~ One Week Later ~

"Everyone is going to see this bruise and think I hit you," I said to Broadrick as he pulled into one of the last remaining parking spots at the school.

He laughed and shut the car off. "Noone will think that."

I locked the doors and put my finger on an uninjured part of his chin to move his head and get a better look. I squinted. "You should have let me put makeup on it."

Broadrick pulled his head away from me with a scowl. "Hell no."

He unlocked the doors.

I locked them. "It looks horrible."

A deep blue bruise with slight green edges fading into it covered at least two inches on his chin. The swelling had gone down, but the color was still horrendous. What would people think?

"Babe, this is my badge of honor," he said and ran his index finger over the spot.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Men.

He unlocked the doors.

"Fine," I said as I got out and looped my purse strap over my shoulder. "But if anyone asks, I'm telling them you started it."

A cop car raced down Main Street without its lights on, heading toward the water. I followed it with my gaze, moving my head.

Broadrick wrapped his arm around my shoulder and brought me to him. "It's just Bradley. Probably headed to the bakery for doughnuts."

I'd told Anderson not to tell me before he picked up my uncle, but I didn't realize he'd take so long to do it. Not knowing when my uncle was headed to jail caused my stomach to knot every time I saw a cop car.

Waiting sucked. So did having to talk to my mother, knowing I couldn't tell her about her brother. The news of Richard being thrown in jail would devastate her.

Most of the crowd had already found seats in the gym, so Broadrick and I walked the parking lot alone. I spent the quick trip deep in thought. Would I visit my uncle in jail?

Pearl handed each of us a tri-folded program outside the door to the gym. "Vonnie really gave you a shiner," she said, pointing at the same spot on her chin where Broadrick had his bruise.

I tilted my head at him with my best told-you-so expression.

Broadrick accepted the paper from her with a laugh and a quick shake of his head. "You probably paid her to say that."

I grabbed his hand for strength as we crossed into the Pelican Bay High School gymnasium, and the crowd's volume grew tenfold. The bleachers were full of well-wishers, and I searched the group for my parents.

A hand shot up in the far left, and a woman with short hair stood. "Vonnie!"

I dropped my head. Only my mother could be heard that clearly in this large of a crowd.

"I see her," Broadrick said.

I jerked him toward her. "The entire room sees her."

We climbed the bleachers and claimed two of the empty seats by my parents. There were two more on their other side. My father had his coat draped over the bench so no one else could sit.

"Where's Uncle Richard?" I asked my mother.

Those seats had to be for them. My stomach fell and my chest tightened. Maybe they had a car accident or their fish died. There were a thousand reasons they wouldn't be here.

My mother scanned the people as they walked into the gym. "I haven't seen him."

"Attention. Is this thing working?" A thump echoed off the gym walls as someone thumbed a microphone and the room groaned. "Great."

"Who's that?" Broadrick asked of the woman with long brown hair and a pink pantsuit at the podium on the stage at the front of the gym. They'd moved the basketball hoops higher, so she wasn't standing under a net.

"The interim principal." Since I'd put the other one behind bars, they'd bumped up the middle school principal until the end of the year. "Vivi said she's nice."

Probably not a noble trait in a high school principal. As much as Rafferty was a murderous jerk, you had to be a little scary to keep the kids under control.

She tapped the microphone again, and the crowd slowly quieted. "Welcome to our graduation ceremony. These students worked extremely hard to finish school this year even as they faced tremendous ups and downs."

Her speech started just as boring as every other speech, and my mind wandered almost instantly. I kept my gaze on the gym door, but no one else walked through it. Pearl stayed in her position as greeter, with the stack of papers in her hands, but she didn't have to hand out another one.

We made it through the principal's speech, two valedictorian speeches, and a motivational message from an alumnus who played college basketball after graduating in the nineties. Few notable people graduated from Pelican Bay High.

I adjusted my feet and swapped one leg over the other to keep the blood flowing.

My mother placed her hand on my leg and clenched it. "Stop fidgeting."

"Andrew Amson," the make-shift principal called.

Holy fuck. We were only on the As.

We held our applause as Andrew walked across the stage. Someone to our right yelled out a "Amson" as the principal handed him the diploma. My mother snapped a picture. The group clapped as he finished walking down the steps to the other side and found his chair.

"How many people does Vivi have in her class?"

My father leaned across my mother to answer. "Too many."

She gave him the same frown and snapped a picture of the second kid walking across the stage.

"Do you even know that kid?" I asked. I missed his name being called.

She nodded with her camera in front of her. "Yes, these boys graduated with your sister."

"Right," I said and shook my head.

"She knows them?" Broadrick whispered beside me.

I turned to him. "No."

They called name after name over the loudspeaker. I rested my head against Broadrick's shoulder, but every time my eyes closed even a fraction, my mother whacked me in the arm.

The crowd clapped. Someone cheered. Earlier they'd brought out a cowbell, which seemed rather unnecessary, but my mother said I had to let people enjoy their fun.

"Vivienne Vines."

I jumped up at hearing Vivi's name and clapped immediately. Screw holding applause. We were almost done. Oh, and my sister graduated. Yay, Vivi.

"Go, Vivi!" I yelled, as she accepted her diploma from the principal.

My mother clicked picture after picture, getting her entire journey across the stage.

Tears welled in my eyes. Glory to me, we were almost done.

I plopped back in my seat as she descended the stairs and counted the rest of the names on the list.

"Broadrick," I said, holding the list in front of his face. "There's only two more people."

The Zalinski twins.

I cheered loudly for them as well and the second the music started, and everyone threw their caps in the air, I jumped off the bench and stretched.

"My word, Vonnie. Your ceremony was longer, and your sister didn't act this way," my mother said as she placed her phone in her purse.

Cop car sirens rumbled in the distance and drew a few people's attention through the open outside door.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's go get food."

My parents promised me the good lobster place in Clearwater. They'd even made reservations to make sure we had a guaranteed table. It was the place to eat when anything important happened. The last time I'd eaten it was my graduation and I couldn't wait to get another crab cake.

"I don't see him, darling," my father said to my mom.

She searched the crowd. "I can't believe your uncle would miss this. It's the most important day of Vivi's life."

That seemed a stretch, but I didn't argue. Lobster was on the line.

"Text him to meet us at the restaurant," I said to her and started for the end of our row. My mouth watered with memories of crab cakes.

The crowd had already started a steady stream off the bleachers and out the door. If we didn't act fast, we'd be stuck in the parking lot in the line of cars waiting to get out.

"Did you park in the lot or the street?" I asked my dad as we reached the gym floor. If they parked in the street, we'd get in their car and ride together to save time. I wanted a lobster flake salad to go with my crab cakes.

My stomach rumbled with thoughts of food. The dipping sauce. The cheese bread.

"You like shrimp. Right?" I asked Broadrick as we neared the escape door. If he wanted, we'd split an appetizer of deep-fried shrimp.

He nodded.

A phone buzzed from behind us, but I kept going.

Then another.

And another.

A fourth.

Fifth.

Phones beeped in all directions. It came out sounding like a disjointed Nokia symphony.

"What the hell?" I whipped around to see what was happening. As I did, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I grabbed it to see a text from Katy.

KATY: They're carrying boxes out of your uncle's house.

Cotton filled my ears, and I swallowed hard, tasting nothing but sand.

Next came a picture of a Pelican Bay Police car and two state cruisers parked in front of my aunt and uncle's home.

Bile rose in my throat.

KATY: The neighbor already posted it on Facebook. Updates are coming into the group, but no one knows what happened. No ambulance.

I knew what happened.

"Mom," I said, trying to grab her attention, but she was already out the door. "We need to talk."

When I made it to her, she had her phone pressed to her ear. I'd made it too late. Damn it. Why didn't I have Anderson tell me in advance? Why would he do this during Vivi's graduation? Her most important day.

Allen and Vivi walked out of the school building arm in arm, wearing matching smiles. They had their entire lives ahead of them.

"What's wrong?" Vivi asked as she stopped beside us. She twisted her blonde hair where she'd ripped the bobby pins out to toss her cap in the air.

"Nothing, pumpkin." My dad smiled at her, but I couldn't muster the strength. He didn't realize the truth. So much was wrong. "Are you ready for lobster? Your parents are coming. Right, Allen?"

"Mom?" Vivi said as she caught a view of our mother from around my father's side.

We all turned.

Sylvia Vines had the phone clutched to her ear as she practically yelled into the receiver. A small crowd gathered around her, trying to act as if they weren't listening in on her call for any chunk of gossip.

Tears streamed down her face as she lowered the phone from her ear. "They just arrested Richard. I have to call a lawyer. Claire is beside herself. She says the police are everywhere in her home and taking things. No one will tell her what's happening."

The bottom of my stomach dropped out.

All of this pain came from me.

I gave Anderosn the evidence to put Richard in jail. Vivi's most important day of her life, ruined because of me. The tears streaming down my mother's cheeks came from my actions.

Broadrick stepped against my back and put his arm around my stomach, pulling me into him so we were back to front. His phone rang.

I tried to pull away, but he kept me close as he scanned the screen. The breeze fluttered my hair and someone to our side, a mother, snapped pictures of her family with a flash. "Let me guess. You have to go?"

Ridge would want him working on the Richard Green case. If I'd left anything unfound, they'd be sure to find it.

"No," Broadrick said, sounding heavy.

I half twisted in his arms to see his face. "What?"

His sorrowful eyes stared into my soul, searching for an answer to a question he hadn't asked yet. "The text was from Ridge. He finalized the deal. We're going to Florida."

My mother, who one second had her attention on her phone searching for lawyers, whipped her head up to stare at me. "What did you just say?"

Broadrick tightened his hold on me, his open palm pressing into my stomach. "You haven't told them yet."

"I..." My mouth dropped open. "I wasn't sure I was going yet."