Chapter 42

• Present
• Valerie's eyes slowly fluttered open, her mind foggy and disoriented. She groaned in pain, her head throbbing and her leg aching. She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over her, forcing her to lie back down.
• As she struggled to regain her bearings, she saw the woman who had been driving the car slumped over the steering wheel, still unconscious. Valerie's mind racing with fear and uncertainty, she knew she had to escape from the woman and the car.