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you to trust me. I told the doctors the secrets you’d only shared with me. I was there to ensure they got everything. And they did. I gave them all of you.”
    Ally shook her head like she was trying to block out the words. Realm wanted to take away her pain with a simple lie or two, but he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do that anymore. Ally looked up at him suddenly. “I told you about my sister, didn’t I?” she asked in a cracked voice. “That’s why I can’t remember what happened to her.”
    Realm nodded, remembering the nights Ally would cry to him about Marley—the sister who had taken her own life in the weeks before Ally broke down. She’d told Realm about Marley’s spiral into darkness, how she’d tried to help. How she held her sister’s hand when she died in the hospital after lapsing into a coma. The Program erased all of that. Michael Realm helped them erase all of that.
    Ally began to sob openly, earning stares from the men at the counter. James shifted uncomfortably and drained the rest of his coffee before pulling out cash to lay on the table in case they needed a quick exit.
    “They told me she’d gotten pneumonia,” Ally said. “But I knew they were lying to me. Saw it on my parents’ faces. I didn’t understand; I thought I was going crazy.”
    “It was a heart attack,” Realm said, staring down at the table. “She’d overdosed, and by the time you found her, there was . . .”
    “I found her?” Ally cried out. “No. No . . .” Allison covered her face with her palms, leaning forward as her shoulders racked with sobs. “What have you done?” she murmured. “What did you do to me?”
    Realm couldn’t take anymore—he wasn’t strong enough. This was breaking him, too, giving back all of this pain. Maybe he was wrong to have come here at all. “I’m sorry,” Realm said. “If I could—”
    Ally looked at him fiercely, black mascara streaked down her face. “I trusted you,” she snapped. “I thought you were my friend. I thought—” But she fell apart again. Realm swayed with her grief, and slid out of the booth. James’s eyes were downcast as Realm returned to the table and grabbed the messenger bag.
    “Meet you in the car,” James muttered, and got up. The other waitress came into the dining room, pausing near the men at the counter as James walked out.
    Realm returned to the table with Ally. She was wiping her cheeks, looking sick. Wrecked. She wouldn’t even turn in Realm’s direction. He reached inside the bag at his side and pulled out the file with Ally’s name on the tab. He’d made a few extra notes, the things he could remember, both positive and negative. She deserved the truth. It was the only thing he had to offer.
    He set the file on the table and slid it toward her. Ally stared downat it, sniffling back her tears. “This is me, isn’t it?” she asked, not lifting her gaze. “This is who I used to be. This is what they did to me.” She looked up. “What you helped them do.”
    The disgust in her eyes was a dagger in his heart. “Yes.”
    Ally swallowed hard and ran her finger over the cover. She was quiet for a painfully long time. “Get out,” she said. “Go away, Michael Realm. I never want to see you again.”
    Realm tightened his jaw, trying to keep himself from breaking down. Without another word, he walked toward the door. The other people in the restaurant glared at him, even though he was sure they didn’t know the extent of his deceit. The waitress rushed past him to Ally’s side and he heard his old friend’s sobs as he reached the glass door and walkedoutside.

CHAPTER SIX
    REALM WAS GRATEFUL TO SEE James in the driver’s seat of the Escalade. He climbed inside, and James backed up the SUV and drove them toward the motel they’d reserved for the night. The air in the car was thick with regret and guilt. Realm tried to be strong, he tried so fucking hard, but the tears came anyway. He hung his head and quietly let them