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he going to be investigated?”
    “Who?” Luke asks.
    “Gregory Meyer. Is Will’s father going to be investigated?”
    “Why would he be investigated, Layla?” Luke asks in his lawyer tone.
    “Because…he had something to do with this,” I reply very matter of fact.
    “How do you know Greg was involved?” Luke asks.
    “Will told me he had something planned so that we could be together. He also said that his father would rather see him dead than not fulfill his Meyer destiny. His father must have found out and retaliated,” I say.
    “Layla, Will’s father was in Raleigh that day. This was an accident . It wasn’t anyone’s fault. The police think there was a deer in the road and Will overcompensated when he veered to miss it.” Luke replies in a slow, concentrated tone. My composure is alarming to them.
    “You can tell me what really happened.” I demand. I can’t get the image of the last time I was with Will out of my head. He had been restless and determined to make sure I knew how much he loved me. “I can handle it, Uncle Luke.”
    “Layla, there’s nothing more to tell you.”
    “I don’t care that he wasn’t in town. You know as well as I do that he has the power to do something this awful,” I protest.
    “I’m so sorry, Layla, but…as much as I would love to pin Gregory Meyer to the wall on this, it’s just a terrible and completely unfair accident. Will…is dead,” Luke answers.
    His words resonate in my head for what feels like several minutes. I study both of them, the expressions on their faces. They’re eyes are dark and sad. They look worn and tired. There is nothing about them that says what they are telling me is anything but true. My head feels heavy, full, and I know. “You really don’t believe Mr. Meyer had anything to do with the accident?”
    “No. He had no involvement,” Luke says. He’s serious and I fight to believe him. I don’t want to believe him.
    “But…Will’s ring…he said…he said we were going to be together. Oh, God. Will is…and his mother…” I can’t breathe.
    “Yes, honey. They’re both gone.” Claire wraps her arms around me, beginning to cry with me.
    Somehow, when I believed Will’s father was involved, it was almost bearable. I had someone to place the blame on, but now that it’s just an accident there will never be justice. It will be another senseless tragedy in my life. My heart is going to beat out of my chest and now I really can’t breathe. I rock back and forth and slide off the stool. Luke and Claire sit with me on the floor of the kitchen while I sob harder than I ever have before. I’m shaking and I think I might throw up.
    It isn’t fair! What did I do to deserve this? Why aren’t I allowed to have peace and happiness in my life? Who did I wrong that I’m destined to be punished for the rest of my life?
    “Oh, God! No, no, no, no! Make it stop! Oh, God!” I scream. I cry. Will promised that he would be here for me. He promised I could cry and scream with him and now he isn’t here when I need him the most.
    Was it all for nothing? Losing Mom and Dad…the years I spent with Gram, paying for my transgression…all the sneaking around, plotting and planning so Will and I could be together…everything we did to buck Gregory Meyer’s Hitleresque system…whatever it was that Luke, Claire, and Will had planned for my and Will’s future…it was all for nothing?
    It’s two o’clock in the morning when Luke insists we all go to bed. My body is worn out from crying for almost two hours straight and Luke has to carry me upstairs. My eyes are so swollen that I can barely hold them open. They pull the covers over me and all I can do is pray that I’ll wake up in the morning to find that it was all a horrid nightmare. As they go downstairs I can hear Luke and Claire both sobbing and I know that this is really happening. It’s no dream.
    Will is dead…and so am I.
    I do next to nothing over the next several days.