"If truth be told, and it always should, I was taken in by the view, as so many others, both before and since. For me, it wasn't the sea which proved my downfall, but a pair of eyes. Eyes, specifically, made to drown in."

Imagine thinking you had the ideal life. The perfect partner, on whom you relied and trusted. An infant child, newly adopted. Then one day, you wake up, and the life you've been living has suddenly turned upside down. Everything thought true becomes suspect. And you learn, quite quickly, that you can never again trust the person sleeping beside you.

If Kergan Edwards-Stout's life was a Lifetime movie, surely he would be played by Valerie Bertinelli, and his husband played by some charming hunk. But life is far more subtle than that. And even now, the truth is murkier, and even more disturbing. For Kergan, that email proved to be only the beginning.

Like the wash of the waves, crashing onto the beach, you never know if the tumult will bring glittering riches, highlighted by the sun, or dark, murky residue of questionable origin.