Chapter 4

Deputy Miller was asking Leo more questions, his back turned to me. Leo, distracted, was explaining my "history" of self-harm. His jacket was draped over the back of a chair. A corner of the folded legal document was sticking out of the pocket.

It was now or never.

Fueled by a surge of desperate energy, I swung my legs over the side of the bed. The pain was blinding, but I ignored it. I lunged for the jacket, my fingers closing around the worn paper.

"Maya, what are you doing?" Leo yelled, spinning around.

But I had it. I scrambled back onto the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. I unfolded the document with my one good hand.

It was a settlement agreement. Dated six years ago. The parties were Leo, and a Mr. Thompson of Thompson Mining Corporation.

My eyes scanned the dense legal text, my mind racing. Then I saw it. The clause that made everything click into place.

"...should Maya, sister of the signatory, achieve any form of significant public recognition, including but not limited to, securing an athletic scholarship to a Division I university, this agreement shall be considered null and void. In such an event, the signatory, Leo, agrees to accept the original charges of vehicular manslaughter and aggravated assault, with all evidence previously suppressed by the Thompson Corporation to be submitted to the District Attorney' s office, ensuring a conviction and a sentence of no less than twenty-five years to life in a state penitentiary."

My blood ran cold.

Vehicular manslaughter. Twenty-five years to life.

It wasn' t about protecting me from pressure. It was about protecting himself from prison. My success was his doom.

Mr. Thompson. The richest, most powerful man in the county. His son was a joke, a spoiled kid who' d washed out of every sport he' d ever tried. The accident... I remembered hearing whispers about it years ago. A teenager from the next town over, crippled for life. Everyone said it was a hit-and-run. No one was ever charged.

They' d framed Leo. And Leo, just a kid himself back then, with a little sister to raise, had signed his life away to protect me. To keep us together.

The paper slipped from my numb fingers. I looked at Leo, and for the first time, I saw the sheer terror that lived behind his eyes. He wasn' t a monster. He was a prisoner, just like me.

Deputy Miller was looking at me, waiting. "Maya? Are you okay?"

I took a deep, shuddering breath. I had to save him.

I looked at the deputy, my face crumpling into a mask of contrived hysteria.

"He' s right," I sobbed, the words tasting like poison. "I did it to myself. I can' t handle it. The pressure... it' s too much. Leo was just trying to stop me. Please, don' t take him away. He' s all I have."

The performance was flawless. The broken girl, finally confessing.

Leo looked at me, his expression a mixture of relief and profound agony. Coach Henderson put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Deputy Miller watched me, his gaze sharp and analytical. He was skeptical, I could tell. But he had nothing. No evidence, no witnesses. Just my own confession.

"Alright," he said slowly, closing his notebook. "Given the circumstances, and your statement, I won' t be pressing charges at this time. But I' m mandating a psychiatric evaluation."

He looked at me one last time, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. Then he left.

The door clicked shut, and I was left in the suffocating silence with my jailer and his accomplice.