"Well, that's a good enough way to start," Clara breathed out, looking at me as if she was asking my permission. "They aren't our boyfriends."

"Well, finally," Samuel smirked, pulling Clara closer to him and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"No, you don't understand. They haven't been our boyfriends for a while," Clara told him. Samuel pulled away from her, looking at her suspiciously. I felt Roman's eyes on me, looking at me in the same way.

"What?" Roman asked me. I rolled my lips together, keeping my eyes away from him.

"We had better sit down," Clara told everyone, as she sat in one of the chairs in my room. Samuel followed her lead, sitting in the one next to her. Roman didn't move from where he was sitting on the side of my bed. His fingers had moved from where they had been on my bandages, he was holding my wrist gently instead.

"What's going on, princess?" Samuel asked, causing me to smile for the first time in days.

"Princess?" I questioned, looking at Clara. She wasn't looking at me though, she only had eyes for Samuel.

"Shut up," Clara told me, grabbing Samuel's hand.

"Let's talk about Samuel's poor choice of pet names later," Roman said, his voice still serious. "What do you mean they haven't been your boyfriends for a while? Last time I checked, which was only a couple of days ago, Lilac was still with him," Roman's voice changed to anger when he referenced Jesse.

"This... is a long story," I told them, my eyes falling so I didn't have to meet anyone in the eyes.

"We have time," Samuel said, though his voice was still the light tone he usually used, I could hear something different beneath it.

"Okay," Clara said, and she looked at me hesitantly again. When I nodded, she continued.

"It started this summer. July 22nd to be exact," Clara spoke into the room. I could feel the way Roman tensed, I saw the way his eyes met Samuel's first, then they shot straight to me. I only met them for a second, scared to see what emotions would be in his eyes. He might not be so keen to help us after he finds out what happened.

"July 22nd?" Roman asked Clara, though his eyes remained on me.

"We didn't know," I said to the room, but I was speaking only to Roman. "We didn't know it was your brother until you told me."

"Wait, what's going on?" Samuel asked, clearly confused.

"Just listen," Clara said. "On July 22, we went out on our friend Khalil's boat, on Pigeon Lake. We were with Brett, Jesse and Khalil."

"Wait..." Roman stated, clearly not knowing where this was going, before he looked at me directly. His face was pained, a new found sadness in his eyes. "You were out there on that lake that night?"

"Roman, do you remember when your brother was in the accident, and the police thought it was connected to the missing rock markers?" Clara asked, causing me to take a sharp inhale of breath.

This was it, this was the moment our secrets weren't secrets anymore. Why wasn't I relieved?

Well, some of my secrets. If I had it my way, no one would find out the rest of my secrets. My secrets, mine and Jesse's. Roman knew part of it, and that's all anyone would ever know. I was determined to make sure of that.

When Roman nodded, Clara continued, "that was us. Or, rather. That was Jesse and Brett. They cut the ties for the buoys, and then they threw them over the cliffs."

"But that wasn't what caused the accident," Roman said after a second of silence. "Derrick was drunk, too drunk. He drove into the cliffs."

"We didn't know that, until last night." I told him, finally looking at him. He looked like he was in pain, and I couldn't blame him.

"Brett and Jesse told us not to look at the articles. Brett's dad is the chief of police. He told us that his dad was looking for the people that took the markers, and that we were going to be charged for murder if they found out it was us," Clara explained.

"What the fuck?" Samuel exclaimed, and I saw the anger in his face.

"Just wait, there's more," I said, waiting for Clara to continue.

"Things were okay for a bit. You know, besides thinking we were about to go to jail and lose everything we ever worked for. Then, one weekend, I guess the boys decided that wasn't good enough for them. They told us that if we didn't do what they wanted, which was get back together with them for real, they would tell the police that it was Lilly and I who took the buoys," Clara said, a frown forming on her face.

There was a silence as the boys took in her words, but Clara continued before anyone had a chance to say anything else.

"We were scared, but we didn't know what to do. So, we played their game with them. Khalil, I guess he felt bad and was trying to tell Lilly what was happening. He gave her an article, but she didn't get to read it before Jesse found it and took it away. It wasn't until yesterday when Lilly was in the bathroom did she find out they weren't telling us the truth. Lilly..." Clara said, indicating she wanted me to continue.

I nodded, struggling to find the words. I didn't speak for a minute, I took a deep breath. "Yesterday, after Roman and Jesse yelled at each other, I had a panic attack. I ran to the bathroom, and Khalil found me in there. He kept saying I needed to break up with Jesse, and I was asking him why. He was about to tell me, when Jesse came in the bathroom. He said that he had something against Khalil, more blackmail, before he hit Khalil and knocked him out."

"Jesse came up to me, and I don't know... I just kind of lost it. I was so confused and so desperate to know the truth, and Jesse was saying these horrible things to me. He called me worthless, he called me a murderer. I just freaked out. I broke the mirror, and I threatened Jesse with a piece of the glass to tell me the truth. He didn't, but he told me that we didn't know everything, then I blacked out. Woke up in the hospital."

"That's when we found out they were lying to us. We found the article that it wasn't the markers that caused your brother to get into an accident. Khalil told us that they were blackmailing us and lying to us because they didn't want us to leave them, they wanted to control us. They don't know we know the truth, and we're scared what they're going to do when they know." Clara explained, and I took a breath. That was it, that was everything. It was in the open now. It wasn't a secret anymore.

"Those assholes," Samuel cursed, and I could see the anger in his eyes.

I looked towards Roman, who looked lost in thought, a million miles away. His eyes were strained, they were dark like the day he punched Jesse. Suddenly, he jumped off my bed, pacing around my room. His hands went to his hair, swiping through them in seemingly frustration.

"So, not only has that fucker been hitting you, he's been blackmailing you," Roman yelled out, apparently forgetting that it wasn't just me and him in the room any longer. I felt my stomach drop as he said the words. My eyes closing in regret, and in disbelief.

I guess today was the day when all my secrets finally became truth.

"What?" Clara yelled, jumping to her feet in panic. "What the fuck do you mean? Jesse's been hitting you?"