The Engagement's End, A New Beginning

. The scent of champagne was nauseating. I was still on my knees, the cold of the marble floor seeping through

to me. They were already rewriting the narrative, painting me as the unstable, jealou

k suits, moved toward me, their expressions impas

She knelt beside me, trying to help me up, her hands gentle but firm. "Get

As Sophie helped me to my feet, my legs shaking so badly I could barely stand, I saw the looks on the faces in the crowd. Pity from some. Sc

not through the grand foyer, but toward a service exit, past the kitchens where the staff averted their

to see Dr. Evans, his kind face etched with a deep, professional worry that wen

urgent and low, pressing a small, cool obj

, cool against my feverish skin. It was intricately carved with pattern

rmured, his eyes darting toward the guards. "Your symptoms, the weakness... *some

oat pointedly. The moment was over. Sophie pulled me throug

kin made me gasp. The pain of the broken bond, the severed engagement, was a constant, thr

she pulled out her phone. "We'll go to my place. I'll make yo

kin. Dr. Evans's words echoed in my head. *Something is draining you.* The weakness was overwhelming now, a heavy clo

my voice barely a whispe

the grimy pavement. Sophie's panicked cry sounded very far away. The energy drain was

, alone in a filthy alley, discarded like the trash piled up in the overflo

screech of tires on wet asphalt. The sound was impossibly close. A sleek, black luxury car, something so out

feur's uniform got out, his face alarmed. But it wa

ssibly tall, dressed in a tailored suit so dark it seemed to absorb the dim light around it. Even in my weakened state, I could feel the aura of

bringing his face into my blurry field of vision. He had sharp, aristocratic features, a

gh. They were locked onto my hand, onto t

m from the locket, pulsing in time with my fadin

I heard him say, approached caut

ifted from the locket to my face, and his expression was a chilling mixture

umble that vibrated through the very ground. It

he commanded. "

r my face, a flicker of some unr

the daughter of the woman