LOGINPOV: ElaraThe morning light cut through my curtains like an accusation.I didn't get up. Didn't check my phone. Didn't do anything except stare at the ceiling and think.Every time I'd tried to fight back, it had gotten worse. Every explanation became ammunition. Every defense turned into proof of guilt.So what if I stopped fighting?What if I just... disappeared?Not running. Not hiding in fear. Something else. Something deliberate.I sat up slowly, reached for my phone. The screen showed forty-three missed calls. Seventy-two text messages. Hundreds of social media notifications I couldn't see anymore because I'd deleted the apps days ago.I opened my contacts. Scrolled to Mara's name. My thumb hovered over the call button.Then I closed the app.I couldn't talk to her. Couldn't explain what I was about to do because I barely understood it myself. All I knew was that every word I spoke became a weapon against me. Every connection became a liability.So I'd cut them all.I started w
POV: ElaraI woke to silence.Not the peaceful kind. The heavy kind. The kind that presses down on your chest and makes every breath feel like work.My phone sat on the nightstand, screen dark. I reached for it, fingers trembling, and pressed the power button.The screen exploded with light. Notifications flooded in, hundreds of them, thousands, the numbers climbing so fast they blurred together.I scrolled through the first few."Elara Sinclair caught in shocking affair.""Tech mogul's fiancée exposed, dark past revealed.""Who is the mystery man in Elara Sinclair's scandal video?"My stomach turned. I dropped the phone like it burned.The gala. Last night. The video played on that massive screen while everyone watched. My shame broadcast in high definition for New York's elite to judge.I rolled over, pressed my face into the pillow, and tried to remember how to breathe.My apartment felt different. Smaller. Like the walls had moved closer overnight, trapping me inside with my humil
The next day, I was ready. The words kept looping in my head like a prayer.I must destroy Seraphina. No one messes with me and walks away.I showered, dressed, and headed out. The morning air felt different. Sharper. Like the world knew something was about to shift.That's when I saw it. A sleek storefront halfway down the block. The sign read "Vivienne Beauty Hub" in elegant gold letters.I stopped. Stared at my reflection in the glass. If I was going to do this, I needed to look the part.I pushed the door open. The bell chimed.A woman glanced up from behind the counter, her eyes sweeping over me once. She smiled, slow and knowing."Looking for a transformation?"I met her gaze. "Something like that.” The stylist's name was Vivienne and she looked at me like I was a project.Not a person. A project."We need to change everything," she said, circling me in her studio. "The hair. The posture. The way you hold your shoulders like you're apologizing for taking up space.""I don't..."
I watched the video seventeen times before I could move.Seventeen times watching Aiden hand Seraphina that black packet. Seventeen times seeing her smile. Seventeen times watching him walk away like they'd just sealed some invisible pact.My apartment felt too small. The walls pressed in. Every breath hurts.Mara sat across from me, silent. What could she say? We'd both seen it. The evidence was right there, glowing on my laptop screen like an accusation."I need to show him," I finally said."Elara...""He needs to see this. He needs to explain.""What if he can't?" Mara's voice was gentle. "What if there's no explanation that makes this okay?"I didn't answer. I was already grabbing my keys....Aiden lived in a penthouse in Tribeca. Glass and steel and minimalist furniture that cost more than most people's cars. I'd spent countless nights there, curled up on his obscenely expensive couch, planning our future.Now I stood in the lobby, shaking, while the doorman called up."Ms. Si
I left.Straight home. Didn't tell anyone. Not even him. The door closed behind me and I went straight to my bed, bypassing the kitchen, the light switch, everything. My body sank into the mattress.But my eyes...they stayed open.Staring at the ceiling. Waiting for sleep that wouldn't come.How could I? Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Seraphina's smile. That whisper. “You were never the only one I planned for.”By sunrise, my phone had exploded.Literally. The battery died from the constant notifications. I plugged it in and watched it come back to life like a monster resurrecting. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Messages flooding in faster than I could breathe.The first headline hit me like a brick.“Tech Mogul Aiden Cross Ditches Fiancée For Heiress At Own Engagement Party.”Below it, a photo. Aiden carrying Seraphina. Her head on his shoulder. His face twisted with concern. And me... tiny in the background, blurred, forgettable.I scrolled.#EngagementFail trending worldwide.Various source
The video had eight million views by the time my taxi hit Fifth Avenue.Eight million people watching my fiancé carry another woman out of our engagement party. Eight million witnesses to the exact moment my life split in half.My phone wouldn't stop buzzing. It felt like holding a live wire.“OMG is this real???”“I KNEW something was going on between them…”“That poor girl in the background... is that the fiancée???”“Seraphina and Aiden have ALWAYS had chemistry. Everyone knows it.”“Gold digger got what she deserved lol”I wanted to throw the phone out the window. Watch it shatter on the pavement like Seraphina's champagne glass. Instead, I gripped it harder, my knuckles white against the screen's glow."Lady, you okay back there?" The taxi driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror."Mount Sinai," I said. My voice sounded like gravel. "Fast."He hit the gas.The city blurred past... neon signs and street lamps and people laughing on corners who had no idea the world could end in







