The Echo She Chose To Erase

by my fiancé, Hazen, and the very wo

azen, the man I was supposed to marry, chose to believe her calc

xpose Bianca's manipulation. My own partner, my friends, everyone I had saved and fou

in a cell, all to protect Bianca's fabricated innocence. "You are a liability,

life a lie. The accusations, the abandonment, the sheer

. I walked into a clandestine c

ing. And today, three years later, a man with haunted eyes just

pte

Compt

of first editions, their faint, papery scent a comfort I barely registered but deeply understood. This was my

ke up. A clean slate, they called it. A fresh start. I didn' t know what I was

ina-these names meant nothing. They were just sounds. The clandestine security firm, Aegis, was a whis

. I don' t know why. But I woke up in a quiet room, with a new name, a small sum of money, and a burning desire fo

n who always had the right book, the perfect cup of tea. They saw peace, and they saw happiness. They saw a woman content to live within the quiet hum of her own making, unaware of the

e walk

ony of calm. A man stood framed in the doorway, his silhouette blocking the late afternoon light. He was a stranger, y

Broad shoulders, a sharp, unyielding jawline, eyes like flint. Raw.

th something I couldn't place. Grief? Anger?

ighter. "I' m sorry, you must have t

e mix of disbelief and despair on his face. He looked l

scraped against my eardrums. "Who the hel

. Only a growing knot of unease, a cold dread seeping into my bones. This man, with

ember, do you? Any of it?" His voice was laced with a disbelief that slowly morphed into something

was a raw intensity in his gaze that bypassed my conscious mind and whispered to something deeper, something dor

a familiar car pulled up. A low-slung, black sedan. And in the p

ctly. More like a sudden, jarr

perfume. The clink of champagne glasses, the muffled sounds of a part

ca' s golden hair. Her soft laughter, a sound I had come to assoc

me. Weeks from our wedding, years of shared danger and whisper

arely audible above the blood

a fleeting moment of surprise, then something colder. Bianca, feigning innocenc

, only to tear that angelic mask off her face, to expose the viper beneath. But Hazen wa

command, not a plea. A command i

s smug, terrified face. That fleeting smirk she cou

the marble fountain with a sickening thud, and I plunged into the icy water, the champag

soul, was undeniable. The innocent victim, the protector, the

ws of a human trafficking ring years ago. A child, tremb

sharp mind, her surprising resilience. I' d nurtured her, protected her, brought her into Aegis, into our family. Hazen had been cautious at fi

calculated charm had won her over, piece by piece. Bianca was always so sweet, so eager to please, so app

partner in every sense of the word, choosing her. Choosing her feigned vuln

in my head throbbed, but the pain in my heart was a cru

ptic filling my nostrils. My head ached, a dull, persistent t

id of warmth, professional and distant, as if I w

r of concern in his eyes. Just

. "After being thrown into a fountain by my fiancé, for a g

e, not regret. "Bianca has been through a lot, Echo.

ractically grinding against you, Hazen! And I' m the

"She' s easily overwhelmed. Your... react

e, cracking with disbelief. "She'

you. Your judgment is clouded." He paused, his gaze hardening. "Alston is not pleased.

alty, the unspoken understanding that I had broken by

d, his voice flat, emotionless. "Until things se

touch my arm. A cold, visceral revulsion. "Don' t," I whisp

ca' s, tinny and panicked. "Hazen? Hazen, where are y

ness vanished, replaced by a fierce, protective urgency. "I' m on my way, Bianca. Stay calm."

etrayed.

t haunting you? Erase the pain. Reclaim your future. Clandestine Tech Solutions, Memory Wipe P

he pain, the betrayal, the memory of ever l

ith Hazen, done with the life that had devoured me whole and spit me out. I would find Clandest

d, clinical assessment of a life I was desperate to shed. They asked if I understood the permanence, the ri

hattered dreams. Laughter and music spilled from the living room, a jarring contrast t

me now held wary, guilty, or outright hostile expressions. Hazen was there, of course, Bianca

voice flat, his eyes avoid

the turmoil inside. "It seems I am." I bypassed him,

face. "Echo, good. We were just... talking. Bianca' s been so brav

"She' s so upset," Corina continued, laying a hand on Bianca' s s

ad systematically dismantled my life.

I' d carried for luck since my first mission with Aegis. It was a gift from my gra

tant acceptance. She reached for it, her fingers brushing mine. But just as she took hold, my grip seemed to

"Echo! How could you? That was my grandmother' s!"

voice flat. My gaze met Hazen' s, d

oked pretty deliberate to me," C

ion. "You' re just jealous, Echo." "She didn' t m

, silencing the room. He knelt, gathering the shattered pieces of jade, his movements careful, almost te

f my past clutched in his hand.

at?" My voice was

ith a bruising force. "For hurting her. For breaking this. For maki

rol me. The familiar weight of his powe

surge of strength, I ripped my arm free from hi

d cutting through the silence. "I' m done with all

r of shock finally crossing hi

oked around the room, meeting their stunned and guilty gaze