"She's just getting revenge on you," Amber assured me while holding my hand.

"I know," I sighed, then glanced down at my plate full of homemade tacos and pico de gallo. Despite making one of my favorite dishes, my stomach was too full of knots for me to enjoy it.

It was Sunday evening, and I had invited my boyfriend and girlfriend over for dinner since my parents had begged me to allow Oliver to spend the afternoon and night with them. Since I was so stressed about the upcoming court case, I had consented. Thankfully, Clare was out with her friends, so I didn't have to worry about seeing her for the rest of the evening.

The court case is being held on Tuesday...

Steven was coming up from Texas with his parents to attend. I had received a message from him earlier that day asking if he could pick up Oliver on Monday afternoon.

I had replied by saying I'd talk to my lawyer first and get back to him on Monday.

"You should just move somewhere that you can afford by yourself," Salvador suggested, his emerald gems flitting between me and the laptop sitting on his placemat. "As much as our basement is nice for you and Oliver to stay in for a few nights, it's not the best suited for living in. You both need more space."

I knew he was right, but it didn't stop my heart from sinking in my chest.

"I found a condo for sale, actually."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I can't afford to buy that."

"We can," Salvador said, his eyes resting on Amber. "We can all check this out together and see if it's worth purchasing. If it is, then you and Oliver can live there and pay us rent. We'll keep it at the absolutely cheapest price too."

My jaw dropped in shock. "You would both do that for me?"

"Of course," Salvador smiled. "I used to flip houses in Canada, so if there's any issues I'm pretty sure I can fix it."

"Is there anything you can't do?" I laughed, then sank into my chair.

"Yes, drawing," he winked at me.

I went to squeeze Amber's hand, but found that she had let go of me and was holding herself. Her gaze was set on the window overlooking the street.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, concern flooding through my veins.

"I'm anxious," she said, then turned to face Salvador. "You always ruin everything."

Both Salvador and I went silent and stared at her.

Where is this coming from?

"Amber, why would you say that?" he asked, his face hardening.

"They told me to say it."

"Who is they?" I dared to ask.

Amber looked at me, her expression emotionless. "The voices in my head."

Salvador closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. "Did you stop taking your meds, Amber?"

She didn't reply.

"Amber? You know you can't just start and stop them whenever you want. They won't work if you keep flushing them down the toilet."

Without warning, Amber grabbed the steak knife and held it to her upper arm. "They don't work!" she screamed before digging the blade into her skin so drops of blood poured down her arm. "They never will!"

I jumped out of my chair and backed away, my shaky hands reaching into my pants pocket for my phone. "A-Amber!" I choked. "Please don't hurt yourself! Please stop!"

Salvador stood up slowly from his chair and took a step towards her. "You don't have to do this. Put the knife down."

Amber stood up too, but she took the knife away from herself and pointed it at Salvador instead. "You're both my prisoners," she smiled, waving the blade carelessly in the air. "You can both go into the bedroom so I can lock you in there."

This is insane! Panic rose into my chest as I dialed nine-one-one. What the Hell is wrong with her!

Salvador glanced at me, looked down at the phone in my hands, and held up a finger indicating for me to wait. Without warning, he lunging at Amber. In a flash he ripped the knife out of her grasp and pinned her on the ground.

"Get off of me!" she cried while hitting him over and over with her fists.

"Then don't hurt us or yourself!" Salvador barked at her. He tossed the knife so it skidded across the ground and landed in the far corner of the room. "Are you done having your episode? Can I let you get back up?"

Amber sobbed, then lowered her fists before nodding her head. He got off and offered to help her back onto her feet, but she closed her eyes and turned her head sideways, as if she had fallen asleep.

"She's going to wake up in a few minutes and pretend that she can't remember anything that happened," Salvador explained, his tone flat.

I was in shock. I couldn't believe what had just transpired and ever fiber in my being was screaming at me to run away and get the Hell out of there.

"S-She's done this before?" I asked, my voice just as shaky as the rest of my body.

"Yeah."

I studied my boyfriend and noticed the dark circles under his eyes had grown worse.

"Salvador, th-this isn't normal..."

"I know."

We both went silent and stared down at Amber, who was still lying sprawled out on the floor like a princess under a sleeping spell.

"This is the real reason why we can't live altogether," Salvador whispered. "What if she hurts you or Oliver?"

My blood turned to ice at the thought of Amber holding a knife to my son.

"We'll buy you that condo, and you can rent from us."

Tears formed in my eyes as I looked up into his face. "Is there anything else we can do to help Amber?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"No," Salvador sighed, his body sagging before my eyes like someone who had just run a marathon. "You're doing more than enough for us. Thank you."

I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. He hugged me back, and we leaned into each other while staring down at Amber.

After a few minutes, she stirred and sat up, blinking while rubbing her eyes. "What happened?"

A strange mixture of relief and anger boiled over within me. Relief that she seemed back to normal, and anger that she had caused us all so much anxiety in just a few short minutes.

"You had another episode," Salvador explained gently while sitting back down in front of his computer. "We were discussing checking out this condo for sale to see if Shy and Oliver can rent from us."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Amber yawned, then stretched her arms into the air. "Oh, I'm bleeding."

She hadn't cut herself deep, but there was still a slow and steady flow of blood dripping down her arm.

"I'll get a bandaid," I said, then ran to grab one from our first aid kit in the bathroom. When I placed it over her cut, I noticed several scars from other healed cuts lining her arm.

She's done this a lot... Why didn't I ever notice these before when we were having sex?

It dawned on me that we had always had threesomes in dimly lit rooms.

Maybe that's the reason why. To hide the scars.

"Alright, that settles it," Salvador smiled at us. "I'll set up an appointment for us to go check it out," he turned towards me. "Make sure to tell you attorney that you want to give Steven the house."

"Sounds good."