Chapter 122. Hope It Wasn’t Too Late

Ezra’s POV

I stood before her. My chest was tight. I needed to know what happened, and I didn’t want this to continue any longer.

“Mom,” I said, willing my voice to sound steady as I spoke. “Tell me the truth. No more hiding. What happened with Chloe?”

She looked down at her fingers as they twisted the edge of her shawl. “Ezra, maybe this isn’t the time—”

“No,” I interrupted. “It is the time. I trusted you. I believed you in everything you told me. Now I want the truth.” I stepped closer. “Please. Don’t lie.”

Her eyes were wide and worried. She swallowed. At last, she nodded. “Okay. I will tell you.”

I crossed my arms and waited.

She continued to breathe out for a long time. “Chloe was never put in an asylum, Ezra.”

The words struck me. The floor seemed to tilt. “Excuse me?”

“She never got admitted into an asylum,” she said again. “I never sent her there. I never could send her there. It would ruin the family name. People