The ethics hearing was set for Friday morning at nine. I had hardly slept the night before, running through possible questions and answers until they bled into one another.
Daniel had texted me at 6 a.m. "Whatever happens today, we face it together. I love you."
I gazed at those three words, hoping to read something in them that would give me strength. But rather than wither, the doubt kept insinuating itself matters sown by those cryptic texts, a too perfect Isabella smile, by the way Daniel had discovered I'd gone to Jayce.
"You ready?" Ella asked, handing me coffee. "You look like death."
"Thanks. That is the little pep talk I need to hear right now."
"I'm serious, Brook. Maybe you should postpone. You're still healing, still processing trauma."
"I can't postpone. Daniel's career is on the line. I sipped some coffee, winced as a pain shot through my side. The doctors told me it would take a few weeks for everything to heal, but I was quickly running out of time.
