She lowered her head and said, barely audible, that she’d tried to push me away and failed. That she couldn’t make herself let go.

I hated her for being honest. It meant I couldn’t call her a monster without also seeing her pain sitting right there next to it.

“And the security. What’s all of that for?”

“Protection. From Richard.” Her whole body was tense. “If he finds out who you are, he’ll try to use you.”

It hit me like something physical. Without ever knowing, I’d walked into the middle of something that had been building for two decades.

“And the woman who raised me. What about her?”