ALEXANDER
When Cole walked in, Bella was just leaving my office. The timing couldn’t have been more telling. I watched her slip out through the half-opened door, her hand brushing against her face as though she were blotting out a flood of tears.
When she and Cole nearly bumped into each other, she gave a delicate gasp and hurried away.
Cole shut the door behind him, pausing for a moment as though weighing whether to speak. Then he sank into the chair opposite my desk, eyes flicking from the door Bella had exited through back to me. His brow arched, that knowing look on his face I had come to expect.
“What was that all about?” he asked, half-amused, half-serious. “Bella looked like her whole world just came crashing down. She was still wiping her eyes on her way out.”
I rubbed the ba
