ed. The story was out. Sarah Thompson, the quiet country girl, had a wild, shameful secret. Online gossip started, faceless comments p

othing fe

dropped th

not meeting my eyes. "She' s too traumatized to be alone. Her place

You want Olivia Hayes to

, Sarah. Until she' s str

I get? I' m the one being publicly shamed fo

oyance in his eyes. "It' s the guest room. It' s

de and tearful. She looked like a frightened bird. She barely look

s betrayal. She' d stay in her room mostly, but I' d hear her soft weeping, or Ethan' s low, comf

alk to him,

he shouldn' t be here. This i

ing this harder than it needs to be. Olivia is my friend. She' s

g her before me, before our b

wasn' t her fault, not really. She just made a mistake. A si

ke he was playing

lanket Ethan had bought her, looking pale and lost. If I entered, she' d flinch, as if my very presence

. My home was no longer a haven, but a stage for Olivia' s victimhood, with Ethan as her devoted protector. And I was forced to watch, an unwillin