"What kind of dangerous are we talking about?" Colt asks, and I can hear him fighting the same battle I am. Love against logic, heart against mounting evidence.
Dr. Harrison exchanges a meaningful look with Nurse Wells before answering, like they're sharing the weight of terrible knowledge. "She's attempted suicide multiple times. Self-harm is an ongoing issue."
The room falls into heavy silence. I try to reconcile this version of Lucy with the woman who kissed each of us goodbye this morning like we were the most precious things in her world.
"The medications help stabilize her," Dr. Harrison continues, his voice taking on the practiced cadence of someone used to selling difficult truths to reluctant family members. "The longer she goes without treatment, the more her grip on reality deteriorates. She might genuinely believe the persona she's created. In her mind, Lucy Reid probably feels completely real."
"So everything was a lie," Beau says. Not a question but a statement delivered with the finality of a judge's gavel.
"Not lies, exactly," Richard corrects with what sounds like genuine compassion. "Delusions. She's not deliberately trying to deceive you, she's trapped in a reality that exists only in her mind."
Somehow, that makes it worse.
We sit in tense silence, the weight of revelation crushing down on all of us like the roof caving in. Richard, Dr. Harrison, and Nurse Wells remain seated around my kitchen table, their presence a constant reminder that everything we thought we knew has been turned inside out.
The silence stretches between us, heavy with doubt and growing resentment. Because the truth is, stripped of everything she's told us, we know almost nothing about the woman we've all fallen in love with.
Every story about her past, every explanation for her behavior, every moment of vulnerability could be fabricated.
We've been loving a ghost. A carefully constructed fiction designed to manipulate our protective instincts.
That's when we hear the rumble of an engine in the driveway.
Richard straightens in his chair like a hunting dog catching a scent, exchanging meaningful looks with Dr. Harrison and Nurse Wells.
The three of them transform before our eyes. From concerned family and medical professionals intosomething that looks disturbingly like a coordinated operation.
"Remember," Richard says quietly, his voice taking on an edge of authority I haven't heard before. "She can be very persuasive when she wants to be. Don't let her manipulate the situation."
Through the window, I can see Lucy's van pulling up beside my patrol car.
She has no idea what's waiting for her inside.
No idea that the perfect morning we shared was the last moment of happiness she'll know for a very long time.
The engine cuts off, and in the sudden silence, I can hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears like drums of war.
37
Lucinda
I'm humming some nameless tune when I pull into Gabriel's gravel driveway, the sound bouncing off my truck's windows like happiness trying to escape into the Montana afternoon.
The sun catches the weathered cedar siding of his ranch house just right, turning those hand-carved shutters and stone chimney into something out of a postcard. Even the old cottonwood by his porch looks like it's glowing.
Today is the day everything changes. Today I stop running and start living.
The sight of an unfamiliar black SUV parked beside Colt's rust-streaked Ford doesn't even scratch my resolve. Probably some state business for Gabriel. Small-town sheriff stuff that'll be wrapped up by dinner.
The weight of secrets that's been crushing my chest for months feels lighter with each step toward Gabriel's front door. By tonight, they'll know the truth.
All of it.
Lucinda Kensington-Reid, the woman who loves them enough to trust them with everything.
I push through the screen door with a smile splitting my face, my keys jangling as I drop them on the entry table next to Gabriel's badge and Stetson.
"Gabe? Beau? Colt? Good you are all here—"
