Their Betrayal, My Rebirth

ancé Ethan Hayes were the two m

ything, especiall

e Jenkins

w me away, discarded me like

ly, that the only way out I saw was to

the way poison se

, the man I'd planned my whole

ved about me, my laugh, my passion for

law firm, was always there, a shadow w

ge," my "easy life," all while playing the hardwor

my protector, star

to always look out for me, started gi

mother's cherished Cape Cod summer house, the p

gh, Sarah," he'd said,

the house for a bit, isn't a big dea

uldn't afford when my own heart wa

anned my

by their presence but still holding

accident, left behind things th

ast, then I slipped away on a small boat, eventual

to die so Anna

I'd carefully left open just a c

in Chicago for the fellowship ann

fellowship based on my mother's st

ssed the news of the

dramatic," Ethan

uin Chloe's

lways been theatrical. W

urned off t

Rodriguez presented them with the charred remains of the locket

ed, screaming about broke

was ca

my destruction, fina

nt nothing to the as

ground truly fell from beneath me, was

n, a night where Ethan and I presented a un

ng, a celebrated union of two

n Architecture Fellowship, based on Mom's uniqu

on the cusp of

m was thick with perfu

Ethan, a familiar knot

nt for weeks, f

h, were already giving me sympathetic

ed in a simple black dress that somehow made her look mo

et she moved with an

ut emerging from a dimly lit corridor, hi

, but not from th

st me, a curt nod his

of it was a p

mile, the one I hadn't seen direct

; it felt like it was bei

louder. I saw pity in some

n my mind, a scene orchestr

tray of champagne flutes near M

fied, tears well

nt to help, to s

you with that," I said

ative was al

placing a protecti

e, his eyes li

said, his voice carrying ac

u see she

e ringing with false sincerity, "My apologies, e

ed Chlo

t to Sarah Mi

gasp went thr

me as he delivered th

like Sarah Miller is too

air, each one a ston

her eyes, the perfect picture of a dam

there, of berating Ch

ten me with vio

nnihilation, and he del

handeliers, the smiling faces, all

tally, and with her standing rig

omewhere in that crowd,

ght Sarah Mille