Broken Vows, Unbreakable Spirit Emerges

Hodg

te in a symphony of destruction. Camden, his fac

king Kai's arm. Kai merely smiled, a smu

lly so full of my silent work, now felt cavernous, hollowed out by their presence. I

ts delicate wings snapped, its head detached. This was the bird I had sculpted to represent our love soaring, free and beautiful

bin. The broken sculpture lay there, amidst the breakfast scraps an

ver. Eve

, the silence of the house pressing down on me, heavier than any weight. It wasn't the first time

htstand. It was Sarah, my oldest frie

voice tight with suppressed anger. Before I

't just him. His arm was wrapped around Kai, their faces inches apart, their smiles dazzling f

his "PR stunt" was not just a stunt. It was an ann

t stay hidden. The media would be vultures by morning. I had to

t. He had worn it once, to a charity gala, before it disappeared into the back of his massive walk-in closet, replaced by s

eyes. When I stepped out of the car, flashes erupted, a blinding as

band's new partnersh

e nature of Mr. Dunn's rela

n is a visionary. I fully support his busin

ace. Camden spotted me and his smile faltered for a microsecond, then hardened. He didn't come to

d insisted I drink a celebratory toast, despite knowing my severe allergies to certain alcohols. "J

anic had seized me. Camden, seeing my distress, had si

ace, then the sterile white of a hospital ceiling. I had almost died. When I woke up, groggy and weak, hi

xplain, but he'd just waved

hen we had finally, after years of trying, conceived a child. I was overjoyed, picturing a tiny life, a

ritical stage. A baby now would just... complicate things." He' d arranged everything wit

oid no amount of work or art could fill. "How could you?" I had

liza. For us." His eyes, however, had been devoid of any genu

The "bad timing," the constant late nights, the sudden aloofness. It all made sen