When she opened her eyes again, Graham stood opposite her in the kitchen. Matthew was still screaming, Lauren’s hands were still trembling, but now, Graham looked at her with condemnation. He’d had time to prepare a story. He’d planned a way to twist the blame.

And Lauren had believed him.

“It was you,” she hissed, her voice croaky under the weight of his hands. “You hurt Matthew that night. Not me.”

Graham’s eyes narrowed. “It could have been you, though. Sooner or later, it would have been.”

“But I didn’t. You wanted to hurt me, but you hurt him instead. Just like you hurt Piper.”

“It’s not like I meant to do it,” Graham said. “You’re making me out like I’m some kind of monster.”

“Oh, like you’ve made me out to be a monster for the past months?” Lauren exploded. “Making me think I’m blacking out and forgetting things with my mom brain? You’ve been gaslighting me!”

“I was trying to keep everyone safe!” Graham roared.

“Safe?” Lauren whispered, shaking all over. And then she looked at the ripped photo in her hands. Piper looked so sad. And Lauren felt sad, too. This man she thought she loved was a whole other person. And soon, she wouldn’t know him anymore.

When the blow came to the side of her head, she wasn’t expecting it, and her teeth came down hard on her tongue. The pain was white-hot, exploding stars and a bouncing brain. Behind her, Andrea screamed. Lauren could feel the image of Piper being pulled from her hands; she tried to tug it back from Graham, but that just made it rip more. And then another sound: a crack of something. The gun? Lauren tried to roll onto her side, but she couldn’t move. Andrea screamed again, and then Lauren felt Graham lift off her, maybe going for Andrea instead. Sound danced in and out in warped waves, but she heard footsteps, and then shouting and then . . . a voice.

“Up against the wall!” came a bellow.

Even years later, the image Lauren saw when she opened her eyes would remain crisp in her mind. It wasn’t Ronnie and Andrea cowering against the wall of Piper’s foyer but Graham. That baby-faced police officer aimed a gun at his chest. Graham had his hands curled at his sides, and his mouth was gummy and pleading, and then another cop swarmed in, and another. “Don’t move!” they were all shouting—to Graham.

How? Lauren wondered. She glanced at Andrea and Ronnie, but they looked just as surprised that the police were here.