“Liam,” Jace and I say at the same time.

Cole’s jaw works. “Right. But Mom knew Liam hated ice cream, so she didn’t believe him. She blamed me.”

I can’t help but laugh. Cole was pissed when he had to give Mrs. Garcia his weekly allowance so she could get her dog washed and groomed, but I told him he owed me for the vase.

There’s no way they’d know any of those things if they weren’t Jace and Cole.

I look at Jace who’s finally smiling, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize it until now. “You have Mom’s smile.”

I turn my attention to Cole next. “And you look like Dad.”

He waggles his eyebrows. “Only way better looking, right?”

A laugh flies out of me again because that’s totally something Cole would say.

That’s when it dawns on me. “Wait a minute…if you guys are all grown up. How old am I?”

They exchange a nervous glance before Jace answers. “Eighteen.”

The news feels like ten-thousand bricks to the head.

“I’ve been in the hospital for ten years?”

“Not exactly,” Cole mutters before Jace shoots him a warning look.

“What?” I try to sit up in bed, but the pain makes it impossible. “What does that mean?”

Cole sighs. “You’ve been here for a month.”

That only makes me more confused.

“How is that possible? If I’m eighteen like you claim, that means the accident happened ten years ago. But if I’ve only been here a month—” I stop mid-sentence because there’s something way more important that I need them to tell me. “Where is Mom? Where is Liam? Why aren’t they here?”

There’s no way Mom wouldn’t be here.

Jace squeezes my hand. “I know you’re confused, but everything will be okay.”

“Where is she?”

I’m tired of everyone ignoring my questions about her.

About them.

I turn to Cole. “Where—”

“Cole, don’t,” Jace warns.

Why won’t anyone tell me the truth? “Why—”

Oh, God.

The inconsolable expression on Jace and Cole’s face twists my insides.

“What happened to her?”

Where are they keeping her?

“Mom—” Jace starts, but his voice catches mid-sentence.

“The accident,” Cole says, his voice a broken whisper. “Mom didn’t make it.”

“No,” I scream, refusing to believe it. “You’re lying.”

She can’t be gone.

She wouldn’t leave me.

“Bianca—”

It’s the last thing I hear before grief sinks its sharp claws into my heart…and everything goes dark.

Chapter 2

My eyelids feel like paperweights, but it’s nothing compared to the boulder of anguish on my chest.

She’s gone.

I’m never going to see her again.

“I told you she needed time to process everything,” some man says sternly.

It sounds like he’s standing right outside my door.

“She deserved to know the truth,” someone who sounds a lot like Cole argues.

“It was too early,” Jace whispers. “She couldn’t handle it.”

“Precisely,” the man says. “I don’t even know the extent of her brain injury yet and you two just…” He sighs long and deep. “Think of your sister like a broken puzzle. She has certain pieces, but not enough to make up the entirety of it. Right now, her reality is just that. Her reality. The only accident she remembers is the one with your mother. Her brain is stuck in that trauma and it’s important for her family to understand this because if she does get her memory back—”

“What do you mean if?” Jace barks.

“Are you telling me this amnesia is permanent?” someone who sounds like my dad asks.

There’s another long sigh. “There’s no way to tell right now. But you have to be careful not to feed her information—”

“Why?” Cole questions. “If she can’t remember, why is telling her such a bad thing?”

“Because you’re giving her your biased memories and thoughts. You’re not giving her a chance to heal and remember hers. The brain is a very complex, very sensitive organ. Influencing her memory and pushing her too hard, too fast will only make things worse.”

“So what should we do?” Jace asks. “How do we help her get better?”

“Time and patience. Lots of it. Her memories—if she gets them back—might be distorted, but it’s important not to argue or correct her.” He clears his throat. “In the meantime, I’ve taken the liberty of contacting Dr. Wilson. He’s a top-notch psychologist who has a lot of experience working with patients who have brain injuries and amnesia. Given the severity of Bianca’s mental state and what’s happened, I think it’s important she talks to someone. Fortunately, he’s agreed to come up to the hospital to meet with her this week.”

My eyes flutter open as Dr. Jones ambles inside the room and walks over to my bed. “Hello, Bianca. How are you feeling?”

Like I’ve been run over by a bus.

“Tired.”

He nods. “That’s the sedative.”

“Sedative? Why—”

I stop talking as images of me ripping out my IV and then punching Jace and Cole flash through my head.

A stabbing pain infiltrates my heart. “My mom…she’s—”

I can’t say the words.

Saying the words out loud will only give them credence.

Instead, I lunge for the doctor.

Not because I want to hurt him.

I just want him to give me something to make me go numb.

Something to help me forget the truth burrowing through my veins.

Not only is my mom dead…

She killed Liam.

Chapter 3

Past…

“I m-m-miss her,” Liam whispers.

Ever since the accident, he developed a horrible stutter.

According to Dr. Young—our mother’s therapist—it’s due to the trauma of not only the accident but losing Mom.

Tilting my head, I turn to look at my brother. “Me too.”

It’s been almost a month since Mom passed away and every day feels harder than the last.

Liam sighs. “D-d-do you think s-s-she’s happy in Heaven?”

“I hope so.”

A tear rolls down his cheek. “W-w-why’d s-s-she leave us? W-w-why w-w-weren’t we g-g-good enough?”

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly, wiping his tears away with my sleeve.

He sniffles. “I w-w-want to t-t-tell Dad.”

Panic zips up my spine. “You can’t.”

His face scrunches. “W-w-why?”

“Stop being dumb. You know why.”

Mom loved us. She doesn’t deserve to be remembered by her mistakes.

However, if people found out the truth, that’s all they’d remember her for.