UNBROKEN SPIRIT

Ten years ago, they buried me alive. My fiancé Jake and my adoptive brother Alon had me committed, framing me as insane to cover up his affair with my family's long-lost biological daughter, Corina.

They erased me from their perfect lives, painting me as a danger to myself and others. While I was left drugged and broken in a psychiatric facility, he married her, securing his connection to our family's power and launching his political career.

But I survived. I rebuilt a quiet life from the ashes, finding peace in a small bookstore by the sea. This was my sanctuary.

Until today.

They walked through my door, shattering a decade of silence. Jake, now a powerful District Attorney aiming for the Senate, stared at me, his composure cracking.

"Chandler?"

I met his gaze, my voice cold and steady, the voice I used for any stranger.

"Can I help you?"

Chapter 1

Ten years ago, they buried me alive. Today, they walked into my bookstore.

The bell above the door chimed, a sound usually associated with welcome, but this time it felt like a death knell. I looked up from wiping down the counter. My hand froze. The rag slipped from my fingers, landing with a wet thud on the polished wood.

Jake Perez. Alon Robbins. They stood framed in the doorway, stark against the bright coastal sun.

Jake, still impossibly handsome, older now, with a sharper edge to his tailored suit. He was a District Attorney, aiming for a Senate seat, the news had whispered. Alon, my adoptive brother, looked exactly as I remembered him, only colder. His expensive watch glinted as he adjusted the cuff of his shirt. He was a ruthless CEO, the empire builder.

My breath hitched. The air thick and heavy, like the silence that always precedes a storm.

They were in my quiet bookstore café, the sanctuary I had built from the ashes of my old life. A small, unassuming place by the sea, filled with the scent of old paper and fresh coffee. This was my peace. My hard-won peace.

Jake' s eyes, the same piercing blue I remembered, locked onto mine. He looked startled. His gaze flickered to the small, worn leather-bound book I had been holding, then back to my face. A silent battle played out between us, a decade of unacknowledged history hanging in the air.

Alon, ever the pragmatist, was quicker to recover. His hand went to his pocket, as if to hide something, a nervous gesture I recognized from our childhood. He cleared his throat, trying to break the spell.

I picked up the rag, slowly, deliberately. My movements were calm, practiced. My hands didn't shake. I continued to wipe the counter, my gaze fixed on the task, not on them. This was my space. I was in control here.

"Can I help you?" I asked, my voice level, professional. It was the tone I used with any customer, a stranger.

Jake flinched. The mask of composure he wore cracked for a second. He swallowed hard. "Chandler?" he mumbled. My name, from his lips, felt alien.

I didn't acknowledge the question. I continued wiping, my posture straight. "Are you looking for a particular book? Or perhaps a coffee?"

Alon stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "It's… it's been a long time," he said, his voice husky. He looked around the small shop, his eyes lingering on the shelves of books, the cozy reading nooks. He probably expected me to be in a gutter somewhere, not thriving.

"Indeed," I replied, still not meeting his gaze directly. "Ten years, to be precise." My tone gave nothing away. No anger, no sadness, just a simple statement of fact.

Jake shifted his weight. "You... you look well," he finally managed, his voice strained. It was an awkward attempt at small talk, an olive branch covered in thorns.