Chapter 1
My husband’s sister pushed me down the stairs because I refused to sell my house for her gambling debt.
For one second, I was standing at the top landing.
The next, the ceiling spun above me.
My shoulder hit first.
Then my back.
Then my head struck the edge of a step, and white pain flashed behind my eyes.
I landed at the bottom in a twisted heap, unable to breathe.
Jessica screamed from above me.
“She slipped!”
Her voice was too loud.
Too fast.
Too fake.
“She just slipped and fell!”
But then the front door opened.
Michael walked in first.
My husband.
Behind him came my mother and father, still holding the overnight bags they had packed for their three-hour drive to Denver.
All three of them froze.
Their eyes went to me.
Then up the staircase.
Jessica was still standing at the top.
Both hands raised.
Face twisted with rage she had not hidden quickly enough.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Then my mother dropped her bag.
The sound snapped Michael awake.
“Anna?”
He ran to me.
My father followed, face pale.
“Don’t move her,” he said sharply. “Call 911.”
Michael dropped to his knees beside me, hands shaking.
“Anna, baby, look at me.”
I tried.
The room blurred.
Jessica rushed down two steps.
“I told you, she slipped.”
Michael looked up at her.
Something in his face changed.
“No,” he said quietly.
Jessica stopped.
“What?”
“I saw your hands.”
Her mouth opened.
My mother turned on her.
“You pushed my daughter?”
Jessica pointed at me.
“She was going to let me die!”
My father stared at her.
“What?”
Jessica’s eyes darted around the room.
“She has the house. She could sell it. She could save me.”
I tried to speak.
Only a broken sound came out.
Michael leaned closer.
“Don’t talk. Help is coming.”
But I forced the words through the pain.
“She wanted me to sell the house.”
My mother covered her mouth.
My father’s face hardened.
The house was not just a building.
It was the first home my parents had ever bought after thirty years of saving.
When they retired to Arizona, they signed it over to me.
“Keep it safe,” my father had said.
“Some people only learn what family means after they lose a home.”
Jessica had wanted me to lose it for her.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
Loan sharks.
Casino debt.
And when I said no, she shoved me like my life was cheaper than her mistakes.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Jessica backed toward the stairs.
“This is Michael’s fault,” she snapped. “He always helps me. She turned him against me.”
Michael stood slowly.
For the first time in our marriage, he looked at his sister like he finally saw her clearly.
“No, Jess,” he said. “I helped you destroy yourself.”
May you like
Then he looked at me on the floor.
“And I almost let you destroy my wife.”
