Years of Devotion, A Lifetime of Betrayal

o talk about the

held a look I knew well. It was the loo

to keep my voice steady. "The

h his perfect brown hair. "It's

. My heart bega

ed months ago. And... astrophysics? Since

cases. David and Susan pulled some strings. You know, with her background, what she's be

tomach. "And what does that ha

d. "It wouldn't look good, would it? Two girls from the same family, essentially. The

ezed my

so fragile right now. It would

ragile? Ethan, this fellow

dropping to that soft, pers

fresh start for her, a way to heal. And it's not like you're giving up your entire career. You'

ke cotton, trying

denly wants my fellowship, and I'

mile that used to make my knees weak. "The Harrisons would be s

him, really

, the man I was

nt, something in

fellowship anymore. It

eeing Chloe, her supposed fra

just...

und him began to fade, repla

lieved I should sacrifice my dream for a girl he b

with Ethan at its center

of foster placements that never stuck. My parents, academics I barely remembered, had died in a car crash when

t me to a good school. But it was

w me, the quiet, scared girl in the corner. He talked to me, listened to me. He was my first r

light. Or s

and Blackwood patrons, saw it as a suitable, if slightly unconventional, match. I was smart, presentable, and devoted to Ethan. Pe

ded myself to fit his life, his family, his expectations. He accepted my devotion easily, l

hloe r

ow miraculously found, living a h

changed e

had their "real" daugh

merized by her story, by h

oothe. "To make it up to you, how about that trip to Europe we talked about? Aft

quiet places, mountains, observatories. Chloe, on the other h

resh stab. He wasn't even

on. Ethan was supposed to pick me up. We'd had a small argument earlier – I h

ver s

ng rain for over an hour, my calls going straight to voicemail. Finally,

ed off to the Harrison house. Chloe had feigned a panic a

ing with fever. My throat was r

d bed, the wind howling outs

ance, just like the Harrisons'

stance, the one that made him look good, the

tory and feigned fragility, was

A polite, discreet man. He said he represented a famil

ones I thought were dead, were alive. Tech billionaires. They had fak

vie plot. Too fantastical. I was overwhe

alone, the investigator'

f it w

zzed. A tex

er. Sorry about last night,

y missed calls.

n't r

. My chest hurt w

call. He d

. Comforting her.

The foster kid. The p

and heavy, s

with Ethan, my place with the Ha

stigator's card, tuck

gs. My *rea

e spark ignited

y phone, my fin

Ethan. I wasn't going

as

investigat

to make a di

me to cho

d the ca