Chapter 7

Amelie POV:

The words hung in the air, but they failed to detonate. "Tried to kill herself." It should have been a bombshell, a gut punch. Instead, it felt like a line from a badly written play.

"I see," I said, my voice even. I was looking out the hotel window at the planes taking off, one after another, disappearing into the vast, blue sky.

"You see? That's it?" Alex's voice crackled with disbelief and fury. "She left a note, Amelie! It was because of you! Because you were so cruel to her, selling the house, kicking her out!"

He was shouting now. I held the phone away from my ear. The man on the other end was a stranger. A stranger with a history I was actively trying to forget.

"I haven't seen her since her birthday party," I stated simply. It was the truth.

"Don't lie to me!" he roared. "The nurses said she was hysterical all day, saying you were coming for her, that you were going to ruin her life! They said you snuck into her room and took her anti-anxiety medication!"

This was new. A new, more elaborate lie. My head throbbed, a dull echo of the injury. "I've been at my hotel, Alex. I haven't been to the hospital."

"So now you're calling my friends and the hospital staff liars?" He was practically spitting the words. "Bailey saw you! She saw you leaving Kalie's floor this afternoon!"

Bailey. Of course. The loyal friend, now a star witness for the prosecution.

I hung up.

I didn't believe it. Not for a second. This was Kalie's masterpiece, a grand, theatrical performance designed to drag me back into the drama, to paint me as the villain once and for all.

But a part of me, a small, weary part, knew I had to go. I had to see the lie for myself. I had to stand in the rubble one last time before I walked away for good.

The hospital corridor was a circus. A crowd of our "friends" was clustered outside Kalie's room, their faces etched with grim concern. They parted when they saw me, their expressions shifting to open hostility.

"There she is."

"I can't believe she has the nerve to show her face."

Alex was inside, sitting by Kalie's bed, holding a glass of water to her lips. He looked up, and his eyes, when they met mine, were full of a disappointment so profound it was almost theatrical.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice cold as ice. He stood up and strode toward me, grabbing my shoulders, his fingers digging in painfully. "Haven't you done enough?"

The pain in my shoulder was sharp, real. I winced, trying to pull away, but his grip was like iron.

"I didn't do anything," I said through gritted teeth.

He just shook his head, a look of sorrowful disgust on his face. "You came here and you terrorized her. Bailey said you threatened her, told her she deserved to die."

My head was spinning. The sheer audacity of the conspiracy was breathtaking.

Suddenly, a voice from the bed, weak and trembling. "Alex... is she gone?"

It was Kalie. She was peeking over the blanket, her eyes wide with fake terror. But as her gaze fell on me, she let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"No! Get her away from me! Get her away!"

She started grabbing anything within reach-a water pitcher, a book, a vase of flowers-and hurling them in my direction. People ducked and scrambled out of the way. A heavy glass vase smashed against the wall just past my head, showering me with water and sharp petals. A shard of glass flew off, catching me on the forehead.

A sharp, stinging pain. I put a hand to my brow and it came away wet. Red.

Alex instantly moved to block her, shielding her with his body. "Kalie, stop! It's okay!" He turned his furious gaze on me. "Now look what you've done! Get out! Just get out!"

I stood there for a second, my hand pressed to my bleeding forehead, the world a dizzying kaleidoscope of angry faces. I took a deep breath, the sterile hospital air doing little to calm the frantic beating of my heart. I had to end this. Now.

I turned and walked out of the room, leaving the chaos behind. I found a nurse, who gasped when she saw my face.

"My goodness, what happened?"

"An accident," I said calmly.

She cleaned the cut, her touch gentle. "It's deep. It's going to leave a scar, I'm afraid."

A scar. Another one. A physical reminder of a wound I was trying to erase from my soul. I smiled, a small, humorless twitch of my lips. "It's fine. I'll have it to remember you by."

"Amelie."

I looked up. Alex was standing in the doorway, his face a mixture of anger and a flicker of something like guilt as he saw the bandage on my forehead.

"Kalie didn't mean it," he said immediately. "She's not herself. She's terrified."

"I'm sure," I said, my voice flat. I stood up, my legs feeling steadier now. "It doesn't matter. I'm leaving."

"Good," he snapped. Then, softer, "Where will you go?"

"It doesn't concern you." I started to walk past him.

"Amy, wait." He grabbed my arm again. His touch was hesitant this time. "We can fix this. I know we can. I just... I need time to sort things out with Kalie. But it's you I want. It's always been you."

The lie was so bald, so pathetic, it was almost funny.

I looked at him, really looked at him. The man I had loved for a decade. The man I had planned to spend my life with. He was a stranger.

"I came here to tell you something, Alex," I said, my voice quiet but clear. "I came here to tell you that we're over. For good."

Before he could respond, Bailey came running down the hall, her face pale with panic. "Alex! It's Kalie! She's having some kind of breakdown! Crying and screaming that she can't breathe!"

Alex didn't even look at me. He dropped my arm and sprinted back toward Kalie's room without a second's hesitation.

I watched him go. I watched him choose her, again.

And in my heart, something finally, truly, broke free.

Goodbye, Alex, I thought.

Tomorrow, I wouldn't even remember his name.

I turned to leave, a sense of finality settling over me. The end.

A hand grabbed my hair from behind, yanking my head back. Another hand clamped over my mouth, stifling my scream. Pain exploded at the back of my skull, a sickening, starburst of agony, and the sterile white hallway dissolved into blackness.