The Truth She Couldn't Tell

ears ha

own. She stood on a street corner in a quiet neighborhood, wearing a bright yellow safety vest. The vest

. A community volunte

investigative journalist she used to

rket yet, purred to a stop directly in front of her, ignori

gs. It was a face she saw in fractured nightmares, a face

us T

e, replaced by cold, sharp edges carved by eight years in prison. Bu

sound that cut through the traffic noise. "Look at

word, the passenger-si

that rea

the plush leather seats. She wore a diamond necklace that glittered in the afternoon sun. She lo

were anything but kind. She turned back to Ava. "He just got

xt, slipping through the cracks in her memory. She knew them. She knew the deep, achin

aid. Her voice was flat, empty. It was a lie, a de

things never change. You always were a good liar. It' s how

as jumbled. Loved? Prison? The conce

e it was almost a physical force. "I heard you were having some troub

gh her confusion with terrifying c

did eight years ago," he continued, his voice dripping with contempt. "So let me

ached over and took Chloe' s hand, lifting it to his lips

Ava standing on the corner, the yellow vest feeling like a lead weight. The world tilted, the sounds of the

in her mind. The headache was worse now, a sharp, piercing pain behind her eyes. She stu

ers was a book she didn' t recognize. It was a simple, lea

was hers, but it was fluid and confident, a st

ridge itself. I told him it already was, at least to me. He laughed and kissed me, and for a second, I felt like we

. With a life she couldn' t remember living. Picnics in the park, late-night talks, arguments

entries became

ll use Marcus, destroy him to get what he wants. Marcus will hate me. He' ll never u

rds. She flipped to

ow... bigger things. I' m scared I' m going to forget him. I need to

in these pages felt like a dream, and the price for it was the nightmare

jump. Her heart hammered against he

the peephole, and

llway, his face a mask of cold fury, his eyes fixe