Lila's POV
Davenport called me at eleven that night, voice flat in a way I had never heard from him before.
"I'm fired," he said, with no preamble. "For real, this time. Ethan called me in personally, offering no severance and escorted me out by security within the hour."
"Davenport, I'm—"
"Don't." His voice cracked, just slightly. "I don't need you to say sorry right now, Lila. I need to figure out how I explain this to my wife."
He hung up before I could say anything else, and I sat up for a long moment, feeling the full, ugly weight of what I did having cost someone his job. A person who had only ever tried to help me, twice, against his own better judgment both times.
My mother found out an hour after that.
"You did what?" Katherine's voice came through the phone sharp enough to
