“You always have a choice,” I said. “You lied to me for months.”

“I was trying to protect you,” he pleaded.

“You were trying to protect yourself,” I said. “And your mother.”

He looked down at the floor, unable to meet my eyes.

“We just need time,” he muttered. “The lawyer is looking at options.”

“The lawyer your mother hired?” I asked.

He didn’t answer.

I felt a cold sensation in the pit of my stomach.

I walked back toward the office, my mind spinning with a sudden, terrible realization.

If Ethan was co-signed on this debt, the creditors could come after our joint assets.

They could come after our house.

They could come after the money my mother had left me in her will.

I needed to see what other paperwork Ethan had been keeping from me.

“Sophia, wait,” Ethan called out, following me down the hall.

I didn’t stop. I went back into his office and opened his laptop, which was sitting on the corner of the desk.

It was still logged into his personal email account.