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I pressed Scott for answers. “What happened to her mother? Why did you keep this from me?”
He grew tense, his jaw tightening. “It’s complicated. My stepsister, Maya—Ella’s mother—was troubled. I helped her as much as I could, but…” His words trailed off, unfinished, unsatisfying.
The Photograph
While unpacking, I found a photograph tucked into one of Scott’s books. It showed him standing beside a pregnant woman. The intimacy in their pose unsettled me.
When I asked him about it, he grew pale.
The confession shattered my trust. How could he marry me without telling me this? Why had he built our relationship on such a lie?