Anger burns beneath my skin. I try to catch my breath, but oxygen only feeds the flames until I am a human torch, alight with my own indignation.

“You can’t be serious.” My mom blinks at him, incredulous.

Brother Bill steps forward, his hands out, palms down in a placating gesture. “I think what Nick is trying to say is that there’s a lot of mud being slung right now, and if any of that hits Jake, it could have a devastating effect on his scholarship potential. For instance, there was a football player out in Virginia last year who lost his scholarship over the language he used on his YouTube channel.”

“And that girl volleyball player,” Grace pipes up. “From somewhere out west. She lost her scholarship because of some swimsuit photos. If cursing and bikinis can do that kind of damage, what do you think is going to happen if a recruiter googles Jake and hears that his girlfriend is the unwed mother of a dead, abandoned—possibly murdered—baby? What role will they think he played in that?”

I catch Jake’s mother’s gaze and make myself hold it. “Mrs. Mercer, what they’re saying isn’t true. It isn’t my baby. I just found it.”

Jake’s father huffs. “These days, a rumor is enough to kill a career. A fact I’m sure your mother is well aware of.”

My mom’s eyes narrow. “Okay, I think we’re done here.”

Her voice is a blade glinting in moonlight—a razor-edged threat. I’m dying to see it draw blood, but she only blinks and puts her professional face back on.

“I’ll let you know when the test results come in.”

“Beckett,” Jake says as my mom practically hauls me toward the front door.

I twist in her grip so I can see him, but he can only shrug an apology at me, with his parents right there.

I shiver on my way down the Mercers’ driveway. My mother opens the back door of the police car and makes me ride behind the partition, like a criminal.

“Where did you park?” she asks as she slides into the front passenger’s seat.

“Around the block, on Elm.”

“What were you thinking, Beckett?” she demands as Officer Green backs the car onto the street.

“I just … I wanted to warn him. It’s scary for cops to show up at your house, and I thought he should have some notice.”

She glares at me in the rearview mirror. “That doesn’t excuse—”

“And I was going to apologize for assuming he was cheating on me. Not that I got a chance.”

My mother’s sigh carries the weight of the world.

“What did Mr. Mercer mean?”

“About what?” She turns to look out the window, avoiding my gaze in the mirror as Officer Green takes a right-hand turn, driving us through a puddle of light from the streetlamp.

“About the rumor he said you were aware of. What rumor was he talking about?”