Page 75 of Second Sin

“He came in this morning. Told me everything.”

“Everything,” I echo, throat dry.

“Said he crossed a line. Took responsibility. Asked to be pulled from your care permanently.”

I don’t sit. I just stand there, pulse roaring in my ears, body buzzing with heat I don’t know what to do with.

“He had no right,” I say.

Coach raises a brow. “Didn’t speak for you. Just owned his part.”

“He shouldn’t have gone to you first.” My voice shakes now, even though I hate that it does.

“He went to HR too. Put it in writing. This way, you don’t have to walk.”

I sink into the chair across from him, the letter limp in my lap.

I should feel relieved.

But I don’t.

I feel undermined. Blindsided. Controlled.

Like he beat me to the fallout so I wouldn’t get a say in it.

“He’s off your rotation,” Coach says. “No sessions. No contact in that capacity. You stay on—if you want the job, it’s still yours.”

I nod. Slowly. “Understood.”

He watches me for a moment longer. Then says, quieter, “He wasn’t trying to screw you over, Hart. Just trying to fix what he broke.”

I press my lips together.

Fixing it would’ve meant not breaking it in the first place.

But even as the thought forms, I know it’s not fair.

He may have made the first move—but I didn’t stop it.

Didn’t stop him.

Didn’t stop myself.

And everything after that…I was in it. All the way in.

With hands, with heart, with every shaky excuse I told myself about ethics and timing and lines that were already too blurred to redraw.

I stand.

“Thanks, Coach.”

I head for the door. I’m almost out when I pause.

The envelope is still in my hand.

I glance at it once, then drop it in the trash on the way out.

CHAPTER 30

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