I looked toward my engagement ring.

“I won’t.”

That was when my professional life and personal life began separating in ways I hadn’t anticipated.

At work, I couldn’t reveal confidential review findings.

At home, Ethan expected me to trust his family’s explanation that everything was normal.

The conflict would eventually become impossible to manage.

That evening, I drove to Blue Island.

My parents’ shop stood behind a row of older commercial buildings, its faded sign visible from the street.