For the second time in 24 hours, Tim returned to consciousness with a deafening pounding in his head. He was hanging forward limply, with only his seatbelt supporting his body. As he pried his eyes open—when had his eyelids become as heavy as sandbags?—he felt a hand griping his arm, shaking it gently.

"Tim?" Katharine's voice trembled and Tim could hear that she was crying. Her voice was hoarse and weak as she pled with him. "Tim, please wake up…please…"

"I'm up," he grumbled. "What…what happened?" He finally managed to get his eyes open, blinking them a few times to focus. The first thing he saw was the steering wheel, directly in front of his face, with a now-deflated airbag dangling from the center. The overhead light was on—Katharine must have flipped it on while he was out—and he saw a dark red stain on the airbag. Tim didn't need to touch it to know it was blood and that it was his. The pain in his head told him everything.

"We crashed," Katharine said in response to the question."

It was then that Tim remembered the events preceding this. He remembered his car slipping down the road, him unable to control it. He remembered watching as they went over the edge, assuming it would kill them. Suddenly, his splitting headache didn't seem so bad in the grand scheme of things.

"How…?" He peered out the windshield, which had been partially shattered in the crash. The car was situated at almost a 45 degree angle, though it was more vertical than it was horizontal. By sheer grace, when his car had gone over the edge of the road, it had managed to land between the limbs of a large oak tree, hitting it at such an angle that the front became lodged enough to support the weight of the car. The front was mangled and broken, as was the front windshield, but they were alive.

Still, that didn't mean they were completely unharmed. Aside from his headache, Tim's wrist had been hurt. He didn't think it was broken, but it might be sprained. Looking to Katharine, he saw that she had a bloodied nose, probably a result of the airbag hitting her in the face. Both of them had bruises and cuts marring their bodies.

"Are you hurt?"

"My ankle…I think it might be broken and I may have gotten whiplash." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Do you remember what happened? Before the crash? Before we even woke up in the car?"

Katharine cried as she nodded. "I had seen Leanne and Donny head that way and…and I felt…I don't know…suspicious, I guess. So I followed them."

"What happened?"

"They were talking. Donny was mad at her for kissing Nick, which I thought was weird. But then she kept telling him not to worry, that it would be over soon and…and…" She stopped as a sob overtook her body. Tim rubbed her back, waiting patiently for her to regain her composure. "They were talking about killing him, Tim!"

"Killing who?"

"Nick! Leanne was telling Donny that they needed to make it look like a suicide or an accident. Otherwise they wouldn't get the money."

Tim winced. So that's what this was all about. The money. Admittedly, he had suspected that Leanne might be a gold digger, that she might eventually leave him in a few years, taking a chunk of his change with her, but even he hadn't thought she was capable of this.

He began putting the pieces together. Obviously it had been a scheme from the start. Maybe Donny had recognized Nick as being rich and had confided in Leanne. Then, she'd made it a point to show up at the garage just in time to meet Nick. Leanne had planned to woo him, get married and then off him to inherit his money. It explained Donny's obvious disgust about Leanne and Nick's displays of affection. However, Katharine had put a kink in their plans, as had Tim when he'd rushed out to save her. So Leanne and Donny had tried to get rid of them, and had almost succeeded.

What to do now?

The tears were still flowing from Katharine. "We can't let them, Tim! I don't want Nick to die!"

"He won't," Tim promised, hoping he was right.

"It's almost two in the morning. The wedding is in less than twelve hours, we're hurt and we don't know even know where we are. We have no way of contacting anyone."

Tim instinctively reached to his pocket. His cell phone was gone. She was right; they wouldn't be able to contact anyone.

"Assuming we can even get out of this…this, death trap," she spat out, a mixture of anger and fear bubbling in her voice, "we'll never be able to get anywhere. I can't move very quickly, anyway, so I'll slow us down."

"We're going to get out of here," Tim assured her. He looked around wearily. They would get out…he just had to figure out how.

Nick was concerned as he and Leanne drove home that night. He had spent the evening surrounded by people, all congratulating him on his engagement; yet, when he'd tried to find his sister to say goodbye for the night, he hadn't been able to find her anywhere. It wasn't like Katharine to leave without saying goodbye, especially to her own brother.

"Don't worry, sweetie," Leanne cooed. "I think I saw Katharine leaving with that friend of yours. Uh…Tim? Was that his name?"

"Tim…yeah…"

"They were pretty cozy tonight. I think I saw a little spark between them."

Nick frowned. It wasn't an angry frown, though; just a pensive one. Katharine and Tim. He had to admit that, while he didn't like to think about his little sister being romantically involved, Tim was one of the few guys he trusted enough to know he'd take care of her. If Katharine had to date someone—and she would, more likely than not—he couldn't really think of someone better than Tim.

But leaving together? Could they have gone to…Nick winced. Don't even think about that. Katharine and Tim were both adults…whatever they did in their spare time was none of his business.

"You may be right," he admitted. "I guess it's just the big brother in me."

"I understand that." Leanne's hand slowly found its way to the back of his head, her fingers running through his hair in a way that he found so relaxing. "I just hate to see you so worried. I want you to be happy tomorrow."

"I will be," he said quickly. Of course he'd be happy tomorrow. It was his wedding day, after all. Who wouldn't be happy?

A vixen smile spread over her face. "Good. Because I don't want anything to go wrong."

And nothing would. The loose ends had been taken care of. All she had to do tomorrow was show up at the church. Then, a quick accident to take care of her husband and she'd be rolling in the dough.

She leaned her head against the window, thinking about what she would do with all of that money. She had so many plans—clothes she would buy, places she would go, things she would experience.

Leanne's smile faltered as her mind shifted to her accomplice . Poor Donny. So sure he was a part of her plan. He had to be one of the dumbest men she'd ever met. But he was certainly useful, she had to admit. It was going to be a shame to have to kill him, too. But she had no other choice. He knew too much. Besides, fifty percent of a fortune was nice, but it was nowhere near as wonderful as one hundred percent.

"Are you excited about tomorrow, Leanne?"

"Yes," she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Very excited."

Though the tree had served as their saving grace during the crash, it was obvious they couldn't stay in that car much longer. Aside from having to get to Nick before it was too late, there was no telling how long the tree and its limbs would continue to hold the car. The last thing they needed was to plummet further into the ravine.

Tim surveyed the situation while Katharine sat beside him, exhaustion setting in. She was crumpled against the door, gently checking on her ankle. "How are we going to get out of here, Tim?"

"I'm trying to figure that out." The doors could open, but only so wide, as the tree limbs were practically against the door. They could break the back windshield and climb out that way. The back end of the car was clinging to the edge of the road, so they could just jump off the trunk and onto solid ground.

He looked to Katharine and shook his head. With her ankle injury, it was unlikely that she'd be able to push herself upward and climb out that way. They would have to climb out of either the front windshield or the side windows. Peering out of the driver's side window, he saw the tree limbs surrounding them. They crookedly wove their way up to where the road was and were thick and sturdy enough that they could straddle them and shimmy their way up.

"Kat, do you think you could climb up one of these tree limbs? If you sat down and pulled yourself up, I mean?"

"Maybe…it would take me a while."

"That's fine," he said. Tim pressed the button to open the window, but it remained closed. Great; such was a curse of automatic windows. "I'll have to break it open," he said as he slipped off his suit jacket. He wrapped it around his feet and turned so that he was facing the window head-on. Then, he leaned back and lifted his feet. "Cover your head."

"What?"

"Glass is going to go flying. Just protect yourself."

She curled herself up into a ball, arms protecting her head and face. "Okay."

Tim turned back to the window, braced his hands on the steering wheel and head rest, and struck his feet against the window. It didn't break with the first hit or the second one, but it began to crack with the third hit. When he struck the window for a fourth time, the glass crashed and splintered, leaving a jagged hole in the window. He removed the jacket from his feet and used it to brush away remaining bits of glass around the frame of the window.

"Okay," he said, shaking out the jacket, "I think I got most of the glass off, but be careful when you climb out. I'll get out and then help you."

Slowly, he pulled his body out, head first, using his good hand as much as possible. He felt remnants of glass scrapping against him, but he only grunted and continued pulling. Soon, he was seated on one of the limbs and he slipped down a little further, allowing Katharine room to get on the tree.

"Be careful," he said as she crept toward the window.

"I am, Tim." She knelt atop the driver's seat and leaned her head and shoulders through. Tim grabbed her arms, steadying her. With her knee, she pushed herself further through and slid closer to the door.

"Here." With his good hand, Tim reached in and slipped his arm beneath her legs. Then, he lifted her as best he could and gently extracted her from the car and deposited her on the tree limb.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"Now let your legs hang on each side. Then you can pull yourself along."

She glanced down at her bare legs with a frown. This was going to hurt, no doubt.

Tim saw her expression and, as if reading her mind, he took his jacket and draped it across the limb with the lining facing upward. "Here, you can sit on that. It couldn't hurt so much. And I'll be right behind you," he promised. "Are you ready?"

Katharine pulled herself onto the jacket and then wrapped her legs around the tree limb. "Ready."

Tim sat similarly behind her. "Let's go."

Together, they shimmied up the tree limb, Katharine in front, and Tim right behind her. She would reach up and grab hold of the limb, then drag her body up. Tim did the same, though he had to be careful of not further straining his wrist.

The way up was long and tiring, particularly when one was as weary and bruised as they were. As they went along, it grew more and more difficult, especially as the limb grew more and more vertical. Soon, Katharine was practically lying flat against the limb, clinging to it as if for dear life.

"Wait," she gasped, stopping and lying her head down. "I need to rest for a second."

"We don't have much time, Kat." He was sympathetic, but he had to keep pushing her. Every second wasted was a second against Nick's life. "Just count to ten and catch your breath, then keep going."

"I'm just so tired…I don't think I can hold on."

Tim placed a hand on her back and pushed gently. "We're almost there. Just keep holding on and take your time."

She moved at a snail's pace, but she kept it steady, working her body along the tree limb, her eyes squeezed shut. Tim kept a hand on her back or shoulder the entire time, constantly giving her gentle pushes.

Finally, they were right above the road, the limb about seven or eight feet above it. "I'll go down first," Tim said, already swinging his leg over and lowering himself. With his feet firmly on the ground, he reached up to Katharine. "Come on."

She peeled her body away from the limb and dangled herself down, reaching for Tim. He wrapped his arms around her body and brought her slowly down onto the ground. The moment her feet hit the pavement, she brought her arms around him, buried her face into her shoulder, and dissolved into sobs.

Tim wasn't sure if the tears were ones of fear or relief; he suspected it was a combination of the two. Either way, he responded by reciprocating the embrace. "Come on, Kat…it's gonna be okay."

He could barely even believe his own words.