Mag-log inMIA’S POV“Say it again.” Sophie didn’t hesitate. “She said poison.” The word sat between us like something alive.I leaned back against the couch, arms folded loosely, but nothing about me felt relaxed. My apartment was quiet too quiet and the city lights spilling through the windows did nothing to soften the tension coiling tighter in my chest.I had returned home unable to dwell in the tension that consumed the house with grandma's arrival and Victoria’s sudden persona.“She could’ve been bluffing,” Sophie added, pacing now, restless energy radiating off her. “People say things like that all the time in situations like”“No,” I cut in softly.Sophie stopped.I lifted my gaze to hers. “That wasn’t a bluff.” Silence followed. Heavy. I hadn’t told Sophie anything about my second chance at life, it was too complicated to explain.Because Sophie knew me well enough to hear what I wasn’t saying. That word poison wasn’t just random.It was specific. Targeted. And somehow, It felt like a
MIA’S POVNo one moved. No one spoke. It was as if the entire room had forgotten how.Grandma Carter stood at the entrance like she had always belonged there like she had never been wheeled away, never been reduced to whispers and pity and careful conversations spoken behind closed doors.Like she had never been weak. And suddenly everything I thought I knew shifted.“Mother…” Robert’s voice came out uneven, strained in a way I had never heard before. “You shouldn’t be here.” Grandma didn’t even look at him. Not immediately. That alone said everything.Instead, she stepped forward, slow and deliberate, her heels echoing softly against the marble floor. Each step carried weight, authority that didn’t need to be announced.Claimed.Owned.Only when she reached the center of the room did she finally turn her gaze toward him. Sharp. Unimpressed.“I go where I please,” she said calmly.Simple.Final.Robert straightened slightly, recovering, trying to pull himself back into control. “You’r
MIA’S POVSilence had never felt this loud before. It sat with me. Wrapped around me. Pressed into my chest like something heavy and unspoken.I stood by the window of my apartment, staring out at the city lights that stretched endlessly below. New York didn’t stop for heartbreak. It didn’t pause for betrayal. It didn’t care.Maybe that was why I liked it. It didn’t pretend. My reflection stared back at me through the glass.Calm.Composed.Unrecognizable. Because inside Nothing was calm. Nothing was composed. Nothing had changed.Same face.Same eyes. Same girl who had stood in a room full of people and watched the man she was supposed to marry choose someone else.And yet…..Everything felt different. My fingers lifted slightly, brushing against my lips before I could stop myself. A mistake. Because the memory came back instantly. His hand around my wrist. His voice—low, controlled.“Not like this” My breath hitched softly, and I dropped my hand. No. That wasn’t what mattered. Not
MIA’S POVI felt my emotions bubble inside of me, the silence that sat between Ethan and I stirred it more, the cold night breeze, the silence in the streets as if they mourned my heartbreak.I fought the urge to break down, with everything in me.Ethan drove down to my apartment I walked into the building in a complete daze, being led by his hand holding unto my wrist.The door shut behind us with a soft click that echoed louder than anything I had just walked away from.I stood there. In the middle of the living room I didn’t move. I wasn't thinking. Just… standing. My hands felt strange. Too light. Too empty.Like I had left something behind without realizing it. Or maybe something had been taken. I didn’t know.I didn't want to “Sit.” His voice cut through the silence. Calm. Controlled. Unaffected. I didn’t move.Didn’t look at him. Didn’t react. Because if I did, if I let even a single thought settle I might not be able to stop it.“Mia.” Closer now. I could feel him. That prese
MIA’S POVI looked up at the one who held me, Ethan, his eyes held comfort for the first time. I quickly put myself together. As I locked eyes with the scene in front of meThe applause didn’t stop.It swelled loud, overwhelming, suffocating as if the entire room had decided this moment was beautiful.Perfect.Worthy of celebration. I stood there, unmoving, as the sound wrapped around me like something heavy and inescapable. Because all I could see was them.Jason Miller and Lily Carter.Still close. Still smiling. Still… together. My chest felt tight. Not sharp.Not explosive.Just… heavy.Like something inside me had shifted out of place and hadn’t settled back. This wasn’t how it happened before. That thought echoed quietly in my mind. And yet Why did it still hurt the same?My fingers curled slightly at my sides, nails pressing into my palm, Because a part of me A part I hadn’t acknowledged had still believed something different might happen.That even knowing everything… Even
MIA’S POVI got home, with the proposal still at the back of my mind I walked absentmindedly into the house. Inside, everything looked the same. Too normal. Too calm. Which, in this family, usually meant the opposite.“Mia, you’re back.”My father’s voice carried from the living room. I turned, forcing a small smile as I walked in.Robert Carter stood near the center of the room, a glass of whiskey in his hand, his posture relaxed in a way I hadn’t seen in days. That alone was enough to make me pause.“Dad,” I greeted.“Good,” he said, nodding once as if ticking something off a mental list. “You’re here.” My brows pulled together slightly. “Was I expected?” A faint smile touched his lips. “Tomorrow night, yes.” He replied looking at my direction but not at me, his eyes held a mix of happiness and relieve. Before I could ask anything else, my mother’s voice cut in. “We have something to celebrate,” Margaret Carter said as she stepped forward, her expression composed, polished, perfe
MIA’S POVI froze.“Robert Carter reported his daughter missing to the police.”The words echoed in my mind like a slow drumbeat.Heavy.Unbelievable.“That doesn’t make sense,” I whispered.My father never worried about me. Not like a normal parent would. If anything, my absence usually meant peac
MIA’S POVRobert Carter“Are you saying Robert Carter wants me dead?” I searched his dead eyes for answers.He hesitates “I…I don’t know, I never met the person”, he muttered.“They only sent letters through the mail,” he replied in a whisper.“it always had Robert Carter at the end”.I stared bla
MIA’S POVDarkness fills my apartment. Complete. Total.The kind that makes the air feel heavier.“Ethan?”“I’m here.”His voice through the phone is the only thing anchoring me right now.“What do you mean someone cut the power?”“I mean exactly that.”My throat tightens.“Like… a blackout?”“No.”
MIA’S POVI don’t go home. Instead, I sit in my car in the parking garage across the street from my apartment building. I stare at the steering wheel like it might give me answers.Thirty thousand dollars. That’s what I owe Ethan now. That's ten thousand less than yesterday. I didn’t even know wh







