pathetic whimper. "But what if she tells everyone? Wh

t him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, her lower lip trem

He wiped away a tear that wasn't there. "No one's opini

t, I saw it all with horrifying clarity. I wasn't the other woman; I was the

isper. "My father owed her family a debt. Her mother saved his life in a car accident years ago, and he was

every shared dream, every promise for the future-it was all just a

shrug, as if talking about a competent but forgettable employe

ossessive kiss that was meant to

heavy trophy, which looked absurdly large in her delicate hands. "It

as hiding, a flicker of fear in her eyes. "Are you s

ing she'd said. She was af

d to me. Her mother's medical bills, her apartment, her so-called career. She thinks her decade of 'effort' means someth

ard. It wasn't just the lie of our engagement. He had taken my ten years of sweat and sacrifice, the very core o

g. My dreams

was almost quiet. It was the silence of total devastation. The love I had felt for him curdled into something bitter and unrecognizable. It