“Lily,” Jack said again, a warning this time. “He gave you an alibi so that he’d have one. I know you don’t want to believe it. That’s why you followed me around and took the video of me burning Raven’s clothes, right? You were desperate to blame someone else.”

“You don’t understand,” Lily said, her voice cracking. “After the police drove away, my dad turned to me and started to cry. He said he understood what I’d done to my mother. He knew she’d been hurting me for so long. But he wouldn’t let anyone arrest me. He’d lie for me, and he’d say we’d been together the whole night, so no one would know that I—”

Raven jerked out of Jack’s grip, inching toward Lily. “He thought you killed her? He said that?”

Lily nodded, a tightness in her chest. Her father had looked so frightened as the police drove away. He’d clutched her shoulders, fingers digging into her skin. He’d bruised her. And he’d promised that no one would ever know that she’d poisoned her mother.

No one would ever take her away from him.

“He must’ve been playing you,” Jack said, looking bereft without Raven to care for. Lily understood that feeling well. In order to get Belle back, she’d have to give up her father. How could she choose between them? How could she sentence either of them to life behind bars? She’d brought the belladonna to her mother. She’d given the killer the idea, and no matter what happened after that, she was complicit in the murder.

“I can’t turn him in.” Lily shook her head. “Not after everything he’s done for me. Not unless I know for sure.”

“You turned me in,” Jack snapped. “You forced me to burn your father’s file, and then you called the cops, and they dragged me—”

“Belle said you were obsessed with Raven! She said you kissed him behind her back, and then you stole his clothes. After he got cleared to come home, Belle thought you killed my mom to keep him safe, and then you stole my dad’s file from my bedroom so you could frame him for the murder.” Lily looked up, her eyes laced with red. “It made sense. I knew where my dad was the night my mom was killed, but you don’t have an alibi.”

“I was home!” Jack swallowed, cheeks flushing with heat. “And I stole Raven’s clothes because I missed him. I started wearing them because…” Jack trailed off, looking at Raven.

“They made you feel close to him,” Lily whispered, her gaze flicking between them. “And maybe… they made you feel closer to yourself?”

Jack’s head snapped up, his green eyes narrowing. “Why would you say that? Did you hear—”