Carden

in. I could feel their judgment, their thinly veiled contempt. "Look at her,"

nted to scream.

crumbled. I had raced home, my heart a raw wound, clinging to the last sh

from college, from recent trips, intimate glances, stolen smiles. A shrine to their "love," built right under my nose, in the home we shar

my bones, colder than any winter night. This is

ally streaming down my face, burning tracks on my sk

s eyes avoiding mine. He didn't deny it. He ju

d of emotion. "She came back. I knew I had to be with her." He of

words tasting like ash in my mouth. "She left you broken, Edgar. I put you back together. And th

ust stood there, watching me break,

uins, I saw Kody. He was standing behind Celena, clinging to her leg. His eyes, usually filled wi

his voice small, but clear as a bell. "

to stone. The abandonment from Edgar was a knife. Ko

e. My body, once strong and vibrant, became a canvas of bruises and scars. One particularly brut

prison, a shell of my former self, but with a ne

ade, the digital footprints of their conspiracy. I had the evidence. It was all lai

cking the one in my heart. The evidence, carefully compiled,

e brakes

remembered was the sickening crunch of metal, the roar of the ocean, and

my body broken, my memory fragmented. T

stood. Alive.

ght be a little... out of sorts. But this is Kody's night. And Edgar and I are celebrating our engagement." Her smile

s been seven years. It's time to let go. We've all moved on. P

sic, sharp and clear. "You think I can 'let go'?" My eyes burned i

hite. He knew.

rm, his grip surprisingly strong. "Mom, please," he sobbed, his eyes pleading.

, the boy who had helped them push me off that cliff. The boy whose pleading tears had

ely. "Sorry?" I asked, my voice chillingly calm. "Sorr

eyed, a dawning horror spreading across his features. Celena, ever the manipulator, watche

the ballroom, "that I wouldn't come back for this?" My eyes flickered to Celena, then to

word. They expected a scene, and I was about t