“Stop overreacting, you’re ruining her day!” my mother hissed, grabbing my hair and pushing me over the balcony railing at my sister’s party. I blacked out. When I woke up, the upscale venue was surrounded by federal agents, and my mother was sobbing on her knees while my sister held a document and begged me…

went violently black.

When consciousness finally clawed its way back to me, it brought agonizing pain. Harsh, sterile fluorescent lights burned my retinas. The rhythmic, electronic hum of a heart monitor replaced the soft jazz of the restaurant. A uniformed detective stood at the foot of my hospital bed, his expression a carefully constructed wall of continue reading …