I looked at my mom. She was shaking her head, mouthing the word no. But I wasn’t going to go up against Damien, not when he clearly doesn’t have any remorse.
“Mom did,” I whispered.
“Good girl.” He turned back to my mom. He forced her to look at my dad’s body on the ground. “You did this!”
“No!”
“You did this! You did this, Laura! You fucking did this!”
I heard the sirens in the distance, getting closer.
Damien threw her to the ground, picked up me and Zinnia, and carried us outside.
“She shot him! She shot him!” he screamed to the police as they pulled up.
They drew their guns and rushed into the house.
I caught a glimpse of my mom crying over my dad’s body before they slammed her against the ground and handcuffed her.
Another police car showed up, and those officers approached us.
“Is everyone alright?”
Damien nodded, his voice breaking like he was devastated. “My wife. She shot him.”
He squeezed my shoulder tighter. So much that it hurt.
So, I nodded.
My mom walked out of the house in handcuffs. Her face was covered in blood. Her clothes were soaked with it.
I ran toward her. “Mom!”
Zinnia clung to me. She didn’t even reach for my mom.
“Mom. Mom,” I cried.
“Lily, listen to me.” Her voice was urgent and desperate. “He’s not going to get away with this. Listen to me, honey. I love you. This is a mistake. It’s a mistake.”
They put her in the back of the patrol car.
She kept repeating it over and over. “It’s a mistake. It’s a mistake. I didn’t do it! I didn’t! You have to believe me! My girls!”
“Mom,” I sobbed.
Damien came up behind me and gripped my shoulder. He squeezed me again. “It’s going to be okay, Lily. Zinnia, it’s going to be okay.”
But it wasn’t okay.
Because it was a lie.
And my mom went to prison for life.
And my real dad was dead.
And Damien got everything he wanted.
I stare down at the court documents now. The truth was laid out in legal language, witness statements, and evidence that was never questioned because a fourteen-year-old girl said her mom did it.
