CHAPTER 2

Elara POV

The maître d’ called after me, waiters whispered in alarm, and I felt every pair of eyes burning into my back as I stumbled toward the door. None of it mattered.

“I can’t—” I choked, my breath rattling as my knees threatened to give out. “I can’t do this.”

My legs buckled as I stopped near the curb, gasping, clutching at myself like I could physically hold the pieces of my chest together. Tears blurred the streetlights into messy halos of gold and white.

I wrapped my arms around myself, shaking violently. The sobs tore out of me before I could stop them. I tried to swallow them down, but they clawed their way out anyway.

My bag buzzed suddenly, a sharp vibration that made me flinch. My phone. I yanked it out with trembling hands.

“Don’t,” I hissed through clenched teeth, my hands shaking harder. “Don’t you dare act like you care now.”

Daniel’s name flashed across the screen. And then Cassandra’s. One after the other. Over and over.

I laughed bitterly when I saw Cassandra’s name, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. “What, Cassie? You want to explain? You want to tell me how sharing my boyfriend was just another fun game between us?”

The phone buzzed again, Daniel’s name glowing like it owned me.

“No,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “Not anymore.”

With a strangled cry, I hurled it into the gutter. The screen cracked against the concrete with a sharp snap. Sparks of glass scattered like cruel confetti.

I stared at the shattered phone, my whole body trembling. “That’s it,” I whispered hoarsely. “We’re done. All of us. Forever.”

At that moment, when our last fragile bond was broken, I also let go of the part of me that believed in forever.

When I finally stumbled into my apartment, the silence hit me harder than the betrayal itself.

The door slammed shut behind me, rattling in its frame. My keys slipped through my fingers and clattered against the wooden floor. The sound echoed far too loudly in the suffocating quiet.

The silence wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t peaceful. It was suffocating, thick, pressing down on my chest.

“I can’t… I can’t do this,” I whispered, my voice hoarse, trembling.

I caught my reflection in the mirror by the entryway—and I hated what I saw.

Mascara streaked down my face in messy black trails. My navy-blue dress, chosen so carefully because it was Daniel’s favorite, clung to me like a cruel joke—wrinkled, damp, stained with tears. My hair, once pinned with hope, was tangled and frizzed from the humidity.

But it wasn’t the mess that destroyed me. It was my eyes.

“They’re dead,” I muttered, shaking my head at my own reflection. “I don’t even know you anymore. Who are you, Elara? Who the hell are you?”

They looked empty. Hollow.

Like I didn’t even know the woman staring back at me anymore.

I tore my gaze away before it broke me completely and stumbled into the living room. My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the couch, grabbing a pillow and clutching it to my chest as if it could replace the arms I had lost.

And then I broke.

Sobs erupted from somewhere deep, tearing through me until my throat burned raw. I pressed my face into the pillow to muffle the sound, but it was useless. My body shook violently, curling tighter and tighter as if I could fold myself into nothing.

Between sobs, I gasped out words, as if saying them might lessen the pain.

“How could you, Daniel? Six years… six years, and you throw it away like nothing?”

I buried my face deeper into the pillow.

“And you, Cassandra…” My voice cracked, bitter. “You were supposed to be my sister. My family. How could you do this to me?”

Memories clawed at me. Daniel’s smile. Cassandra’s laughter. His promises. Her loyalty. All poisoned, all worthless now.

The worst wasn’t even Daniel. It was Cassandra. My best friend. My sister.

My voice cracked into the empty room. “Why? Why wasn’t I enough?”

The words dissolved into silence. No answer came. Of course not.

“There’s nothing left to say,” I whispered, shaking my head as fresh tears burned my eyes. “Nothing left to fix.”

There was no fixing this. No explanation that could ever make it better.

Only silence.

Only betrayal.

And I lay there, clutching a pillow soaked with my tears, shattered in every way a person could be.

The next morning, sunlight poured through the blinds like nothing had happened.

I stared at the ceiling, my body heavy, my eyes swollen and raw. The city outside moved on—horns honking, footsteps echoing, people living. And me? I was stuck in the ruins.

The navy-blue dress lay crumpled on the floor, mocking me. It should have been part of a celebration. Instead, it was just fabric drenched in humiliation.

I dragged myself to the shower, scrubbing my skin as if hot water could erase betrayal. But it clung to me. It always would.

By the time I got to work, whispers followed me like shadows. I didn’t need to hear the words. I saw it in their eyes. They knew.

“Elara?” My boss appeared beside my desk, holding my proposal folder. Concern flickered across his face. “Your presentation—are you ready?”

Something inside me snapped.

“I quit.”

The words left my mouth before I even realized I’d said them.

His eyes widened. “What? Elara—are you serious?”

“I need to start over. Somewhere else.” My voice cracked but carried weight.

He frowned, lowering the folder. “Don’t make decisions in anger. You’ve worked too hard to just—”

“No,” I cut him off sharply, my hands shaking as I shoved sketches into my bag, pages crumpling under the force. “This isn’t about anger. It’s survival.”

“Elara—listen to yourself,” he tried again, his tone softening. “Don’t throw your future away because of—”

“My future is…is already gone,” I snapped, my throat burning. “I just need a chance to build a new one.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but I didn’t wait. I stood, slung the heavy bag over my shoulder, and walked.

Each step away from that office, away from the desk that had once been my pride, felt like tearing my old life apart piece by piece.

But it was necessary.

Because if I stayed, I would die in pieces.

And so I walked out into the noise of the city, broken but determined, whispering to myself through clenched teeth:

“Start over, Elara. You have to.”