When Your Life Is Falling Apart Novels & Stories

But as I sat in the apartment I’d bought with Xander’s money, while reporters dug into my family’s scandals and my stepsister told the world I was too boring to love, survival felt impossible. The only thing I knew for certain was that my life, as I’d known it, was over.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

She was standing not too far away from us. Despite looking so perfectly harmless and innocent, she couldn't hide the jealousy and greed in her eyes. I was just too much of a fool for having treated her like a sister all this while. When the drone show ended and the crowd began to scatter, one of the drones abruptly malfunctioned and started plummeting straight down. With the quickest of reflexes, Andrew immediately dashed away from me and hugged Celine, shielding her as they both fell to the ground. He'd been so frantic that he didn't even notice he'd knocked me off my feet as well.

Lucian dropped beside me, chest heaving. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped, running a hand through his hair. “Do you have any idea what you just did?” I curled into myself, hugging my knees. “I wanted it to stop.” “That’s not how it stops and by the way stop what the fuck exactly?!” “My life is already over!” I cried, my voice cracking open. “I don’t have a future. I don’t have choices. I’m threatened, watched, treated like collateral damage. At least falling would’ve been my decision.”

The life I had built—the balance I had fought for—it was unraveling. Faster than I could hold it together. And no matter how tight I gripped the pieces… They were still slipping through my fingers.

“You think you're so special—” "No. I think I'm done letting people like you make me feel small.” My voice doesn't shake or break as I cut her off. “So if you want to gloat about winning Knox back? Go ahead. But don't expect me to fall apart over it. I'm done falling apart.” The lie burns. Everything inside me is falling apart. The ache in my chest is unbearable. My hands are shaking. My heart feels like it's being ripped to pieces all over again.

“I really do know I was wrong. I let my mind wander in our marriage. But it's the same mistake any man might make, and I swear it will never happen again.” “I've cut Vivian Shaw off completely. She'll never disturb our lives again. Can't we go back to how we were and build a good life together?” His manner was sincere. I knew he wasn't lying. He truly did understand his mistake. But not everything in this world can be undone by an apology. Cheating was cheating. That was a fact no one could dispute. It was like a shattered mirror. Even if you forced the pieces back together, the cracks remained. I shook my head. “Adrian, from the moment your attention strayed, we were never going back.”

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, just when I thought I could finally have things under control for once in my fucking life, it all just came tumbling over. Why?

“No one, not your family, not Victor, not anyone gets to take you from me.” I came dry, shaking and crying, clinging to the only truth that still felt solid. The fractures were widening into chasms. And I no longer knew which side I would fall toward when everything finally broke.

"I've been worried about you." "You don't need to worry." "Don't I?" His voice is gentle. "You disappeared. Again. Kind of becoming a pattern." The observation stings because it's true. "I'm not disappearing. I'm just—" What? Scared? Overwhelmed? Trying to protect him from my disaster? "I'm trying to figure out how to do this." "Do what?" "This. Us. Whatever this is." I gesture between us. "While my life is falling apart and my ex-husband is trying to destroy me and I'm staying on my best friend's couch because I have nowhere else to go."

And maybe the worst part is that I don’t completely want to understand him anymore because every time I try, I fall deeper. “You know your life is so messed up that sometimes I genuinely wonder how you’re still functioning,” Sunny mutters while climbing onto a stool to hang the last frame properly. “Do you remember running to my house in the middle of the night because some creepy man chased you while you were trying to run away from home?” A shaky laugh escapes me at the memory. “I’m tired, Sun.” My voice comes out quieter than I intend. “Every time I think I’ve survived the worst part, another disaster starts waiting around the corner for me. It’s like life keeps throwing stones onto my pa