“Who?”
Walter turned onto the highway.
“Your grandfather’s third patient.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“You said Melanie and I were the only children.”
“No,” Walter replied.
“I said you were both treated.”
The city disappeared behind us.
Then he spoke the name of the third patient.
“Wyatt Cole.”
—
PART 6
THE FIANCÉ WHO KNEW MORE THAN HE ADMITTED
The silence inside the SUV became unbearable.
I turned toward Wyatt.
He did not look surprised.
That was the moment my heart broke.
“You knew.”
He stared through the windshield.
“Sadie—”
“You knew.”
“I knew part of it.”
“How much?”
Walter drove north toward a private airfield.
Wyatt’s face was pale.
“My mother worked for your grandfather.”
“What?”
“She was a laboratory nurse.”
The truth landed slowly.
All the coincidences I had once called fate suddenly rearranged themselves.
Wyatt meeting me at a charity event.
Wyatt recognizing Grandpa’s old watch in a photograph.
Wyatt asking strangely specific questions about my childhood illnesses.
“You didn’t meet me by accident.”
His eyes filled with pain.
“No.”
Melanie whispered, “You were watching her.”
“At first.”
The words cut deeper than I expected.
“Was any of it real?”
Wyatt turned toward me.
