "What you didn't have the courage to."
Sterling sat heavily on the floor, fingers digging into his hair. "This is murder. Oh God—Vanessa, we killed her—"
"We killed the problem," Vanessa hissed. "Now get up. We need to hide the body."
Night swallowed the world as Sterling and Vanessa drove far outside town in Sterling's SUV, Mira's body wrapped and silent in the back.
Neither spoke.
Sterling's hands shook on the steering wheel. His eyes were swollen from crying he tried to hide. Vanessa stared out the window, jaw clenched, replaying the moment over and over.
They found a dense stretch of bushland, one nobody passed through at night.
Working in terrified silence, they dragged Mira's body into the darkness. Sterling couldn't stop trembling.
"She didn't deserve this…" he muttered. "She didn't—"
"Sterling." Vanessa's voice was sharp, impatient. "We don't have time."
They buried her in a shallow grave as insects buzzed and night creatures cried in the distance. Sterling couldn't bring himself to cover her face with soil—Vanessa did it.
By the time they returned to the car, Sterling felt sick.
"It's done," he whispered, gripping the steering wheel. "Let's just go home and—"
Venessa head had been working nonstop, she was not comfortable with the they dispose, people might still find out if care was not taken. Suddenly an idea poop up in her head.
"No," Vanessa cut in sharply.
Sterling blinked. "What?"
"We have to go back," she said.
"For what?"
"To burn it." Her voice was steady, emotionless. "The body. The clothes. The soil. Everything."
Sterling stared at her, horrified.
"Burn her? Vanessa—that's—"
"That's the only way we erase evidence," she snapped. "If anyone finds her body, we're finished. Do you understand? Finished."
Sterling swallowed hard, but he knew she was right—or at least, he believed her because fear made him desperate.
He slowly turned the car around.
Back toward the grave.
Back to the body they buried, they dig like their depends on it, and set it on fire. Sterling legs gave in as he almost fell to his knee, the cruelty was too much. A wife and a child in one day.
Venessa moved to his side to support him, and they stood side by side looking toward the flames that would hide everything. Little do they know as a far distance they've been watch by raging eyes which will soon come to destroy their perfect little plan.
As they drove into the darkness, Vanessa whispered, almost to herself:
"She was going to ruin our life, Sterling. We're just making sure she never does."
Sterling didn't answer.
He just drove, with guilt gnawing at him so deeply he could barely breathe.