Chapter 2

Marcus's face went dark. "What the hell are you saying!"

"No, I didn't see anything, I swear," Claire said, waving her hands. Then, in a small voice, "I was just so moved by how sincere Professor Hale was. I grew up in foster care, and I've never met anyone like that. I was jealous of his girlfriend, that's all. I never thought people would twist it into this."

She bent forward to bow, lost her balance, and pitched sideways with a small cry.

Marcus caught her. He stepped in front of her, half-shielding her with his body. "Claire and I have done nothing wrong. Don't put your sick assumptions on us."

Looking at the two of them, him protective and her wounded, something in me went completely cold.

I looked Marcus in the eye. "We're done."

He froze. The color drained from his face. He grabbed my wrist. "I told you we'd talk at home. Once this dies down, I'll go public. Okay?"

He still thought I was throwing a tantrum.

He still thought he could smooth it over the way he always did.

I shook my head, slowly. "We. Are. Done."

Claire's face fell. "Dr. Sinclair, please, I'm sorry. Don't be angry at the professor. He hasn't slept properly in months. It hurts me to see."

Then, quieter: "And the drug he developed just got FDA approval. The reviews are amazing. His career is taking off. Being with him, you'd have everything." Her voice trailed off.

I laughed. "If I wanted name or money, I'd already have both."

To protect his fragile little ego, I had never told Marcus how many patents I held or how many studies I had run.

They had no idea. When I finished my doctorate, half the research institutes and universities in the country had tried to recruit me. Even as a grad student I had been on the team for several drug developments. I held multiple U.S. patents. After I started working, I basically lived in the lab.

And my family…

I glanced at Marcus. "When I started dating Professor Hale here, he was nobody."

It was my second year on faculty, and his first.

We ate together a lot. He couldn't afford anywhere off-campus, so we used the faculty discount at the dining hall and argued about research over reheated pasta.

I had a field trip planned. I needed to study a medicinal plant in its native habitat in the mountains.

Marcus came with me.

We stayed at a small inn in town.

The night before we were supposed to drive back, an earthquake hit.

The emergency alert went off on my phone, but I slept through it.

Marcus broke the door open and woke me.

It was already too late.

The building was coming down. He yanked me out of bed and shoved me under the table, then braced himself over me.

I could hear that he was hurt and trying not to make a sound. I didn't say anything, and neither did he.

When the rescue team found us, they saw him first. He told them there was someone underneath him and to get her out first.

I remember thinking I was going to love this person for a long time.

After that, things moved fast between us.

When he told me he loved me, he said he would always stand behind me and protect me.

But somewhere around the time he took Claire on as a student, the person standing behind me wasn't him anymore.

Marcus saw me drift off, and his voice went hard. "Take it back, Evelyn. Pretend you never said it."

I looked at him like I was meeting him for the first time, and shook my head. "No."

I turned and walked away.

It didn't matter how good things used to be.

I don't hang on to what's gone bad.