Khloe looked worried. What was that about? Nothing. Dad, it’s handled. But it wasn’t handled. That night, after Kloe went to bed, Ethan walked across the street and knocked on Aurora’s door. She answered in sweatpants and a t-shirt, her hair loose around her shoulders. Ethan, what’s wrong? Damen sent someone to my daughter’s school.

Aurora’s face went pale. What? An investigator, Marcus Brennan. He was asking the teachers about you, trying to get me to talk. What did you say? I told him to leave. Aurora closed her eyes. I’m so sorry. Don’t apologize. Just tell me the truth. How bad is this? She opened the door wider. Come in. They sat in Aurora’s living room, which felt too big and too empty for two people.

Aurora poured herself a glass of wine, offered one to Ethan, remembered he didn’t drink, and poured herself another glass instead. Damen’s trying to prove I’m unstable, she said. That I made reckless decisions during our relationship, that I can’t be trusted to run a company. She took a long drink.

If he can get people in Silver Creek to say I’m erratic or paranoid or isolated, it strengthens his case. That’s insane. That’s the law. Ethan leaned forward. What happens if he wins? I lose control of what’s left of my company. He gets a settlement and my reputation is destroyed permanently. Can you fight it? I am fighting it.

But he has more resources, more connections, more time. Aurora set down her glass. I moved here to get away from this. I thought if I just disappeared, he’d leave me alone. Guys like that don’t leave people alone. I know that now. They sat in silence. Finally, Ethan spoke. What if you had proof? Aurora looked up.

Proof of what? That he’s the one who’s unstable. That he’s harassing you. That everything he’s accusing you of is projection. I don’t have that kind of proof. You have security cameras. Recording my own property doesn’t prove anything about him. No, but it proves he’s sending investigators to harass your neighbors. Ethan met her eyes. Let me help.

Ethan, I’m serious. If Damian’s going to drag this into my life, I’m not just going to sit back and watch. Aurora stared at him. Why would you do that? Because you asked me not to break, so I’m asking you the same thing. Her eyes filled with something Ethan couldn’t name. She looked away quickly, wiping at her face.

You don’t know what you’re offering? Then explain it to me. Aurora took a shaky breath. If you help me, Damian will come after you, too. He’ll dig into your past, your divorce, your finances, anything he can use to discredit you. Let him. You have a daughter. I know, and I’m not going to teach her that you run away when someone powerful tries to hurt people. Aurora’s voice cracked.

You barely know me. I know enough. She covered her face with her hands. Ethan didn’t move. He just sat there, letting her break in a way he suspected she hadn’t let herself break in years. When she finally looked up, her face was blotchy and her eyes were red and she looked more human than he’d ever seen her. Okay, she whispered.

Okay, okay, I’ll take your help. Ethan nodded. Then we start tomorrow. The next two weeks turned Ethan’s quiet life upside down. Aurora gave him access to her legal files, and Ethan spent every night after Khloe went to bed reading through contracts, emails, and depositions. He didn’t understand half of it, but he understood enough to see the pattern.

Damen Cross wasn’t just suing Aurora. He was systematically destroying her. Every business decision she’d made in the past 5 years had been reframed as reckless. Every partnership that fell apart was blamed on her instability. Every investor who pulled out was cited as evidence that she couldn’t be trusted. And underneath all of it, Ethan found something else.

Forged signatures, backdated contracts, emails that had been altered to change context. “He’s been planning this for years,” Ethan said one night, spreading documents across Aurora’s kitchen table. Aurora looked exhausted. “I know. No, I mean, he’s been planning this since before you even got engaged. Look.

Ethan pointed to a contract dated 3 years earlier. This agreement gives him partial ownership of your patents, but the signature doesn’t match your handwriting. Aurora leaned closer. That’s not my signature. Exactly. Which means he forged it. How did I not catch this? Because you trusted him. Aurora’s hands clenched into fists.

I’m so stupid. You’re not stupid. You’re human. Same thing. No, it’s not. Ethan met her eyes. You loved him. That doesn’t make you stupid. It makes him a liar. Aurora’s expression crumbled. Before Ethan could stop himself, he reached across the table and took her hand. She didn’t pull away. They sat like that for a long time.

The contracts scattered between them like evidence of every mistake they’d both made. Kloe figured it out on her own. Ethan came downstairs one Saturday morning to find her sitting at the kitchen table with a notebook writing something in her careful blocky handwriting. What are you doing? He asked. Homework on a Saturday.

It’s not school homework. It’s life homework. Ethan poured himself coffee. What’s life homework? Chloe looked up. I’m making a list of reasons why you and Aurora should stop pretending you’re just friends. Ethan nearly dropped his mug. Chloe, you like her. She likes you. You both act weird around each other. And you keep staying up late working on her legal stuff even though you don’t understand half of it.

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