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“Actually I can.” I made my voice firm and even. “I’m a grown woman who can travel or do whatever I want, as long as it’s not illegal. I emailed you as a courtesy to let you know I’d be gone. I also called you to assure you that I was fine when I heard you two were freaking out. I had no obligation to do either of those things.”

My father opened his mouth to rebut, and I held up my hand.

“I’m not finished yet. I don’t owe either of you an explanation of where I go or what I do and I won’t listen to you lecturing me like I’m a particularly naughty child.”

I turned to the feds. “Filing a false police report is a crime, isn’t it?”

They looked uncomfortable. “Yes, it is,” the male said.

“Well then, I hope you’ll threaten to arrest them the same way you threatened me. They heard from me twice and still filed a report, knowing that I was perfectly safe.”

My mother made a gasping noise, then fell onto the floor, her hand pressed against her chest.

“Oh my God,” my father cried. “I think she’s having a heart attack.”

His venomous gaze turned towards me. “You gave your mother a heart attack!”

Eight hours later the three of us returned to the estate after a long night in the emergency room. It turned out that despite my father demanding every conceivable cardiac test my mother had been diagnosed with an anxiety attack. By the time we left I was convinced that Mother had faked the whole thing in order to make me feel bad. Or keep the feds from filing charges against her.

I’d texted Katy from the hospital to let her know what was happening. In retrospect I should have texted Jenny, but I realized I didn’t have her number, and I was loathe to bug Katy again. She’d already invited me to come stay with her until I got a place of my own, and I took her up on her invitation. I’d get Jenny’s number when I got to Katy’s house.

“I’m going to pack a bag and leave,” I told my parents when we came back to the house. “I’ll be back in a day or two to pick up the rest of my stuff. I would prefer to not see either of you when I do.”

My mother gasped in outrage.

My eyes went to Tony and Bill. “You will not follow me. I meant it when I said you were fired from my detail.”

My father gave me a defeated look, muttering something about being ungrateful and cutting me out of the will. My mother stood next to him, big crocodile tears rolling down her face.

“I know you two have had more than your fair share of scares with everything that happened,” I said gently. “But I’m an adult and I need to live my own life, not spend every day locked up in here with you two afraid to go anywhere or do anything. It’s not healthy.”

I headed upstairs to pack, and by the time I came back downstairs again, Katy’s car was in the driveway waiting for me. My parents were nowhere to be seen. Nodding at the security team, I headed out to start my next chapter.

But first, I needed to sleep. Even though I’d slept on the plane it hadn’t been particularly restful, and spending all those hours at the hospital with my parents bitching at me the whole time had been mentally and physically exhausting.

Katy showed me to her guest room, inviting me to make myself at home and stay for as long as I liked. I could tell she was dying of curiosity to hear everything that happened on the trip, but I could scarcely keep my eyes open.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve got to take a nap,” I told Katy. “I’m dead on my feet.”

She squeezed my shoulder. “You’ve had a long night. Get some sleep and we’ll talk when you wake up.”

I collapsed on the bed and to my surprise, it was almost six o’clock in the evening when I woke up again. Digging clean clothes out of my suitcase, I took a quick shower and went in search of my temporary roommate. Despite the many years that we’d been best friends, I’d never been to Katy’s condo before, not wanting to have to drag my security detail here with me.

“I’m in here,” Katy called from the living room, obviously hearing me wandering around.

She was sitting on the couch with a spread of to-go containers on the table. Whatever it was, it smelled delicious. My stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since we had that deep dish pizza yesterday at Navy Pier.

Katy nodded at the food. “I ordered us a buttload of Chinese food. Have a seat and help yourself to some food. I’ll grab us some drinks. What do you want?”

“Do you have any beer?”

My friend sent me a surprised look. “Wow, you really have changed. I’m going to need to hear every detail of your trip.”

Jenny

When I woke up in the morning I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of Chicago. Ignoring Katy’s texts offering to send me a plane – who did that? – I checked out of the hotel, picked up the rental car from the parking lot, and headed to O’Hare, grabbing the first departing commercial flight to Seattle I could get. It cost a fortune, but I planned to bill it to Blair anyway.

I hadn’t heard from her yet. It was still early in Seattle, but I’d expected she’d try to call or text once she got back. Technically she didn’t have my phone number, but Katy did, so it wasn’t like she couldn’t get it.