We can fix this if you stop listening to your father. The last one stood apart from the others: Your dad is trying to control you, just like everyone else.

A year earlier, those words might have worked on me. For years Travis had trained me to distrust anyone who questioned him — my friends were jealous, my coworkers disrespectful, my father intrusive.

In his version of the world, anyone who supported me was an enemy. But sitting at my father’s kitchen table, I finally saw the difference.

My father had given me money and asked for nothing. Travis had taken my money and expected gratitude.

Chapter 10 — The Whole Truth

Two days later, detectives questioned Patricia. Her boyfriend, Rick Weller, had stolen several empty prescription bottles from the pharmacy where he worked; he said Patricia told him they were for a “training video.” Investigators found messages showing she’d asked him for bottles labeled as controlled substances.

Rick agreed to cooperate.