Ariel sat in the cushioned chair across from Dr. Kael, her fingers curling tightly around the edge of her purse. She hadn’t said much since they arrived, and neither had she, at least until now.

“I understand this has been weighing on you for a long time,” the doctor began gently, setting a thin file on the table between them. “You were never given full disclosure on the nature of Max’s illness?”

Ariel shook her head. “No one told me anything real.

I just knew he had a sickness, or a condition and then I took him for treatment and … and that it was handled. But I didn’t know...