Page 88 of Fractured

My life was a lie.

I thought it was worse to know when you were going crazy.

I was wrong.

It had happened just like I knew it would. I was crazy.

And this was the poignant moment I realized I couldn’t trust myself.

Epilogue

October 7th

Harper

I watchedDave shut the passenger door on Lilith in the back seat. Another nurse was sitting with her to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. She was so devastated, I doubted that would be an issue, but I was glad it was a precaution they took.

He walked over and handed me some paperwork. I would keep it for her until she got out.

Her face when she realized that she’d fabricated the men she loved…

Fuck, I was the shittiest friend ever.

“She’s all set. I’m glad you were able to get her to voluntarily commit herself. I always see much better results when that happens,” he said as he entered something into his iPad.

I didn’t really know Dave, but I had worked with him briefly in the past. His hospital had the best care and rehabilitation program. They also had the best psychiatrists, and as much as I hated it, Lilith needed more help that I could provide.

I just wished I’d seen sooner. I mean, I had suspected once I saw her take a call from Ambrose when her screen had listed spam. But once she told me last night she’d been seeing them for months…

She had met Atticus back in, what, the middle of August? Roughly the same for Kenzo. I couldn’t be sure at this point, but that must have been where the break started fracturing. Almost two full months of psychosis.

Fuck.

When I heard the happiness in her voice, how real these men were to her, that was when I knew that taking it slow and easy wasn’t an option. She’d already shot down my attempt to coax her into a session. I hadn’t pushed then, thinking it was better to take a slow pace.

My throat thickened with emotion, but I swallowed it down. I was a professional right now, not an upset family member.

But I had been unprofessional with her. She was my best friend, and when we started doing these little mini-sessions, it had all been for shits and giggles and girl time more than me actually playing the role of her therapist.

I hadn’t thought she needed a therapist like that…

If I had paid more attention to her or spent more time with her, I might have noticed sooner that she did need that kind of help.

After she’d left following the spam call, I’d called an Uber and followed her home, and there was no one in the house with her. It had been dark inside, so technically, someone could have been inside sleeping, although I had a gut feeling that wasn’t the case. But I had been mostly drunk and I didn’t want to make assumptions without concrete proof.

Hell, she could have just been ready to end the night and hadn’t wanted to hurt my feelings. I wasn’t ready to ruin my closest friendship if I was wrong.

Then I spoke to Kenzo.

“I’m glad you recognized the signs. We’ll reach out in a few days after we’ve had a chance to do some preliminary evaluations.” He dipped his head and walked back to the van.

I watched them drive away until I couldn’t see them anymore.

When I finally looked to Kenzo and Atticus, they were both watching me with guarded looks.

Kenzo was probably a little out of his comfort zone. I’d like to think we were friends after spending so much time together with Brett, but I got it. This was weird.

“Thank you for coming,” I told him.

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