I hoped it was him.
I stumbled to the door, yanked it open.
But it wasn’t Ace.
It was Corinne holding Astrid, her face crumpling the second she saw me.
“Oh, Britt,” she whispered, pulling me into her arms, and just like that — the dam broke again.
I sobbed into her shoulder, shaking, gasping, gripping her like I would drown if I let go.
“He said he never loved me,” I wept. “He said — he said he loves Sierra — Corine,I waited for him to say it — I waited for him to choose me — and he just… broke me.”
Corinne's arms tightened, rocking me gently. “You didn’t deserve this,” she murmured. “You didn’t deserve any of this.”
But deep down, I wondered if maybe I did.
Maybe I was too broken.
Maybe I was too much.
Maybe I was always destined to be the girl people walked away from.
That night, when Corinne finally coaxed me into bed, I lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
And for the first time in a long time, I realized I had no idea who I was without him.
Chapter 41
Brittany
Five Years Later
Arkansas
Five years. Five long, painful years. It's strange how time passes, but the pain doesn't always fade. It lingers. It waits. And sometimes, it creeps up on you when you least expect it.
I left everything behind a week after Ace’s wedding to Sierra. I thought that once the wedding was over, I would be able to breathe. I thought the reality of everything would finally hit me like a wave, and I could go on with my life. But the truth is, it wasn’t the wedding that broke me. It was the moment I realized that I had no place in his life anymore. I was nothing. Just a fading memory to him.
And that’s when reality set in for me.
The private jet that my father had sent to get me out of there felt like a coffin as it flew me away from the only life I had known for years. From the glittering lights of the city to the silence of Arkansas, everything felt... wrong.
Arkansas, of all places. I don’t know how I ended up here, but it was the last place anyone would expect to find me. The idea of me being here, living a quieter life, was almost laughable. But it’s true. Corinne and Jasper are the only ones who know where I am. They were the ones who insisted I leave the city for my own sake. For my sanity.
And I listened.
I don't know why I thought a change of scenery would fix me, but it hasn’t. It’s been five years since I came here, and everything about my life is different. Except the hole that Ace left in me. The one that refuses to heal.
I don't talk to anyone anymore. My world is smaller now—just Sylvia and the occasional meeting for Luné Jewelry. I still run my brand. I still do what I can to make my father proud. But every day is a battle. Every hour feels like I'm dragging myself through life, trying to pretend that I’m okay.
Sylvia’s here with me, and I’m thankful for her. She’s the only person who understands my brokenness. Sylvia was the only one who didn’t treat me like a fragile doll when I got out of the psychiatric hospital. She knows what it’s like to be torn apart by love. She’s been through the ringer herself, and in some ways, I think we both know we’ll never be the same.
Sylvia sits at the kitchen table, typing away at her laptop. She’s a lecturer at the university here, struggling with her own relationship issues. She says she can’t focus on her work because of her problems with love, but I don’t understand howshe can focus at all. How can anyone when everything feels so empty?
I close the door behind me, just having finished a meeting for the jewelry brand. I’m exhausted. Every fiber of my being aches. The weight of my own existence presses down on me.
"You look worn out," Sylvia says without looking up from her laptop. "Did they make you do that photo shoot today?"
