Broken At The Altar, Reborn Stronger

Carpent

ow, I moved through the opulent Medical Innovation Gala in New York with a quiet confidence, a composed elegance that was a stark contrast to the girl who h

e chandeliers-it was all background noise to my scientific mind, which was currently dissecting

, if it isn

im, clinging to his arm, was Christin Walter, still playing the picture of de

ad once held a deceptive warmth, now held a mixture of surprise and something aki

calm, almost detached. It took every ounce o

to see you here. Still in town?" He looked me up and down, a sneer playing o

mean. Maybe she's a party crasher. Some people just can't let go,

e words, once potent weapons, now merely bounced off the shield I had painstakingly

ant?" I asked, my voice soft, but with

a year, didn't I? It's been five. Perhaps you misunderstood the terms." He puffed out his c

s if to pat my arm, a patronizing gesture. My muscles tensed, recoiling internally. Before his hand could tou

ine smile touching my lips. "It seems my pri

nd, suspended in mid-air, froze. His face, usually so composed in its

ous! Who would marry you? After... everything." Her voice rose, laced with a venom she usually r

bandoning her "fragile victim" act. Her gaze fell t

ll there, a testament to a broken past, but they were almost invisible now, fa

d, sharp edge of the letter opener. The blossoming red on my

own blood, the full, sickening truth had hit me: I was trying to die for a man who didn

had believed her worth was tied to a man' s love, to Byron' s love, vanished. In her place, a f

I applied for a research assistant position in a remote lab specializing in immunology, almost as far as I could get from Connecticut, from the world

yron, tell her to stop this charade! She thinks she can just waltz in and pretend she moved on?" She turned to Byron, her eyes pleading for him to validate her narrative. "S

mal instinct I hadn' t seen since he first claimed me. He stepped forward, his voice low, menacing. "Angela, this is eno

n't you? Always trying to cause drama. Trying to ruin things for us." He pulled me closer, his eyes

sement. "Byron," I said, my voice barely a whisper, but it cut through his bluster. "Release me. You

e was long gone. My focus was on the future, on the groundbreaking research that had earne

ieving the world revolves around you. Still thinking I would waste another second of my life on a m