For readers of K.L. Slater, Patricia MacDonald, Teresa Driscoll, Lisa Jewell, Rick Mofina, Shalini Boland, Susanna Beard and Alex Michaelides

The perfect fiancé or the perfect liar?

It’s him. Tom. The boy whose mother I helped put in prison for life. I recognize the sharp nose and flare to the nostrils. His thick eyebrows and defined cheekbones. But mostly it’s the eyes. Sea green. But my daughter, Joni, keeps calling him Michael. And they’re here at the lake house telling us they’re getting married.

It can’t be him. But even if it is, what can I say? Suddenly I’m thrust back fifteen years, looking through photos of a violent and bloody crime scene. I can’t be sure.

We haven’t been the perfect family. Joni went through a rebellious phase. Her dad had an affair. But we got through it together. I will do anything to protect us, to protect the life we’ve fought for. Anything.