He Healed Her Broken, Brilliant Heart

die

throbbed behind my eyes. For a moment, I was disoriented, the sterile white ceiling above me a bl

? You'r

ary concern. He looked like he hadn't slept. His expensive suit was rumpled, his hair s

... when they said they found you collapsed on the street... I thoug

last night. The same hand that would have signed the papers to ca

d?" I asked,

self into the ground," he said, his thumb stroking the back of my hand. The gesture, o

y constructed worry in his brow, the practiced grief i

e flat. It was the first thing I cou

s feet, eager to play the caregiver

which had been resting on his lap, slipped and f

ce. Then anothe

n I would have called him back, worried he' d forgotte

ere shaking, but my mind was clear. His passcode. Every year, on my birthday, he changed it to t

digits: 0-8-1-4. Aug

one un

inned to the very top, marked with a heart emoji, was a name. Dallas

s associates and family members. There I was, filed under 'E'. Just "Elodi

ated shrine to his relationship with Dallas. Pictures of them at charity balls, on yachts, at family dinn

ul, fragile partner. There was no trace of me. It was as if the last seven years of m

r creak

ed to ice. Ba

w just as he stepped fully into the room. I squeeze

lose. I could smell his expensive c

hing even, slow. A skill I' d perfected duri

e bedside table. A heavy sigh.

thing up from the chair. His phone. My heart was a frantic bir

lief. He thought I was still asleep. Then,

Even with my eyes closed, I could pict

he leaned in, his lips brushing my foreh

nd in the world, were now a veno

ent, then I heard his footstep

gone.

. Then I opened my eyes. The room was empty. The

a hurry? To answer her mes

rve me his fiancée's favorite dessert. Tonight, he left his sick

s water. I wasn't going to

eeling better, that I wanted to get my final checks done an

's name was listed as my emergency contact. I stared at it, then delib

holding a small, elegant box from a famous bakery. "Elodie! You're

gone for o

I said, my voice empty of

my face, a flicker of confusion in

him without

decorated. Every piece of furniture, every book on the shelf, was a memory. The plush sofa where we' d spent countless nights watchin

oked at the life we had built, and all I saw

erase it.

a wave of dizziness and sheer, soul-crushing exhaustion washed over

couldn't

the only room that was trul

He knocked softly on my door. "Elodie? Are you

n't a

side of the door. "Okay. Get s

dead man walking. He had no idea that I was already packing my bags for

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