Page 112 of The Truth of Us

"Your group did excellent work on the children's hospital initiative last year."

"Thank you."

I had no idea what he was talking about, not because Northwell hadn't done the work, but because my mind was still on Harper walking away from me over and over again. Carlisle glanced toward where Harper now stood beside Alexander, smiling at a couple I didn't recognize. People were coming up and shaking hands, having pictures taken, and she stood at the centre of it.

"Remarkable, isn't she?"

"Yes." The word left me before I could stop it.

He smiled. "Sophie would have loved this."

My attention snapped back to him. "Sophie?"

He looked mildly surprised. "Her mother."

Right, Sophie, of course.

"I didn't realize..." I stopped.

I didn't realize what? That Harper had a mother, had a life… That Harper was not created in the moment she entered my life?

Carlisle's expression shifted. "Tragic business."

My stomach tightened. "What was?"

He looked toward Harper again. "The accident."

The word landed strangely.

"Accident?" I parroted because I felt like I was missing something, something that was within reach but I could not put my finger on it. Carlisle frowned slightly, like he were trying to determine whether I was truly ignorant or simply impolite.

Then his expression softened. "Forgive me. I assumed everyone knew." I couldn't speak. He lowered his voice and continued, "After the scandal, the press was relentless. Paparazzi everywhere. At the house, the school, the foundation offices."

My skin went cold. "What scandal?"

Carlisle's brows drew together. "The ‌allegation of an affair against Alexander."

My stomach dropped hard. But I still asked, "The what?"

"False, of course," he said immediately. "Anyone who knew Alexander and Sophie knew that. He adored her. Still does, if I'm being honest. Some men only love once."

The room tilted. False cheating allegation. Media frenzy. Paparazzi. Pieces were clicking together, and I felt bile rise in my throat.

"Once the story broke, Sophie was worried about the children," Carlisle continued, voice quieter now. "Especially William. He was at Blackridge then. She went to get him herself."

Blackridge. The word hit hard, and everything was becoming so much clearer… Caleb, who I hadn’t realized had followed me, froze at my side.

Carlisle kept speaking, unaware that every word was stripping skin from bone. "The photographers followed them; it was an absolute frenzy." No. No. "Roads were icy. The driver lost control." No. "Sophie and William died at the scene."

I gripped the edge of the nearest high-top table. So much was coming at me at once. William Montgomery, Blackridge, her mother Sophie Lane, the accident, the scandal that had been whispered even in the halls of the academy we all attended, the photographers. Harper… Harper had been the little girl. The daughter Alexander Montgomery hid from the world after his wife and son died. Will's baby sister. I had known Will, not well, he had been older, but everyone at Blackridge had known him. The kind of boy teachers trusted and younger students followed. The kind of boy who seemed too golden to belong in a place like that. The kind of boy who didn’t care what people thought and hung pictures of him and his sister, of his family in his room, things Harper made for him that he treasured… Then one day he was gone. I remembered Caleb standing by the dormitory window for hours that night.

And now…

I couldn't breathe.

Carlisle was still talking. "Alexander never recovered, of course. How could he? Lost Sophie and the boy in one night. Then hid the girl away. Can't say I blame him."

The bile burned my throat, but I choked it down… The little girl whose entire life had been ripped apart because the world believed a story about cheating. A false story. A story people consumed because it was interesting. Because it was scandalous. Because they thought they had a right to it. And I…