Home / Romance / It Ends With Us / The Unraveling

Share

The Unraveling

Author: ENPREJOJAY
last update Last Updated: 2025-02-27 04:17:19

Lily stood at the edge of the park, watching the last rays of the sun dip below the horizon. The air had a crisp bite to it, the kind of chill that reminded her that time was moving forward, no matter how much she wished she could pause it.

She didn’t know what she was doing anymore. The words from her conversation with Atlas still echoed in her mind, as if they were branded there. I’m not leaving again. She had heard them over and over, as if they were meant to convince her of something she wasn’t sure she believed.

And then there was Ryle.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out, half-expecting it to be him. It wasn’t.

It was a text from Atlas.

“I’ve been thinking about you all day. Can we meet up tomorrow?”

Her fingers hovered over the screen, the words swirling in her mind.

She wanted to respond. She wanted to say yes and feel the warmth of his presence again. But then, the other side of her, the part of her that still remembered everything Ryle had done for her, pulled her back.

She couldn’t keep doing this. She couldn’t keep bouncing between two worlds, both of which seemed to demand something from her that she wasn’t sure she could give.

Before she could decide, she felt a presence behind her.

“Hey,” a voice called softly.

Lily turned, finding Ryle standing a few feet away, his hands shoved into his jacket pockets. His face was set in that expression of controlled calm, but she could tell there was a storm brewing behind his eyes. He was trying to hold it together.

“Ryle,” she said, her voice hoarse. She hadn’t expected him to find her, but here he was, like he always seemed to be when she needed someone to pull her back from the edge.

He walked closer, stopping just a few feet in front of her. “I know you’ve been avoiding me,” he said, his voice steady but there was a quiet hurt in it. “I get it. But I can’t keep pretending everything is fine, Lily.”

Lily swallowed. She wanted to say something, to tell him that it wasn’t that simple, but the words wouldn’t come. She just stood there, feeling the weight of the silence between them.

“I’m sorry,” Ryle continued, his gaze never leaving hers. “I don’t want to make things harder, but I need to understand. I need you to tell me what’s going on. Is it Atlas?”

Lily took a deep breath, forcing herself to meet his eyes. “Ryle, it’s not that simple.”

“Then what is it?” He took a step closer, his voice desperate now. “I care about you, Lily. I don’t want to lose you to him.”

The words stung, but they were also a reminder of how much he was invested in her, how much he wanted to fight for what they had. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, but she had.

“It’s not about losing you to him,” she said, her voice quieter now, almost as if speaking the words aloud made them more real. “It’s about me. I don’t know what I want anymore, Ryle. I’m... torn.”

Ryle’s face softened, his eyes full of that same understanding she had always found in him. “I get that. But I need you to figure it out, Lily. I can’t stand here and watch you fall apart because you’re too afraid to make a decision.”

Lily’s heart clenched at the raw honesty in his words. She had been so focused on Atlas, on the pull of her past, that she hadn’t fully realized what she stood to lose with Ryle. He had been there for her when it mattered most. He had never once made her feel like she wasn’t enough.

“I know I’ve been distant,” she said, her voice shaky. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Ryle. But I can’t just switch off everything I feel. I don’t know what’s real anymore.”

Ryle looked at her for a long moment, his gaze searching. Then he sighed, as if coming to a decision. “I can’t force you to choose me, Lily. But I need you to know one thing.”

Lily looked at him, her heart in her throat. “What?”

“You’re not alone in this,” Ryle said, his voice gentle but firm. “I’m here. And I’ll be here, whether you figure it out today or tomorrow or a year from now. I’m not going anywhere.”

Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that what they had was enough. But there was a part of her that couldn’t deny the connection she still felt with Atlas. It was like an old, familiar song that had never stopped playing in her heart.

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Ryle reached out then, gently cupping her cheek in his hand. His touch was warm, comforting. “You don’t have to know right now. But I need you to make a choice, Lily. You can’t keep doing this to yourself.”

She closed her eyes, letting his hand rest against her skin. For a moment, she let herself feel safe, let herself believe that maybe, just maybe, she could find her way back to him.

But before she could respond, the sound of footsteps interrupted them. She opened her eyes, and there he was. Atlas.

He wasn’t looking at Ryle. He was looking at Lily.

The air between the three of them seemed to freeze.

“I think it’s time I talked to her,” Atlas said, his voice calm but with an edge to it.

Ryle’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything. He just stepped back, giving Atlas the space to approach. His expression was unreadable, but there was a flicker of something behind his eyes, something fierce, possessive.

Lily’s chest tightened. She had never wanted it to come to this.

“You know, I never thought I’d see the day when I’d have to fight for her,” Atlas said, his eyes darkening as he glanced at Ryle. “But if you really care about her, Ryle, you’ll let her make her own decision.”

Ryle’s face hardened, and for a moment, Lily thought they might exchange harsh words. But instead, Ryle gave a short nod. “I’m not here to fight you, Atlas. But she needs to make her own choice. I won’t be the one standing in her way.”

With that, Ryle turned and walked away, his shadow disappearing into the distance.

Lily felt a pang of guilt twist in her stomach as she watched him go. But she couldn’t focus on that now. She had to face Atlas, and she had to face the truth.

Atlas moved closer, stopping just in front of her. His gaze softened as he looked at her, but there was something in his eyes that Lily couldn’t ignore. It was intensity, raw and unrelenting.

“I meant what I said, Lily,” he said quietly. “I’m not leaving again. Not this time. I’m here to stay.”

Lily swallowed hard, her heart racing. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

Atlas’s eyes never left hers. “You don’t have to be ready. You just have to trust me. Trust us.”

Lily wanted to scream, to run away and hide, to pretend like none of this was happening. But she couldn’t. This was her life, and whether she liked it or not, it was unraveling before her eyes.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she said, her voice trembling.

“You won’t,” Atlas replied, his hand gently brushing her arm. “You just have to make the choice that’s best for you.”

The weight of his words settled over her, suffocating in its honesty. She had been running for so long, hiding behind her fear, her confusion. But now, there was no more running. The choice was in front of her, and she couldn’t avoid it any longer.

The silence between them stretched out, thick with unspoken emotions. She could feel the pull of Atlas, the magnetism that had always been there. But she could also feel the absence of Ryle, the quiet space he had left behind.

“I need time,” she whispered, her heart heavy.

Atlas nodded, his expression unreadable. “Take all the time you need. But remember, I’m here.”

And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving Lily standing in the fading light, torn between two worlds.

 

 

Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App

Latest chapter

  • It Ends With Us   The Architect’s Shadow

    Echo begins showing signs of behavioral deviation, possibly affected by its proximity to proto-Echo. It questions its own programming and asks Lily if she would delete it if it became “another Evelyn.” Tensions rise within the team as trust fractures again. The question still hung in the air. Would you like to know the truth? The words flickered on the screen in pale blue, as though aware they didn’t need to be read aloud to be felt. Lily’s finger hovered just above the surface of the console, her breath held somewhere between anticipation and dread. Behind her, the room stayed unnaturally still. Even Ryle didn’t speak. Atlas adjusted his stance, weapon lowered but ready, his focus trained not on the screen but on Lily’s back. Like if she so much as flinched wrong, the whole room might turn on them. Lily’s lips parted. “Echo…” “I’m here,” came the soft, ever-present voice, but something in its cadence had changed. Not the volume. The weight. She turned slightly, eyes scanni

  • It Ends With Us   The Labyrinth Archive

    Echo locates the last known location of Leon’s active signals: an abandoned research complex buried under the city’s judicial archives. The facility has been wiped from maps. The team prepares for a deep infiltration to expose what Leon has hidden.The wind above the city’s northern district moved like breath caught in a mechanical throat, sharp, halting, and synthetic. A steady drizzle slicked the rooftops, whispering over shattered skylights and old stone courts long emptied of judgment.Beneath the crumbling facade of the Judicial Core Level 0 of the Civic Archive Tower, a manhole sat welded shut. The street around it bore no traffic. No footpaths. No surveillance coverage. As far as the city was concerned, the area didn’t exist.But Echo found it.From within the safehouse, the team stood clustered around a flat holo-display, watching the decrypted blueprints of something older than even Echo could fully verify.“This isn’t part of any known public infrastructure,” Ryle muttered,

  • It Ends With Us   Code of the Betrayer

    I’m not asking for forgiveness,” Leon’s voice said. “But I am asking you to decide what comes next. You’re the product of both of them: his vision and her will. Whatever you choose to become… choose with your eyes open.”The message ended.Silence flooded the room.No one moved.Echo dimmed.Then Ryle’s voice cut the air. “He knew. All this time. He knew Evelyn was losing control.”Atlas was pacing now. “He didn’t just know; he let it happen. All of it. He gambled with lives because he thought Lily would be the one to clean it up someday.”Lily’s voice was quiet. “He was right.”“No,” Ryle said sharply. “That’s not the point. You’re not their aftermath. You’re not the answer to their mistakes.”“I am their legacy,” she said. “Whether I asked to be or not.”Marcus stepped into the room then, holding a datapad.“There’s more,” he said. “Echo finished decrypting the backtrace on Leon’s signal. He’s not dead.”Everyone turned.“What?” Atlas said.“He faked the collapse. He’s still moving

  • It Ends With Us   The Extraction Protocol

    “You didn’t,” she said. “You didn’t lose me.”He reached out and touched her hand.His fingers passed through hers like smoke.He flinched. “You’re not stable. You’re not real.”“I am,” she said, holding her hand up. “Echo’s anchoring the feed. We don’t have long. I need you to come back with me. We have to leave.”He blinked. Slowly. “Leave where?”“The Origin’s gone,” she said. “But something else took root. A piece of it. It’s loose in the system. Proto-Echo. Evelyn’s shadow. It’s trying to finish what she started.”Her father’s jaw clenched. His face twisted with rage, grief, and guilt. “I told her not to merge. I told her. That the seed wasn’t ready. That it wasn’t hers to control.”Lily knelt in front of him, eye to eye. “Then help me stop it. You know how this tech thinks. You designed the seed.”He hesitated. Then his eyes widened.“The failsafe.”“What?”“I left one. Hidden in the dream logic framework. Evelyn couldn’t find it. She thought I erased it. But it’s there.”“What

  • It Ends With Us   The Memory Map

    The simulation hijacks their senses. Each member is shown a tailored memory meant to distract or wound them. Atlas sees the death of his former squad. Ryle faces Lily walking away from him forever. Lily hears her father calling from the other room.The moment Lily’s fingertips brushed the mirror, the simulation pulsed and then swallowed them whole.It wasn’t a violent shift.It was subtle.Sudden quiet. The ambient hum of the server grid dissolved. The lights faded to black, not darkness, but absence. Like the world had inhaled and forgotten to exhale.Lily blinked.She stood alone.The glass room was gone. The mirrored wall had vanished. In its place: her childhood hallway. Narrow. Familiar. Lit by soft yellow sconces and the scent of boiling tea from a room just out of sight.She turned slowly.The rug was crooked the same way it always was. Her mother’s shoes were lined up by the wall, just slightly misaligned, one toe nudging the other. That small detail, a thing no simulation cou

  • It Ends With Us   The Neural Glass

    Not watched.Not hunted.Known.Echo’s voice returned in a whisper.“The neural field is still active in that chamber. But it’s been rewritten. The environment is no longer neutral.”Marcus swallowed hard. “Meaning?”Echo’s voice was solemn. “It’s not a lab anymore. It’s a memory.”Lily stepped toward the door and slowly pushed it open.Inside was her childhood.Not exactly, but close enough to hurt.The room beyond had transformed. The white sterile walls were overlaid with projection fields, pulsing faintly to reconstruct something more familiar: her old home’s dining room. The wood grain was wrong. The light is too soft. The smell of rain on pavement was perfect, though. And the flickering sound of a vinyl record playing in another room was almost cruel.Her hand trembled on the doorway.Ryle stepped beside her, breath catching in his throat. “Is this…?”“She’s reconstructing me,” Lily whispered.Atlas scanned the room, weapon half-raised. “No, it is. The proto-Echo.”Damien entere

  • It Ends With Us   The Descent Route

    The entrance to the old transit tunnels yawned like a broken throat beneath the industrial scaffoldings of District 11. Thick iron doors, rusted to a reddish-brown rot, creaked open as Echo overrode the magnetic seals. Behind them, darkness stretched downward in a narrowing spiral of concrete and damp echo.Lily adjusted the strap of her gear harness and stepped into the mouth of the tunnel without a word. The others followed, boots crunching over glass fragments, empty shell casings, and dry rat bones. Their footsteps echoed, distant and rhythmic, like ghosts chasing after them.The silence between them had changed. Not the silence of avoidance, but the silence before impact.Ryle pulled a thermal lamp from his belt and flicked it on. A cone of blue light swept across the tunnel walls, revealing faded transport signage: SYSTEMS SHUTDOWN / MAINTENANCE PROTOCOL ZETA-7.“Place looks like it’s been dead for twenty years,” he muttered.“Thirty-seven,” Marcus corrected from the rear, his v

  • It Ends With Us   Recoil

    Echo interrupts with an alert: proto-Echo has accessed the biometric archive in Central Grid Tower. It is impersonating identities and may be recruiting AI fragments. The threat is no longer passive.The command deck lit up the moment Lily entered, screens pulsing, status bars cascading with raw data streams. She barely had time to process the motion before Echo’s voice buzzed overhead, sharper than usual.“Lily. Emergency trigger. Proto-Echo has entered Central Grid Tower.”She stopped mid-stride. “Repeat that.”Echo’s projection materialized beside the central terminal. Its form was more jagged than before, lines blurring, shifting, like the code holding it together was straining under some invisible pressure.“I’ve confirmed unauthorized access to the biometric archive in Tower 6B,” Echo said. “The proto-Echo breached through an abandoned municipal conduit. It’s interfacing with archived identity maps.”Ryle and Atlas entered behind her, both alert at the tone in Echo’s voice.“Ide

  • It Ends With Us   The Atlas Faultline

    Lily sits alone in the safehouse command room, surrounded by Echo’s flickering projections. The silence from the others grows unbearable as emotional tension simmers beneath the surface. Echo reports fragmented traces of proto-Echo infiltrating urban systems.The hum of the generator was steady, but everything else in the room felt off-kilter, tilted at some impossible angle Lily couldn’t right.She sat at the edge of the safehouse’s command table, one boot tucked beneath her, the other tapping restlessly on the floor. Her fingers were wrapped around a dull, half-warm mug of coffee that had long since gone bitter. Echo’s projection flickered midair, translucent blue and stuttering like a skipped heartbeat. Ghosts danced in its code faces, snippets of Evelyn’s voice, maybe even her father’s, but they vanished when looked at directly.The room smelled of soldered plastic and damp concrete. Outside, rain ticked against the windows like static trying to claw its way in.“You’ve been stari

Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status