Chapter 6

Corinna POV:

My phone vibrated, pulling me from a restless sleep. It was still dark outside, the pre-dawn stillness heavy in the air. I reached for the device, my fingers brushing against the cold glass. An anonymous number. My heart gave a tired thump. I knew who it was.

The screen lit up with an image. A grainy ultrasound report. "Baby Rios," the caption read, followed by a triumphant smiley face. My stomach clenched, a sickening lurch.

Then came another image. Graham, his face soft with an emotion I had never seen directed at me, leaning down, pressing a tender kiss to Hollie's swollen abdomen. Hollie, beaming up at him, her eyes shining with pure, unadulterated victory.

My sister's face, radiant with the joy of shared betrayal. The images burned into my retina, searing themselves onto my soul. There was no mistaking the sender. Hollie. My little sister, twisting the knife.

I felt nothing. No anger, no tears, no pain. Just a hollow, echoing emptiness. My heart, once a vibrant thing, was now a cold, dead weight in my chest. She wanted a reaction. She wanted to see me break. But I was already broken, beyond repair. She was too late.

The next two days passed in a blur. Graham didn' t call, didn't text. He was with Hollie, playing the doting father-to-be, the committed lover. I was already a ghost to him, lingering in the empty shell of our mansion.

I systematically erased myself. Not just from his life, but from my own. I donated every piece of expensive jewelry, every designer dress, every material possession he had ever given me. I burned old photographs, letters, anything that held a memory of us. The flames consumed them, turning love to ash, memories to smoke.

I packed a single, nondescript bag. A few changes of clothes, my father's old, worn copy of the US Constitution, and a small, faded picture of him and my mother, smiling. Everything else, every last vestige of Corinna Cross, was gone.

Before dawn on the third day, I awoke with a start. The house was quiet, shrouded in darkness. I dressed quickly, my movements precise and deliberate. I was ready. I walked down the grand staircase one last time, the silence of the house a stark contrast to the storm raging within me.

My phone vibrated again. Another anonymous text. Another twist of the knife. I hesitated for a moment, then opened it.

It was Hollie. "It's a boy, Corinna. Graham is so happy. He's making everything official. Finally, I'll be the one by his side." Another picture followed. A sonogram, unmistakably male. My brother? My nephew? Oh, the tangled webs we weave.

"You really should just pack up and leave quietly," her text continued, laced with malicious glee. "It'll be easier for everyone. Especially for you."

I stared at the message, a faint smile touching my lips. Easier for everyone. Oh, Hollie, you have no idea.

My fingers flew across the keyboard. "Congratulations, Hollie," I typed, the words oddly hollow. "May all your wishes come true. Just remember, sometimes what you wish for, isn't what you expect."

I hit send. Then, silence. A profound, absolute silence.

A black sedan pulled up outside, its engine a low purr. Carroll's car. My escape.

I picked up my single bag, my steps light, unburdened. As I walked out, a soft rain began to fall, pattering gently against the stained-glass windows of the nearby chapel. The same chapel where Graham and I were supposed to be married. The site of our future, now washed away by the tears of the heavens.

Just as the car turned onto the main road, the rain intensified, blurring the world outside. Through the streaked window, I saw it. Graham's convoy. Pulling up to the chapel.

My heart gave a sudden, painful lurch. Coincidence? Or another cruel twist of fate? I knew that chapel. It was where we had planned our wedding.

He stepped out, a large umbrella held aloft, shielding Hollie. She emerged from the car, her delicate figure now undeniably round, a maternity dress clinging to her curves. Pregnant. My sister. My fiancé. At our wedding chapel.

He helped her up the steps, his hand solicitously on her back. He whispered something, and she laughed, a bright, joyous sound. My vision blurred again, but this time, it wasn't tears. It was the rain, washing away the last vestiges of my old life.

Graham glanced up, his eyes scanning the street, perhaps a habitual politician's check. And then, his gaze locked with mine. Through the rain-streaked glass, across the expanse of the street, our eyes met.

His face, so full of tenderness for Hollie moments before, contorted into a mask of pure shock. Confusion, disbelief, and then, a dawning horror. His lips moved, silently forming my name. Corinna.

I stared back at him, my expression unreadable. I felt nothing. No anger, no pain, no love. Just a vast, echoing emptiness. And then, I slowly, deliberately, turned my head away.

The car sped up, leaving him standing there in the rain, his silent scream swallowed by the downpour. I cut the last thread. The past was behind me. The future, a blank slate.