Hope stood over Ryan’s bed. He didn’t look any different than the day they’d first been here. How was she supposed to know if he was getting better? Or worse?
“I don’t … I don’t know if you can hear me,” Hope said. She felt foolish speaking to an empty room. “You probably can’t, and I probably look insane right now, but … the same person who got to you got to Rafael. His funeral was this morning.” 
She sat down next to his bed, resting her chin against the safety bar. 
“It’s my fault. I think they’re targeting people I’m … involved with. Have feelings for, I mean, because I didn’t … well, you were the only … never mind.” Hope’s cheeks burned. “I just have a theory on why certain people are being targeted, and it sounds like it’s my fault so I’m sorry.”
For a while, she didn’t know what else to say. She just sat there. She knew Lizzie was waiting outside in the lobby, but she didn’t want to move just yet.
“I wish you were here. Not for me, but for Landon. He just lost a brother, and I know you two weren’t close even before I fucked things up, but I’m sure he could’ve used another.” Hope sighed and stood up. “So, I guess I’m really just here to say sorry again. Sorry you’re stuck in a coma, sorry that I ruined any potential relationship with your brother, and sorry that I took another brother from the both of you. Just … wake up so you can be mad at me, okay?”
She stood there as long as she could, and when she finally turned, she couldn’t bear to look back at him as she left. She found Lizzie in the lobby, gnawing at her already-broken thumbnail as she stared down at her phone. 
“What’s wrong?” Hope asked, dreading the worst. 
“Nothing. It’s just MG.” Lizzie shook her head. “I apparently yelled at Josie last night but I can’t remember any of it.”
Hope sat next to her in one of the chairs. “Is that a side effect?”
“I don’t even know. But now I have to apologize for something I don’t even remember doing.” 
Hope nodded. She didn’t really know what to say to that. 
“Did you have a good talk with Ryan?”
“He’s in a coma, Lizzie.”
“Okay. Did you have a good talk at Ryan?” Lizzie tried again. 
Hope considered it. “I guess so.” She cleared her throat and stood. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom and then we can go.”
Lizzie nodded. Hope waited until she was around the corner to pull out her phone.
 
You lied.
 
That was all she typed. She almost didn’t expect an answer at all, but moments after she sent the message, the typing bubble popped up. She waited in sick anticipation. Her mind ran through a million different scenarios. Maybe they would deny it. Maybe they would say she was an idiot for ever trusting their word. Maybe they would rub it in. Maybe -
 
I’m sorry.
 
Hope took a step back. That certainly wasn’t an option that had ever crossed her mind.
 
I didn’t mean to break our deal. I just get SO angry when I see you with someone else.
 
Hope had to press the back of her hand to her mouth. She didn’t even know who this was. How did they have any right to be jealous of who she was or wasn’t interested in? They weren’t her husb-
Hope lowered the phone screen. No. She wasn’t thinking what she was thinking. She couldn’t be. 
But as much as she tried to shut that thought down, the more it grew. Someone who knew intimate details of her life. Someone who wasn’t deterred by the cameras and alarms. Someone angered by her affair with Ryan and her feelings for Rafael. Someone who benefited from cutting her off from them, one way or another. 
No. No. It wasn’t Landon. It could never be Landon. Landon was sweet and kind and probably too forgiving for his own good. He wasn’t capable of something like this. Not even a tiny chance. Not in a million years. Absolutely not.
So why was Hope still thinking about it? Why was she still piling up evidence and making theories? Why did it being an inside job make so much sense?