The Architect Who Rose From Ashes

y fiancé, Kade, was busy comfort

s back at our engagement pa

I took off the ring

. She deliberately ate a peanut cookie

tions. He looked at

You knew she

den heart attack, screaming that I was

end myself.

lane to London and v

I returned as a worl

and spent a decade in silent penance, fell

ho had once been my w

e Harper who loved you is de

pte

Merri

in my chest. A stress-induced heart condition, they'd said. Kade wasn' t there. He was with Kyla Horn, comforting her over some minor snif

ballroom, their laughter a dull thrum in my ears. The world spun for a second, then snapped into sharp focus. This wasn' t a

nding beside the man who would break my heart and unknowingly cause my death. He hadn't changed. Not yet. His jaw w

ross the room, where Kyla Horn, draped in emerald green silk, was laughing a little too loudly with a group of socialites.

Kade," I managed, my voice surprisingly steady. Fine. The word wa

been quiet all evening. Is this about Kyla?" He leaned in, his tone dropping, a hint of acc

n-to-be husband, was her most loyal puppet. A decade of my life, wasted. My dreams, sacrificed. My heart, shatter

k in the wall I was building between us. "It's not about Kyla. It's about us." I

thought this was a game, a bid for attention. "Harper, what are

t glinted under the chandeliers, a symbol of a future that would never be mine. Or rather, a

shock, quickly replaced by indignation. "You're humiliating me," he hissed, his grip tightening on my arm

weight feeling alien in my palm. "It's a decision." I held it out to him, watching his eyes widen

ture firm? The one you turned down for me?" His

affirmed. "I'm

oice low and dangerous. "If that's what you want, Harper. Go. I don't care." He glanced across the room, his gaze landing on Kyla. A smirk, cru

trip. Our trip. The meteor shower I had planned for months. He was replaci

n I turned, walking away from the flashing cameras, the stunned guests, and the man who was once my entire world. I walked towards the grand staircase, leaving the sound of his