“He drove me all the way out here, three hours. Bought me the basics I needed. Hid all traces of where I would be. And it worked. Derek never popped up once.” She let out a bitter laugh. “He never was one to put in an effort when things got challenging. I figured he’d moved on.”

“But now you’re not so sure.” My fingers curled around the arm of my chair, knuckles bleaching white.

“He wasn’t happy that she was married,” Walker offered.

“It’s not that simple,” Anna cut in. “It’s ego more than anything. He was always the only safe place I had—or that’s what I thought, anyway.”

“He won’t like that you made a safe place on your own,” I surmised.

She nodded. “Hope House was everything I needed to get my sea legs again. And I wasn’t worried about running into Derek or my family. I started to breathe. I would go on these long walks in the woods behind the center. For hours. And for the first time, I didn’t hear all of the voices saying ugly things about me. I started hearing my voice again. I started believing that I might have a purpose in this life, after all.”

I moved my chair closer, my hand slipping under Anna’s hair at the back of her neck. “You do have a purpose. I’ve seen it time and again. In the way you reach any resident from the grumpiest hardened men, to women scarred by trauma, to terrified kids. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She swallowed audibly. “I don’t want to lose any of that. I don’t want to lose Justin and Lyla. And Derek might try to make trouble just to spite me.”

“He might try, but he won’t succeed,” I vowed.

“Mase is right,” Walker agreed. “Raymond has too long a record for any judge to take his word. Especially when you haven’t had a single brush with the law since they released you from juvie. I’ve got a call in to Detective Markum. I think it might be worth talking to your lawyer about having him as a character witness. He can speak to what he saw of your parents, as well.”

Anna untwisted the two little strings she had a death grip on. “I don’t want to get him involved in this.”

Walker looked her straight in the eyes. “Trust me. He’ll be happy to help.”

“How do you know that?”

He shrugged. “Markum sounds like a really good cop. It burns when we know justice hasn’t been served, and there’s nothing we can do about it. This might let him right a few wrongs.”

Anna released her hold on the strings. “I’ll text Keisha.”