Chapter 2

Alondra POV:

The next morning, I found myself outside Alden's apartment building, a cold knot of dread and determination in my stomach. My parents had been devastated by my decision to abruptly leave for Paris, but they understood the depth of my hurt, even if they didn't know the full, ugly truth. They'd promised to handle the transfer applications to École des Beaux-Arts, to arrange everything, giving me the space I so desperately needed. But before I could truly vanish, there was one last, painful thing I had to do.

I had to reclaim what was mine.

I knew his routine. Every morning, precisely at 8:00 AM, he left for his advanced theoretical physics seminar. I watched from the hidden alcove across the street, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs. At 7:58 AM, the lobby door opened, and there he was-Alden Scott, perfectly composed, a textbook tucked under his arm. He hailed a cab without a backward glance, disappearing into the morning traffic.

The coast was clear.

I used the spare key he' d given me, the one etched with a tiny chess piece he' d called "our secret symbol." It felt like a branding iron, searing my palm. The lock clicked, and I pushed the door open, stepping into the apartment that had once felt like a sanctuary, now tainted by his deceit. It smelled faintly of his expensive cologne and the metallic tang of betrayal.

I walked through the living room, my eyes scanning for any sign of the camera, the one he' d used to record our most vulnerable moments. It wasn't visible. He was too smart for that. He' d hide it. He always did.

My gaze fell on a framed photograph on his bedside table. It was a picture of him and a girl, much younger, maybe ten or eleven. Her hair was bright blonde, pulled back in pigtails, and her smile was wide and innocent. Her eyes, however, held a hint of something fragile, something delicate. Krissy. This was Krissy. The girl he claimed my father had almost killed. The catalyst for his monumental lie. A wave of nausea washed over me. He had loved her so purely, so fiercely, that he had been willing to destroy me for her.

I felt a sudden, cold panic. My time was limited. He could return. I needed to find the videos, and I needed to leave. I started searching frantically, tearing through drawers, pulling books from shelves, my fingers trembling. Nothing. He was an expert at hiding.

I was about to give up, my hands shaking with frustration, when I noticed a small, almost invisible seam in the wall paneling behind his bookshelf. Alden was methodical, precise. He would have built a hidden compartment. My fingers fumbled, tracing the outline. A faint click, and a section of the wall slid open. Inside, nestled amongst stacks of hard drives, was a small, sleek digital camera. The camera.

My breath hitched. My entire body felt like it was coated in ice. With shaking hands, I grabbed it. My gaze fell on the hard drives. He had multiple. How many "intimate moments" had he recorded? How many different ways had he planned to humiliate me? The thought made me want to vomit.

I grabbed as many hard drives as I could, stuffing them into my oversized art bag. I didn' t know what was on them, but I knew I couldn' t leave them here for him to use. My eyes darted around the room, a desperate need for revenge, for something to balance the scales, bubbling up inside me.

My gaze landed on his prize possession: a custom-made, antique chess set, meticulously arranged on a small table in the corner. His grandfather' s, he' d told me. His most prized possession. It was beautiful, crafted from dark wood and gleaming ivory. He loved it more than anything. More than he ever loved me.

A cold, hard resolve settled in my chest. He might have shattered my heart, but I could shatter his precious memories. My hand reached for the black knight, its carved mane sharp under my trembling fingers. I lifted it, feeling its weight. Then, with a furious cry that was half-sob, half-rage, I brought it crashing down onto the chessboard.

Crack! The beautiful board split. Pieces scattered across the floor, kings and queens, bishops and pawns, reduced to fragmented splinters. I didn't stop. I picked up another piece, then another, smashing them against each other, against the table, until the intricate carvings turned to dust and chips. My hands were raw, my knuckles bleeding, but I barely felt it. Each shattering sound was a release, a tiny shard of his control breaking.

I stood amidst the wreckage, breathing heavily, tears streaming down my face. It wasn't enough. It would never be enough to erase the pain, but it was a start. A small, violent reclamation of my agency.

I took out my phone, my fingers still stained with the dark wood dust from the chess pieces. I recorded the destruction, panning slowly over the splintered board, the broken figures. Then, I found his number, unblocked it, and sent him the video. Along with a single message:

"Consider this our final move."

Then, I blocked him again. Slamming the apartment door behind me, I ran. I didn't look back. The city stretched out before me, indifferent and vast. I was leaving it all behind. The pain, the lies, the charade. I was going to Paris, and I was never coming back. This was my goodbye. A final, devastating checkmate.

My hands trembled the entire cab ride to the airport. The digital camera and hard drives felt heavy in my bag, a constant reminder of the violation. I wondered what Alden's reaction would be. Rage? Confusion? I hoped for both. I hoped he would feel a fraction of the agony he had inflicted on me.

At the terminal, the sheer scale of my decision hit me. I was leaving everything. My comfortable life, my artistic aspirations in a city I loved, my family. My family, who had been so kind, so understanding. They had asked nothing, just supported my desperate need to escape. I clutched my passport, a new identity, a new life.

A new Alondra.

My flight was called. I took a deep breath, the stale airport air filling my lungs. No going back now. My past was a shattered chess set, and my future was an empty canvas. I had to make it beautiful. I had to survive.

Just as I was about to board, my phone buzzed again. A text from an unknown number. "Alondra, where are you? What have you done? Call me NOW!"

It had to be him. Somehow, he'd found another way. My heart pounded, but this time, it wasn't fear. It was a cold resolve. He wanted to play games? Fine. But this time, I was holding the pieces.

My flight to Paris was a one-way ticket, not just across an ocean, but away from the wreckage of my life. As the plane lifted off the runway, leaving the glittering grid of New York behind, I felt a strange mix of sorrow and fierce determination. I looked down at the shrinking city lights, each one a tiny burning ember of a past I was desperate to extinguish. I was Alondra, the artist, the survivor. And I was never going back. I would rebuild myself, piece by shattered piece, in a city where his shadow couldn't reach.

But as the plane ascended higher, a chilling thought pricked at the edges of my resolve: He always found a way.

I closed my eyes, trying to block out the image of his vengeful face, his cold, perfect smile. I was free. I was. I had to be.

My future was waiting across the Atlantic, a blank canvas ready for my defiant strokes. But even as I dreamed of paint and freedom, a tiny, unsettling whisper echoed in my mind: He would never let me go.

This wasn't over. This was only the beginning of a different kind of game. A game I didn't know how to play, but one I was determined to win.