"And you keep saying you've only met him once. I can't even be bothered to call you out on that!"
"The security footage is crystal clear. Sebastian's been staying the night here every few days."
"I was trying to save you some face. If you don't want it, don't blame me."
"You're lying!"
My own voice came out so shrill it hurt my ears.
"I've always lived here alone! When did I ever let him through my door?"
One of the guards stepped forward at my aunt's signal, holding up his phone.
On the screen: a man keying the code into my front door. The door opened. A girl came out of the apartment and threw herself into his arms, and the two of them kissed as the door swung shut.
"Nothing to say now, is there? He comes by every few days. Even the building security knows him."
"And you said you'd only met him once!"
"Ava, don't make me say this as your aunt—an unmarried girl who's let her reputation rot this badly."
"I haven't even blamed you for disgracing the Bennett name, and here you are turning it around on us!"
My aunt's voice dissolved into noise.
I stared at the grainy footage on the guard's phone, cold crawling down my spine, vertebra by vertebra.
How was this possible?