Chapter 5

A black Range Rover stopped outside the clinic nine minutes after I called.

Ryan Cole stepped out.

The receptionist straightened when he approached, but he looked only at me.

Ryan had recently returned to take over his father’s construction company. I had seen his name on signs across the city, attached to hotels, office towers, and luxury apartment projects.

But I had not seen him in person for almost four years.

He was taller than I remembered.

His body had lost the lean shape of the boy who used to climb over our shared fence. His shoulders now filled his…