I shouldn’t have made that promise because nothing was fine. My husband was cheating on me. My son was being accused of rape. Everything spun out of control and I couldn’t right it. I had no idea what Ryan would say in that interrogation room, and I was petrified to find out the truth. Because I knew better than anyone that sometimes the truth didn’t always set you free.

Chapter 29

Lily

SATURDAY

Hiding my head under my pillow, I had ignored six phone calls and four text messages from Robin in the past hour. Only two days into her administrative job for Workout Wonder and already she had double-booked two clients, overcharged another one, and scheduled a prospective client on my only day off. If it was anyone but Robin, I would have fired her ass on the spot and shredded her with words.

“With everything going on, why not wait until things calm down?” I suggested this morning upon discovering the mix-ups. “You’re dealing with too much all at once.”

But she was adamant about needing a distraction. Anything to curb the anxiety of watching her life crumble around her. So I agreed. Guilt held me captive.

Guilt and withdrawal, that is.

My temples throbbed, my eyes hurt too much to read the texts, and whatever emergency Robin had created would have to wait. After last night’s tire-slashing drama, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop wondering and worrying who did it, and why. Normally I would have muted the anxiety with a pill or two—slept it off. My newfound sobriety couldn’t have had worse timing, but I was useless when I was high and I needed to stay clean if I was going to figure out who was behind the threat.

When the tow truck arrived, the driver chalked the incident up to a teenage prank. Either that or someone really hated my guts. I didn’t laugh, because I had an ill feeling that it was the latter.

Rolling onto my back, I wrestled my pillow underneath me and stared at the orange prescription bottle of painkillers taunting me from the bedside table. I picked it up, popping off the lid. Inside the plastic they rattled a Siren call.

“No!” Pills scattered across the floor as I tossed the bottle toward the garbage can and missed.

The glisten of a knife’s blade caught a stray sunbeam. I had pulled it out of my tire and considered taking it to the police for fingerprinting, but I was sure they’d laugh me right out of the station. A minor vandalism dispute was nothing compared to the murderers they were probably chasing.