All Chapters of Shattered Vows : Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

ElenaIt came on a Wednesday.The kind of day that slips between the folds of routine and disappears before it begins. I was in my office at the hospital, surrounded by patient charts and coffee stains on old paperwork, when the email arrived with a gentle chime. Just another line in my inbox—unassuming, almost invisible.Until I read the subject line.Cambridge University Medical Fellowship Invitation — Dr. Elena HartI blinked.And blinked again.I opened it, heart pounding as if it sensed before I did that this email wasn’t just about academia—it was a portal. A crack in the universe offering a glimpse into a parallel life. One where I was not just a divorced woman healing from betrayal, not just a mother navigating the fragile terrain of teenage angst and fractured trust. One where I could be, once again, just Elena.Brilliant. Focused. Unburdened.LucasHe was leaning against the hood of his car when I walked out of the hospital that even

ElenaCambridge had a way of turning the passage of time into something almost sacred. You could lose hours staring out at the river Cam, watching boats glide through water like ghosts through memory. I did that a lot these days — watched, drifted, waited.But not today.Today I walked with purpose.The letter Daniel left hadn’t burned in my trash like I’d wanted it to. It sat on my nightstand for days, daring me to confront the parts of myself I tried so hard to silence.Why was I even going?Not for him. Never for him.But I needed to hear it. The why. The how. The truth between the cracks of our destroyed lives. Maybe I needed it to understand myself more than I needed to understand him.When I turned the corner into the courtyard behind St. John’s, he was already there.Of course he was.He stood beneath a vine-covered archway, his hands tucked into the pockets of his long gray coat. The wind caught strands of his hair, now slightly longer

ElenaThe past doesn’t knock politely. It crashes.And tonight, it came in like a thunderclap.I was in the kitchen, barefoot, the taste of chamomile tea still lingering on my tongue, when I heard Joon’s voice echo from the hallway — tight, low, and unmistakably agitated.“No, you don’t get to say that to me anymore.”The hair on the back of my neck stood up.I didn’t want to move. Something told me that crossing the threshold into that moment meant stepping into another war — one I wasn’t prepared to fight. But motherhood rarely allows the luxury of delay.I walked out slowly. He was standing just by the stairs, phone pressed against his ear, his other hand clenched into a fist.My heart sank.“Who is it?” I asked softly.He looked at me, something dark and unsettled in his gaze. Then, he wordlessly extended the phone to me.Daniel’s name flashed on the screen. My stomach twisted into a knot.I didn’t want to touch it. Didn’t want to

ElenaI thought I’d buried my past.Packed it into cold files, bitter court documents, burned photographs. I thought I’d pulled my life out of Daniel Hart’s orbit.But secrets like his are never just buried—they’re planted. And now, one was blooming.Isaac.His name lingered in my mind like smoke. Another child. Another betrayal.And now my son—our son—wanted to meet him.“I’ve already reached out,” Joon said that morning over breakfast, pushing his untouched toast aside. “I messaged Grace Kim. Her old number’s dead, but I found a business listing under her name in Jeonju. She runs a small café.”I set down my coffee. “You went digging for her?”He didn’t flinch. “You think I could sleep after reading that letter? I have a brother out there who thinks my father doesn’t exist. And I’ve spent seventeen years trying to make sense of a man who never told me the full truth.”“You’re still grieving him in your own way, Joon,” I said softly. “Even no

ElenaI didn’t sleep that night.The red tin box sat on my kitchen counter, casting a long shadow across the room like a cursed relic. Every time I looked at it, my chest tightened.Minseo Kang.The name looped in my mind like a taunt.I stared at the photo again.Not just a resemblance.A mirror.I ran my fingers over the woman’s face in the image, trying to make sense of it. There was no mistaking it. We had the same eyes, same curve of the jaw, same faint birthmark on the collarbone.It didn’t make sense.I had no siblings.My parents were both only children. I was raised in a strict, conservative home where deviation from order was not tolerated. If I had a sister—especially a twin—I would’ve known.Wouldn’t I?Unless…I picked up the second envelope. The one addressed to Joon.I didn’t open it. Not yet. Whatever Daniel had written to our son, he deserved to read it himself.But the one addressed to me—it still lay