Chapter 2

Now I knew exactly where all her money had gone.

But who was that boy?

I didn't say anything else to Grant. I quietly withdrew from the prep program.

The sunlight was blinding when I walked out of the administrative office, but I felt cold all over.

The bright future I'd once thought was waiting for me had been stolen a year ago by the two people I trusted most.

I had only $7.30 in my pocket, money Dad had secretly slipped me that morning so I could buy a bottle of water.

I took the bus home.

The scenery rushed past outside the window as I gripped my phone so tightly my fingertips turned white.

I didn't cry. Crying wouldn't solve anything.

I needed answers. I needed to find out exactly what had happened.

I opened Mom's social media profile. She'd blocked me from seeing her posts three years ago.

Then I opened Cassidy's. Her feed was full of everyday life at Briarwood University, with the occasional post about "waiting for Conor," as if she were hopelessly devoted to me.

Looking at those words now made me sick.

I took a deep breath and checked the accounts they followed.

Out of hundreds, only one stood out as someone they both followed. His profile picture was a carefully posed selfie, and his username was "Gavin."

It had to be him.

I opened his profile. His posts were public.

His latest was a selfie taken in the Briarwood University library. He was wearing a limited-edition sweatshirt and a designer watch I'd never been able to afford even after saving for two years.

The caption read: [Every day at Briarwood is amazing!]

In the corner of the photo, I could just make out a woman's hand wearing the same watch Mom had worn for years.

I kept scrolling, my heart sinking lower with every post.

He was a year younger than I was.

There were pictures of him with Mom, who smiled at him with a tenderness I'd never once received in all eighteen years of my life.

There was also a photo of him holding hands with Cassidy. The caption read: [My girlfriend loves me so much!]

As I went through the posts one by one, all the pieces came together into an ugly truth.

The boy called Gavin was Mom's illegitimate son, and Cassidy had been with him for three years.

No wonder she'd suddenly started pushing me to study harder three years ago, insisting I had to get into Briarwood so we could go there together. It had never been about building a future with me. She'd wanted me to clear the path so she could walk it with someone else.

When the bus reached my stop, I got off in a daze and walked home.

My father, Nathan Hale, was in the kitchen heating up canned soup. A few slices of toast sat on the table. It was the same simple meal the two of us had been eating for the past two weeks.

The moment he heard me come in, he wiped his hands and hurried out. His face filled with panic when he saw me.

"Conor, what's wrong? Weren't you going to register today? Why are you home so early? Are you feeling sick?"

His eyes were full of concern, the fine lines around them deeper than I remembered. He'd spent years cutting every possible expense for this family and for me.

When my grandfather, Walter Hale, was alive, Dad had once had every advantage and a promising future of his own.

But because Mom had told him, "I love you," he'd given up his career and spent more than a decade as a stay-at-home dad.

And this was what he'd gotten in return—a wife who betrayed him and a son's future that had been stolen.

Looking at Dad's exhausted face, my nose stung, and my throat tightened.

I felt useless. I couldn't even protect him, and now I had to make him suffer through the same ugly truth with me.