My mouth went dry. My stomach soured. What I planned to say would take me off his admirable list. Maybe I shouldn’t confess and break my promise to Marissa. But something whispered to me otherwise.

Denton’s brown eyes peered through to my soul. “Something else I noted—Shelby, when I broke into your cabin and read a note in your Bible, you penned ‘only God knows the truth.’ During the time the shooters unloaded on the safe house, Isaac told me you refused to touch Aaron’s gun, even if a killer opened the door. He also said you froze in the hotel stairwell. Isaac had lost his gun, and you couldn’t pick it up. Your dad confirmed your aversion to weapons. The incidents kept me up all night. Did you promise God never to touch a firearm again?”

Heat blazed from my neck into my face. I’d relied on deceit for so long that a black hole permeated my soul. Now Dad faced investigation for an inconceivable crime after he wanted me back in his life. Until all the facts surfaced, he’d be a person of interest in a money-laundering organization based on some woman’s testimony who’d offered his name in an FBI interview. I sensed everyone’s eyes on me.

Once again I was in a cell of my own making.

“Shelby, you’re like a daughter to me,” the sheriff said. “We have the resources to handle whatever’s goin’ on. But we need the facts.”

“We want to help.” Pastor Emory’s counseling tone mingled with his prayerlike voice.

At least he didn’t say, “The truth would set me free.” I’d long abandoned the verse knowing my confession led to harm for those I loved. Did these three men suspect the truth?

“I’ve lied to all of you,” I whispered.

“Your hesitation and pale features show years of suffering and pain.” Pastor Emory patted my shoulder.

A torrent of emotions flowed unchecked and challenged me to transparency. To live behind a mask of deception meant eventually the facade became reality. The thought frightened me . . . almost as much as the truth. “Pastor, I made a promise.”

“Promises are virtuous and God-honoring if they follow His ways.”

I gripped my trembling hands. “And where does unconditional love fit?”

“For every person on the planet. We are instructed to love but not to lie.”

“Breaking my promise means destroying the lives of my dad and niece.”

Pastor Emory nodded. “What would they say if they were here now?”

The cliché of my heart pounding in my ears fit. While my gaze stayed fixed on him, his face blurred from my tears.

“What haunts you, Shelby?” the pastor said. “How have you lied?”

I breathed in, a prayer for courage. “I didn’t pull the trigger on Travis.”

Silence swept around the room. The words had never been uttered until now. Yet freedom lifted the burden I’d carried for so long.

“Why confess to a crime in which you were innocent?” Pastor Emory’s voice continued to calm me.