She had seen a liability.

And she had dealt with the liability the way a certain kind of person deals with anything that gets in the way of money: by making it disappear.

Chapter 5 — I Bought It For Her

I could not play the stranger anymore.

Something in me had reached its limit, standing in that basement, looking at my mother.

Slowly, deliberately, I reached up and took off the oversized sunglasses.

I pulled off the baseball cap and let my hair fall around my shoulders.