Chapter 2

Alessia POV:

Back inside my mother's house, the silence was a physical weight. I went to the bathroom and stared at my reflection. The girl in the mirror was a stranger, her eyes hollow, her face a pale, tight mask. My fingers were swollen from clenching my fists, from the tears I'd refused to shed in that hospital.

I tried to pull off my engagement ring. The three-carat diamond Caden had used to brand me as his. It wouldn't budge. I ran my hand under cold water, the icy shock a welcome, grounding sting, until the band finally slid over my knuckle.

I walked into the living room and placed the ring on the mantelpiece, right next to a faded wedding photo of my mother and the father I barely knew. It wasn't a symbol of love anymore. It was the price. The cost of a life. A price Caden had paid, and now a debt I was leaving behind.

I started on her clothes. The closet smelled of lavender and her, a scent that brought a sudden, sharp wave of grief that almost buckled my knees. I forced it down. Emotion was a luxury I couldn't afford. I sorted everything into three piles: keep, donate, discard.

I packed the few things I would take: a worn floral apron, a dog-eared copy of her favorite book, a small silver locket with a picture of me as a baby inside. I placed them in an empty cardboard box, scrawling a single word on the side in black marker: "Memories."

Then I found the photo albums. I flipped through them until I found a picture from last summer. Me, my mother, and Caden, all smiling on a boat in the Hamptons. My mother looked so happy. I looked... devoted.

With a pair of sewing scissors from my mother's drawer, I carefully, with surgical precision, cut Caden out of the picture. His smiling face, the arm draped possessively around my shoulder-gone. I was left with just me and my mother, a jagged white space where he used to be.

I tucked the trimmed photo into my wallet and tossed the scrap of Caden's face into the trash.

Just then, my phone buzzed. An Instagram notification. It was a video, posted by one of Isabella's sycophantic friends. A video of her and Caden, kissing on a ski lift, the snow-covered mountains a perfect backdrop. The caption was another heart emoji.

I watched it, a cold certainty settling in my chest, confirming what I already knew. The betrayal wasn't a single act. It was a pattern. A lifestyle.

A strange calm settled over me. The pain was no longer just pain. It was a compass. It was pointing me north, away from this life, away from him.

I walked back to the mantelpiece, picked up the heavy diamond ring, and went to the back door. My mother's small property backed onto the East River. I stood on the damp grass at the water's edge, the cold night air biting at my skin.

I drew my arm back and hurled the ring into the darkness.

It disappeared into the black, churning water. I didn't even hear it land.