Chapter 69

Ian

Ian’s insides churned as Sara continued her story. It took everything he had not to vomit in the bushes beyond the deck railing.

Sara went on. “The cops came, and I remember hearing them at the door and screaming until my lungs hurt. They got my dad and Kenny, but Owen wasn’t there, and even with my testimony about what Trisha had told me, he wasn’t convicted. There wasn’t anything to tie him to what happened, except Trisha’s word.”

Standing, Ian leaned against the deck railing to face her. He’d been quiet throughout the story, but every emotion warred inside him. Anger, rage, disgust, fear. What had happened to her was worse than he’d imagined.

She was beauty from ashes, a flower rising from a crumbled ruin. She was resilience in human form, and it was a miracle that her small shoulders could bear the weight of the pain of her past.

“The cops finally took me home after I gave statements, but I asked them to take me to Mr. Garrison’s house. I couldn’t go home alone.”

Ian let his c