Chapter 3

The room felt like it was closing in on me. My fiancé had betrayed me, and my mother was telling me to be grateful it wasn't worse.

"Five years," Mom repeated, her voice softening as she reached for my hand. "You can't throw that away over some text messages and a necklace."

I pulled away from her touch, a strange calm settling over me despite the hurricane of emotions inside. "It's not about the texts or the necklace. It's about trust. It's about respect."

Luka stepped forward, his eyes red-rimmed. "I'll fix this, Kyla. I promise. I'll delete her number right now." He pulled out his phone, fingers trembling as he navigated to his contacts. "See? I'm deleting it. Gone."

I watched him perform this empty gesture, knowing full well he could recite Brielle's number by heart after months of daily messages.

"I need to pack," I said simply, rising from the couch.

"Pack?" Luka's voice cracked. "What do you mean, pack?"

"I mean I'm leaving." The words felt strange on my tongue, but right. Necessary.

Mom stood up too, her yoga pants bunching at the knees. "Kyla, you're being impulsive. You need to think this through."

Without answering either of them, I walked to our bedroom—no, his bedroom now—and pulled my suitcase from the closet. The same suitcase we'd taken to Maui last year, where he'd proposed on the beach at sunset. I unzipped it with a harsh metallic sound that seemed to echo through the apartment.

"Please," Luka followed me, hovering in the doorway as I began methodically removing my clothes from the dresser. "I'll do anything. I'll find a new job so I don't have to see her. I'll go to counseling. Whatever you want."

"I wanted honesty," I said, folding a sweater with mechanical precision. "I wanted respect. I wanted a partner who didn't need to seek emotional intimacy with someone else."

Mom appeared behind him, her expression pained. "Honey, everyone makes mistakes."

"This wasn't a mistake." I moved to the closet, pulling dresses off hangers. "This was a choice he made every single day for months."

Luka fell to his knees beside the suitcase, grabbing my hand. "I love you. Only you. She means nothing."

I looked down at him, this man I'd planned to marry, now reduced to desperate promises I couldn't trust. "If she meant nothing, why did you risk everything?"

He had no answer. Just tears and more promises that felt as substantial as smoke.

I packed for an hour while Luka followed me from room to room, his pleas growing increasingly desperate. Mom eventually left, telling me to call when I'd "calmed down enough to be reasonable." I didn't respond.

By early afternoon, I'd packed what I needed most—clothes, toiletries, important documents. The rest could wait. I called Daniella, who answered on the first ring.

"I need a place to stay," I said, my voice steadier than I felt.

"My spare room is yours," she replied without hesitation. "For as long as you need."

When I wheeled my suitcase to the door, Luka made one last attempt, blocking my path.

"Please don't do this," he whispered. "I'll die without you."

"No, you won't," I said, stepping around him. "You'll be fine. You have Brielle to comfort you."

The drive to Daniella's apartment was a blur. She was waiting outside when I arrived, her face a mixture of concern and fierce protectiveness. She hugged me tightly before I could say a word.

"You did the right thing," she whispered against my hair.

Inside her apartment, I finally broke down. Ugly, heaving sobs that seemed to come from the deepest part of me. Daniella sat beside me on her couch, rubbing my back in slow circles.

"I know," she murmured. "I know it hurts."

"My mom thinks I'm overreacting," I managed between sobs.

"Your mom is wrong," Daniella said firmly. "What he did was a betrayal. Full stop."

The validation from someone else—someone who understood—was like oxygen after being underwater.

Three days later, the first bouquet arrived. Extravagant roses with an envelope I refused to open. Daniella read the card after I tossed it aside.

"The usual," she reported. "He's sorry. He misses you. He can't eat or sleep."

"Throw them out," I said.

The next day, another arrangement appeared—even more elaborate. And the next day, another.

"Tell the delivery person not to accept any more flowers for me," I told Daniella after the fourth bouquet arrived. "I don't want to see them."

She nodded, understanding without judgment. "You don't owe him forgiveness just because he's persistent."

I looked at the wilting petals of the latest unwanted apology. "I know."