Her mother did not know about the breakup.

As far as she knew, Ashley and Cole were still together.

She had been talking about him for weeks without realizing therelationship was over.

But Cole didn’t know that.

All he heard was boyfriend.

All he heard was someone else.

Ashley stood abruptly.

‘Actually, I feel fine.

We can reschedule.’

Her mother pushed her back down.

‘Sit.

I fought for this appointment.’

Cole cleared his throat.

‘Ma’am, Ashley may be more comfortable discussing certain details privately.’

Her mother immediately nodded.

I’ll be outside.’ Then she pointed at Ashley like she was warning a teenager before a driving test.

‘Tell the doctor everything.’

The door closed.

Silence settled over the room.

Cole set down his pen.

When he looked at Ashley again, the professional mask had thinned just enough for the hurt underneath to show.

‘Who’s the father?’ he asked quietly.

Ashley stared at him.

‘What?’

‘It’s been two months,’ he said.

‘Your mother says you have a boyfriend.

You missed two cycles.

What exactly am I supposed to think?’

The accusation was so sharp, so unexpected, that for a second she couldn’t even form a response.

‘You think I cheated on you?’ she asked.

Cole let out a humorless laugh.

‘I think you moved on fast.’

‘With who?’

He met her eyes directly then.

‘The man with the yellow Porsche.’

Her confusion lasted half a second before it dissolved into stunned disbelief.

‘Brandon?’ she said.

‘You’re talking about Brandon?’

Cole said nothing.

Ashley pressed a hand to her forehead.

‘Cole, Brandon is my cousin.’

The room went very still.

‘Your cousin,’ he repeated.

‘Yes.

My cousin.

My mother’s sister’s son.

The only scandal there is that he uses better skincare than I do.’

Cole looked genuinely shaken for the first time.

His jaw tightened, then relaxed.

Without a word, he crossed to the desk, unlocked his phone, and returned.

He turned the screen toward her.

It was a photo taken outside her apartment.

Ashley hugging Brandon while they laughed.

Yellow Porsche in the curb lane.

Angle close enough to look intimate.

Calculated enough to wound.

Below it sat a message from an unknown number.

She didn’t waste any time, Doctor.

Looks like she found someone with more time on his hands.

Ashley felt the bottom drop out of her stomach.

Someone had followed her.

Someone had watched her apartment.

Someone had sent that photo to Cole deliberately.

‘Who sent you this?’ she whispered.

Before he could answer, his phone lit again.

Same unknown number.

The new preview crawled across the screen.

Ask her what she saw outside your apartment the night she left.

Ashley’s breath caught.

Cole looked from the phone to her.

‘What does that mean?’

For a long second, she said nothing.

Then shame, anger, and old grief rose so fast she couldn’t hold them back.

‘I got messages too,’ she said.

Cole went still.

‘What messages?’

Ashley looked away.

‘Two months ago.

The week before I broke up with you.’

She had never spoken those words aloud, and once she started, they came out raw.

An anonymous number had texted her late at night: a blurry photo of Cole in the lobby of his apartment building with a blonde woman in a red coat.