Olivia hesitated, then exhaled. “He’s someone from before,” she said. “I thought he’d moved on.” The confession was quiet but said everything, a stone dropped in still water. Elise nodded slowly, piecing it together—an ex-boyfriend, maybe. A past that refused to stay buried.
Yet something didn’t fit. The fear on Olivia’s face hadn’t looked like heartbreak; it looked more than that. Elise couldn’t help wondering: why such panic over a man from the past? What exactly had she been so desperate to keep hidden?