The walk home felt longer than it should have. The sun had dipped low, scattering gold over the narrow streets, but Elara barely noticed. Each step pressed against her chest, the quiet hum of the city fading beneath the roar of her thoughts. Monet had left. Not a message, not a glance, not a word of goodbye. Just gone, like the tide pulling back, leaving only sand and echoes. And yet she hadn’t run. She hadn’t fled entirely. She’d been here, in her life, just out of reach, untouchable in a way that made Elara ache. Anger curled around her like a living thing. Angry at Monet, yes, but more than that—angry at the woman who had abandoned her first. Stephanie Jacobs. Beautiful, brilliant, devastatingly selfish in the way only someone drowning in grief could be. She had left Monet at a convent, and then herself, spiraling, disappearing into a life Elara would never have known. And now Monet, Monet dared to live, to love, to exist without explanation or apology. Ela
Last Updated : 2025-12-31 Read more