“Oh my God,” said Bette. She rested her head in her hands, her elbows on her knees.

Tina rubbed her back.

She swallowed thickly. “But there’s more.”

“More?” asked Bette, Alice, and Tasha all at once.

“Yes.” Tina got up and grabbed her purse. She pulled out three cell phones and handed them to Bette. “This white iPhone, that’s my regular phone. And I’m pretty sure my father has had it cloned or placed a trace on it, so he knows what’s going on in my life.”

She touched one of the other phones. Both were black androids with hard metal cases. “This is my new phone. This one can’t be traced, and it can’t be hacked. And I have one for you, too.”

“Why me?” asked Bette.

“I can’t be sure, but maybe he can trace your phone and your calls, too. I want to be able to speak with you freely and not be worried that someone is hacking into your life.”

Bette shook her head. This was a lot of information to absorb.

Tina pulled a few errant strands of hair behind her ear. “I’ve been leaving him a trail of breadcrumbs. Last week, when I messaged you that I couldn’t handle things anymore, that you weren’t ready to be with me, that wasn’t an autocorrect fail. I did that on purpose.”

Bette asked, “So you did mean it?”

“I didn’t mean it. But I did mean to send it. I knew he was checking my phone. I left you that message so that he’d believe I was done with our relationship.”

The gallery owner thought back to that night. Tina’s text messages had unsettled her. They had indicated that Tina wanted to break up and had seemingly come out of nowhere. The brunette had been hurt and confused. But she hadn’t had long to process her emotions. Tina had appeared suddenly, explaining that the intent behind the messages had been misconstrued due to the autocorrect function.

Though it seemed odd, Tina had been convincing. Too convincing for Bette’s comfort. The feeling of being deceived washed over her, feeding her agitation.

The dark brown eyes were laced with hurt. “Tina, when I asked you about it, you told me it was a mistake. You lied right to my face. Without even batting an eye. How could you do that?”