Eleeana had never known peace the way she had these past few weeks. Morning sunlight didn't feel like a punishment anymore. The bruises on her heart had begun to heal beneath Jace Carter's warmth — his smile, his promises, the way he held her as if her body was poetry written just for him.
She had believed, finally, she had arrived at the place every girl dreamed of — love without conditions. Loyalty without question.
Until tonight.
She hadn't meant to see it. It was supposed to be a quick stop. Jace had left his wallet in her car, and she wanted to surprise him — a small gesture of love, the kind he always said made him fall for her more every day.
The moment she walked into the restaurant, she knew something was wrong.
There he was. Her Jace. Her always.
But he wasn't alone.
He was laughing. Holding hands across the table. A woman — beautiful, put-together, the kind Eleeana used to be before she spent months trying to prove she was enough — sat across from him. And then, the kiss. Soft. Familiar. Like it wasn't their first.
The kind of kiss you don't give someone new.
Her hands trembled as the wallet fell from her fingers and hit the floor. The sound echoed louder than it should have. Heads turned.
So did his.
His face went pale like someone had reached into his chest and yanked out his soul.
"Eleeana—"
She didn't wait for excuses. Her knees almost gave, but she walked out with the kind of dignity you fight to keep when your world is crashing.
She drove. No destination. Just away. Away from the restaurant. From the illusion. From the lie she called love.
Tears didn't come until she reached the bridge — the one they sat under during late-night drives, dreaming of forever. The silence inside the car was louder than any storm.
Her phone buzzed. Dozens of messages. Calls. His face lighting up her screen like a ghost.
She threw it into the passenger seat like it burned her.
How could he?
After everything?
After she held him through sleepless nights. After she believed in him when he said the world never had. After she forgave him for every red flag because she loved him that much.
Her sobs broke through the quiet like thunder cracking sky. She screamed — not words, just pain. Grief, loud and raw, echoing into the night.
"I gave you everything," she whispered to no one.
And the worst part?
She still loved him.
Even now. Even broken. Even betrayed.
But loyalty, she realized, didn't mean you stay with someone who kills you slowly and calls it love.
Tonight, something inside her died.
And maybe, just maybe, something else would be born from the ashes.
But not yet.
Tonight, she mourned the girl who believed Jace Carter would never hurt her.
And that grief was more real than any heartbreak she'd known.