Fractured Freedom Novels & Stories

All the things she'd fought all her life for All the things she'd tried to prove— Meant nothing anymore. She'd lost Fraser. She'd lost revenge. And now she'd lost the only thing she'd ever had to herself. Her father never wanted her. And later? Later no one else did either. Her fists encircle her arms as she strained a hard, hollow laugh. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing did. So when the pills rested before her When freedom literally hung in the balance— She didn't do it.

A new fire ignites in my chest, burning through the exhaustion and the pain. "What's the rest of the message?" I whisper. Lorenzo’s shadow moves as he stands up. “La libertad es para los que sangran por ella." Freedom is for this who bleed for it

I continued, "The moment you left me alone in that elevator with my claustrophobia to deliver cold medicine to Leticia, I decided this marriage was over." I had claustrophobia, and he knew about it. Back then, I accidentally got locked in the storage room for a few hours. He held me tightly, crying in self-blame, and vowed never to let me be in such a dangerous situation again. He removed the door of the storage room. But later on, he abandoned me for another woman without hesitation. "I'm sorry... Krista, I thought you had sought help from someone later on. I didn't know you had been unconscious for such a long time.

Nathan’s faint voice echoed from the fragments— “Alina… don’t choose me… choose yourself…” She froze. Her heart shattered. The void exploded—

Precise. The intent. I tasted the intent of the men in the white coats. Cold. Arrogant. They didn't want the ore. They wanted the breakage. They wanted to crack the egg to see what would hatch. Nergal. I felt his hand on the lever. I felt his ambition like a rot in my core. Then—the Fracture. Pain beyond biology. The structural integrity of a world failing. The scream of rock tearing apart. The silence of the vacuum rushing in.

While I waited to board the plane at the airport, Jay called. I declined the call immediately, removed the SIM card from my phone and threw it away. From now on, I would live my own life. The plane landed in the icy winds of Usmana. I wrapped my coat tighter and looked toward the arrivals area where Leeya stood waving. "You're finally here!" she exclaimed. She ran over and gave me a big hug, nearly squeezing the breath out of me. "Congratulations on finally being free!"

Not one text. And I never looked back.

“You parade a dying man to hold the people’s love. You burn truth in your hearth and call it justice. Even now, you stand between them and a future without chains.” I took one step down the stairs. “You call it freedom. I call it rot.” She laughed softly. “Then perhaps we should let the city decide.”

Then she smashed everything in the study that could be smashed, including our wedding photo. The moment the glass shattered, she saw herself in the picture, smiling with gentle warmth, while I wrapped my arms around her from behind. My eyes had been filled with hope for the future. She dropped to her knees among the broken pieces and tried to gather them back together. The broken glass sliced her hands until they were covered in blood. But the pain in her body was nothing compared to the agony tearing through her chest. For the first time, she understood what it meant to be slowly tortured. To remain fully conscious and feel every shred of pain.

The world I had been t rapped in didn't just crack. It shattered.