He had written letters.

Again and again.

He had tried to reach me.

But I never received a single one.

Then he told Anna why.

He had trusted Rick to deliver them.

Rick never did.

Instead, he intercepted the letters.

And eventually, according to William, Rick created a message that made William believe I wanted nothing more to do with him.

I sat there listening, struggling to understand how the person I trusted with my future could have been manipulating my past for so long.

Then came another revelation.

Rick admitted that when we were young, their father had offered him tuition assistance and help with his mother’s rent in exchange for keeping William and me apart.

Rick accepted.

He had made a decision about two teenagers’ lives because someone gave him something he needed.

But the betrayal didn’t end there.

Years later, after learning my first husband, Daniel, had died, Rick knowingly found me again.