Chapter 1 The Breakup

I should have known.

Somewhere deep down, in that hollow place right behind my ribs, I think I always did. But I still dressed up tonight like a girl waiting to be loved.

The ballroom was glittering, chandeliers casting golden webs of light over silk gowns and tailored suits, the air thick with perfume and champagne and privilege. These were the children of Manhattan's elite. I belonged here, technically. The daughter of Theorode Kingston, a media tycoon and self-proclaimed king of New York. But I'd never felt smaller.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lana asked, looping her arm through mine as we stepped into the grand hall.

I nodded, tightening my grip on my clutch. "He hasn't returned my texts in days. He said he needed space. But he wouldn't just... do this. Not Julian."

My voice cracked at the end, and I hated that she heard it.

Lana gave me a look, half pity, half fury. "You deserve better than a boy who ghosts you when things get complicated."

I didn't respond. Because Julian wasn't just a boy. He was my life. The only one who ever tried to understand me after Mom died. He made me laugh when I thought I'd forgotten how. He held my hand the night my father forgot my birthday.

I needed this to make sense. I needed him to make it make sense.

And then I saw him.

Across the ballroom, by the marble staircase, he was standing there, smiling like sin, his hand resting casually on a girl's waist. She was beautiful. Curvy. Her dress hugged her curves like second skin, crimson satin, and legs for days. And he...he looked at her like she hung the stars.

My lungs stopped working. My heart dropped.

"Arabelle," Lana whispered sharply, pulling at my wrist. "Don't go over there. Please."

But I was already walking. I wasn't thinking at that moment, I mean... I never think when it's something about him.

My heels clicked against the floor like gunshots. Each step felt like I was walking into fire, but I couldn't stop. I needed to hear him say it wasn't what it looked like. That I mattered. That we mattered.

He saw me before I reached him. His smile faltered for a second, just a second before it came back, smug and cruel.

"Julian," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Can we talk? Please?"

He raised an eyebrow, then looked at the girl on his arm like I wasn't even standing there.

"I think we're talking just fine," he said.

The girl giggled. I wanted to vanish.

I forced a breath. "I just... I need to know what's going on. You disappeared and you didn't respond to my messages. I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"

The words tasted like glass.

That's when he turned fully to me, his expression blank.

"Arabelle, we were never serious. You knew that."

"No," I said quickly. "That's not true. You told me..."

He cut me off with a sharp laugh. "I told you what you wanted to hear. Let's not act like this was some grand romance. We had fun. That's all."

My cheeks burned. I could feel people watching now, eyes glancing, whispers starting.

"I thought you cared about me," I whispered. "You met my father. You stayed with me when I couldn't breathe through the grief."

Julian scoffed, stepping closer. "I did it out of obligation. You're my dad's friend's daughter. That's all it ever was."

There was silence. Heavy. Cruel.

Then someone behind me muttered, "Ouch."

Laughter followed, Low and sharp.

My eyes stung. My throat felt like it was closing.

"Julian," I said, my voice trembling. "You said I was different."

"I lied."

Just like that.

Tears blurred the room. My hands shook. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to scream. I wanted to disappear. But all I did was stand there, every word he ever said to me unraveling like a cruel joke.

"Come on, babe," the girl on his arm said, smirking. "Let's get another drink."

And just like that, they turned away. Like I was nothing.

"Arabelle."

Lana was suddenly beside me, gripping my hand, her face red with fury. "You don't owe him your dignity. Let's go."

The crowd was still whispering. Someone laughed again. I didn't look to see who.

I let Lana pull me out. I didn't say a word.

Outside, the night was too cold for April.

The moment the heavy doors closed behind us and muffled the music, I felt everything crash down at once. My heels clicked once, twice, then stopped. I couldn't breathe.

"Lana," I whispered, my voice cracking.

She turned just in time to catch me before my knees gave out. I dropped my knee, wrapped my arms around myself like that could hold me together, but it didn't. The sob broke from me before I could stop it.

"I...I begged him," I choked, my throat raw. "Like a fool, I begged him."

Lana pulled me into her arms and held me tight, one hand on the back of my head, the other wrapped around my shoulders.

"You're not a fool," she whispered fiercely. "You were in love. There's nothing foolish about that."

"But he humiliated me," I said, the words barely coming out. "In front of everyone. Like I was... disposable."

My chest heaved with another sob. My makeup had to be ruined by now, my mascara stung, my lipstick tasted bitter. I didn't care. I couldn't stop shaking. I had never felt so small in my life. Not when my mother died. Not even when my father forgot to show up at my piano recital and sent his assistant with a bouquet and a fake smile instead.

This...this was different.

"He was all I had," I murmured, my voice barely audible. "After Mom... he was the only person who saw me."

Lana gently pulled back to look at me. "No, Arabelle. He saw what he wanted. He saw a girl he could take advantage of. That's not love."

I looked away, blinking hard. "I just... I thought maybe he'd come back. That he'd say it was a mistake. That he didn't mean it."

She cupped my cheek, her voice softening. "And instead he ripped your heart out in front of a room full of people who don't know a damn thing about you."

I nodded, biting my lip hard enough to draw blood. My nails dug into my arms. I wanted to stop feeling, stop remembering the look in his eyes, the sheer indifference of it.

"You were too good for him from the start," Lana added. "You gave him your trust. He threw it away. That's on him, not you."

The air was cold against my skin, but I didn't care. The ache inside was worse than any weather could be.

A long silence passed. Then I whispered, "Why wasn't I enough?"

Lana's eyes flashed. "Because he's not enough. He never was. People like Julian feed off the love they don't deserve. And you, Arabelle Kingston, are so much more than what he made you feel tonight."

My throat tightened again, but I nodded.

Maybe I couldn't believe her just yet. But I wanted to.

I leaned into her, exhausted. My heart was cracked open, my pride left behind on that ballroom floor. And still, somewhere deep beneath all the pain, something cold and unfamiliar stirred inside me.

But that was for another day.

For tonight, all I could do was survive the storm.

And tomorrow... I'd learn to breathe again.