“I didn’t—couldn’t do it anymore. I wanted to be with Tate,” she sobbed and clutched at her chest. “I can’t deal with this pain, Brody. It’s killing me! So I-I-I just took them all.”

Walking over to the kitchen table, I pulled out the chair closest to her and sat down. Leaning forward, I grabbed her arms as gently as possible, and pulled them back when she tried to cover her face again. “Olivia . . . what? No, the report came back. The doctor said you didn’t have any of it in your system.”

“They must have something on him, or paid him off . . . something! They told me they couldn’t have this ruining their family name, so they needed to make it seem like a medical condition. But, Brody, I swear I didn’t know they were going to try to throw the blame on you! I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head back and forth and leaned back in the chair. “No. No way. Liv, you’re just as manipulative as they are. The things you’ve been telling them—no. I’m not falling for this shit again,” I said as I stood to leave.

“Brody, please!”

“How do you expect me to believe you after everything you’ve done since we got married, Olivia?!” I yelled, and she flinched back in her seat. “I’ve excused your behavior, I’ve looked the other way, and I’ve tried to get you help. But no matter what I do, you and your parents are right there trying to screw me over for it.”

“I didn’t want to admit I needed help! I didn’t want to admit I was that weak!” she cried, her voice breaking on the last word. “I’m telling you, and I’ve told you—I can’t do this. But my parents . . . they don’t understand, and—and—what was I supposed to do, Brody? I couldn’t tell them that I wanted to die! I couldn’t tell them I didn’t have the will to live anymore, so I just put it off on you. I’m sorry for that, but it just seemed easiest at the time.”

“Seem—seemed easiest?!” Raking my hands roughly through my hair, I turned and took a few steps before turning back toward her. “Are you f**king kidding me? They tried to get me fired! They tried to get my peace officer license taken away, Liv!”

“They may have acted on things too harshly, but they were doing what they thought was best for their name, and for me. They’re just trying to protect me!”

“I don’t give a shit what they thought they were doing! The three of you—no! The four! You, your parents, and their attorney have been ruining my life. All of this has got to stop, do you hear me? You need to tell your parents what’s happening with you. You need to tell them that you’re suicidal, Liv. And you need to let me get you some help!”

She cried harder and shook her head back and forth. “I can’t! It would be such an embarrassment to them!”

I flung my arms out to the side and my voice got even louder. “Tell me how it could be a f**king embarrassment for their daughter to get help? How could that be worse for them than her being dead, huh? They’ll just have to get over it! Why are you acting like your parents are in the spotlight or something? They’re just normal people. No one is going to know, or say anything, if you get help. And I swear to you, your parents will both be much happier to have their daughter alive and not sick any longer.”

“You don’t understand, Brody! You’ve never understood!”

“Stop with that bullshit! I do understand! No, I didn’t grow up in some goddamn country club neighborhood. I didn’t grow up being given everything I ever wanted. But I do understand what it’s like to lose a f**king child. And I sure as hell know that I would rather Tate be in a hospital than in the ground. So I know your parents would feel the same.”

Her shoulders shook, and her blond hair covered her face as she cried into her hands.

“Olivia. This is the last time I’m offering this. Let me get you some help, please.”

No words came from her, but she nodded her head a few times.

A relieved sigh blew past my lips, and I walked back to sit in the chair next to her. “All right, then that’s what I’ll do.” Lifting her head with my hand, I looked into her bloodshot eyes and made sure she understood every word. “You need to tell your parents what’s going on. You need to tell them you’ve been lying to them about me. And you need to tell them to get their attorney off my back.” My jaw shook as the words I wanted so badly to say to her sat on the tip of my tongue, but instead, I simply said, “I need to be able to live my life without him threatening me at every turn.”

Olivia’s blue eyes narrowed the smallest fraction, but I still saw it. She knew something was coming; she wasn’t stupid. We’d grown too far apart for her not to know it was coming eventually. And with that statement, she had to know it would be coming soon.

“If you need my help in telling them, let me—”

“I don’t,” she choked out and shook her head. “We have races out of town this weekend. I’ll tell them then.”

“Okay.” For the first time in days I had hope that my life with Kamryn would be starting soon.

13

Kamryn

June 22, 2015

“YOU SOUND HAPPY, baby girl.”

I smiled and lowered myself onto the couch. “I am happy, Barb. Things are going really well with the shop, Kinlee is still as crazy as ever . . .” I drifted off and smiled at Barb’s belly laugh, but the smile faded as the words I couldn’t say played through my head. Even though you warned me against it, I’m dating a married man.