Turne

hysical sensation strong enough to momentarily distract from the chaos in my mind and the burning in my gut. I dragged myself out of the tub, my muscles

ugustine's fury. The room was a wreck, pillows torn, lamps overturned, a chaos mirroring the la

My vision blurred slightly, my head swimming from the cold and the pain, but I stumbled

Cartier, the central diamond a tear-shaped marvel surrounded by smaller, intricately set stones. It had been featured in Vogue, a masterp

with a private chef and a string quartet playing our wedding song. He'd spoken of new beginnings, of rebuilding what we'd lost, of a love stronger than any mistake. He' d showered me wit

his affair had been a moment of weakness, an aberration. He had seemed so genuinely remorseful, so desperate to ato

tant-they all became monumental red flags, proof of his inherent deceit. My childhood trauma, the way my world had shattered when my mother died by suicide after my father

uel joke, a physical manifestation of the emotional rot that had set in after Augustine' s first betrayal. It was a ticking clock, and with each pas

ed to see if he would truly change, if his possessive love was genuine, or if it was just another f

abandoned me in plain sight, while pretending to build me a gilded cage." I thought of his first affair, the one that had sta

again, but I forced my eyes to focus. "For Annice, my one true love. May this be a symbol of our unbreakable bond. Forev

arp stabs of pain through my gut. It felt like a thousand tiny needles piercing my stomach, a familiar agony that

n to the suffocating silence. I picked it up, my fingers cl

expensive procedures, beamed from the screen. She was draped across a sleek, black Porsche, her lips parted in a sensual pout. The c

ust last week, claiming it was an investment. I stared at the image, then back at the "Starlight Embrace" necklace

ber. "He always comes back to what he truly desires, Annic

s the same one I'd had when my mother left. The world outside the bedroom faded. All that remained was the pul