Betrayal's Sting: Her Own Path

Betrayal's Sting: Her Own Path

Gavin

5.0
Comment(s)
115
View
17
Chapters

The university library hummed with the quiet hum of panic on the last day for college applications. My finger hovered over the 'Submit' button for Caltech, my dream school, when I heard him. Liam, my best friend since childhood, was laughing with his friends, his voice cutting through the silence. "Chloe' s going there. She' s an art major, and she' s kind of nervous about being in the city alone. Someone' s got to look out for her." Then the words that shattered everything: "Ava? It' s fine. She has my account password. When she sees I' ve changed my mind, she' ll follow suit. She can' t live without me anyway." My breath caught. He hadn' t just broken our decade-long promise of attending Caltech together; he expected me to abandon my own future, my father' s legacy, like a pet. He truly saw me as an extension of himself, not a person with my own dreams. The casual cruelty stung, deeper than any physical pain. How could he so easily dismiss everything we' d planned, everything I was, for a new girl he barely knew? Had our shared dream, the very foundation of my future, been nothing but a fleeting whim to him? The betrayal was absolute, the humiliation searing. I had built my world around a promise that, for him, was apparently disposable. But then, a cold anger washed over me, stronger than any hurt. He thought I couldn' t live without him? He had no idea. With a steady hand, I clicked 'Submit' on my Caltech application, forging my own path, free from his shadow.

Introduction

The university library hummed with the quiet hum of panic on the last day for college applications.

My finger hovered over the 'Submit' button for Caltech, my dream school, when I heard him.

Liam, my best friend since childhood, was laughing with his friends, his voice cutting through the silence.

"Chloe' s going there. She' s an art major, and she' s kind of nervous about being in the city alone. Someone' s got to look out for her."

Then the words that shattered everything: "Ava? It' s fine. She has my account password. When she sees I' ve changed my mind, she' ll follow suit. She can' t live without me anyway."

My breath caught.

He hadn' t just broken our decade-long promise of attending Caltech together; he expected me to abandon my own future, my father' s legacy, like a pet.

He truly saw me as an extension of himself, not a person with my own dreams.

The casual cruelty stung, deeper than any physical pain.

How could he so easily dismiss everything we' d planned, everything I was, for a new girl he barely knew?

Had our shared dream, the very foundation of my future, been nothing but a fleeting whim to him?

The betrayal was absolute, the humiliation searing.

I had built my world around a promise that, for him, was apparently disposable.

But then, a cold anger washed over me, stronger than any hurt.

He thought I couldn' t live without him?

He had no idea.

With a steady hand, I clicked 'Submit' on my Caltech application, forging my own path, free from his shadow.

Continue Reading

Other books by Gavin

More
A Five-Year Deception, A Lifetime of Payback

A Five-Year Deception, A Lifetime of Payback

Short stories

5.0

I was the long-lost Donovan heiress, finally brought home after a childhood in foster care. My parents adored me, my husband cherished me, and the woman who tried to ruin my life, Kiera Reese, was locked away in a mental facility. I was safe. I was loved. On my birthday, I decided to surprise my husband, Ivan, at his office. But he wasn't there. I found him at a private art gallery across town. He was with Kiera. She wasn't in a facility. She was radiant, laughing as she stood beside my husband and their five-year-old son. I watched through the glass as Ivan kissed her, a familiar, loving gesture he’d used with me just that morning. I crept closer and overheard them. My birthday wish to go to the amusement park had been denied because he’d already promised the entire park to their son—whose birthday was the same day as mine. "She’s so grateful to have a family, she’d believe anything we tell her," Ivan said, his voice laced with a cruelty that stole my breath. "It's almost sad." My entire reality—my loving parents who funded this secret life, my devoted husband—was a five-year lie. I was just the fool they kept on stage. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Ivan, sent while he stood with his real family. "Just got out of the meeting. So exhausting. I miss you." The casual lie was the final blow. They thought I was a pathetic, grateful orphan they could control. They were about to find out just how wrong they were.

When Love Turns to Ash

When Love Turns to Ash

Short stories

4.4

My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

You'll also like

A Five-Year Deception, A Lifetime of Payback

A Five-Year Deception, A Lifetime of Payback

Gavin
5.0

I was the long-lost Donovan heiress, finally brought home after a childhood in foster care. My parents adored me, my husband cherished me, and the woman who tried to ruin my life, Kiera Reese, was locked away in a mental facility. I was safe. I was loved. On my birthday, I decided to surprise my husband, Ivan, at his office. But he wasn't there. I found him at a private art gallery across town. He was with Kiera. She wasn't in a facility. She was radiant, laughing as she stood beside my husband and their five-year-old son. I watched through the glass as Ivan kissed her, a familiar, loving gesture he’d used with me just that morning. I crept closer and overheard them. My birthday wish to go to the amusement park had been denied because he’d already promised the entire park to their son—whose birthday was the same day as mine. "She’s so grateful to have a family, she’d believe anything we tell her," Ivan said, his voice laced with a cruelty that stole my breath. "It's almost sad." My entire reality—my loving parents who funded this secret life, my devoted husband—was a five-year lie. I was just the fool they kept on stage. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Ivan, sent while he stood with his real family. "Just got out of the meeting. So exhausting. I miss you." The casual lie was the final blow. They thought I was a pathetic, grateful orphan they could control. They were about to find out just how wrong they were.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book