“Oh my God.”

“It was the only way,” she repeats. “I would do anything to protect our family, Whitney. Anything.”

What she said to Harrison a few moments ago echoes in my brain. “I killed them all.”

“What did you mean . . . you killed them all? Who else?” I can’t believe I’m asking this question right now, but I have to know.

My aunt’s face turns grave. “I should’ve told you everything that night. I should’ve told you how sorry I was. I didn’t mean to kill them. I just couldn’t save them.”

Jackie’s words send waves of confusion rocking through me.

“What are you talking about?”

Her tears flow faster. “I was driving Roosevelt Riscoff’s car that night it went over the bridge. We were arguing.”

Oh my God. Jackie was driving his car? Not my mother? For ten years, I’ve thought that my father hit Roosevelt Riscoff’s car because Roosevelt and my mother were trying to run away together and my father was enraged.

But if Jackie was driving Roosevelt’s car . . . “Why? Why were you driving his car?”

Her shoulders droop for a moment before she looks up at me. “Because I was the one who had an affair with him. Not your mom. And you need to know . . . Ricky wasn’t a Riscoff. Renee lied to Roosevelt. She would’ve never given a DNA sample because she was scamming him for years. He just wouldn’t listen.”

“What?” I blink twice, and my head pounds. Nothing feels real.

Jackie swallows. “Everyone lied, sweet girl, including me. But I couldn’t tell the truth either. Cricket and Karma are Riscoffs. Roosevelt got me pregnant when I was twenty years old. He threatened me. Told me he’d only pay if I never said anything to anyone. I took the money.”

Sweet Jesus. It’s like listening to Renee Rango tell her story, except . . . apparently she lied about that too? Confusion batters my brain, and I can’t figure out how all the pieces fit together. It’s too overwhelming.

“Why were you in his car that night? Were you still having an affair?”

She shakes her head, and her features turn to stone. Once more, I’m looking at a stranger.

“No. Once I told him I was pregnant, he never touched me again. I would’ve shot him first.”

“I don’t understand.” I whisper the words, and it’s the truth. How could she have been in his car that night if the affair had been over for twenty years?

“Roosevelt saw Karma in a bar. He hit on her, not realizing she was his daughter. When she came home and told me what happened, I lost it. He hit on his own daughter. Who does that?” Jackie’s face contorts as she wails the words.

“Oh my God.” I lift one hand to my mouth, pressing hard as though it can stop the bile rising in my throat. I feel like I’m going to be sick.

Jackie might sound crazy, but I know she has absolutely no reason to lie. Which means . . . Cricket and Karma are Lincoln’s half sisters. Roosevelt tried to hit on his own daughter. And somehow, Jackie is responsible for the accident that killed him and my parents.