Chapter 3

After that, I couldn't really make sense of what she was saying anymore.

The world started spinning, and my whole body went cold.

I couldn't help myself. I grabbed Carrie in the living room and laid it all out.

I demanded, "Carrie, did I teach you to read and know better just so you could steal someone else's boyfriend?"

Carrie's face went ghostly pale when she saw the diary in my hand.

She wasn't the timid, village girl I remembered anymore. Now, she looked like she was ready to burn everything down.

She replied, "Stella, yes, your kindness has weighed on me like a mountain.

"But am I supposed to spend my whole life repaying you?"

She pointed out the window at the glittering city lights and shouted at me, "You named me Carrie, always telling me I should go back.

"But now I've seen what life can really be. Why should I ever return to that poor, forgotten place? I deserve the right to chase my own happiness."

I stared at her, barely believing what I was hearing, and tried to explain, "I named you Carrie so you can start a new life.

"Someday, when you had the power, you could help girls who went through what you did. Not so you could..."

"Help girls?" Carrie snapped. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she still sneered at me, cold and bitter.

She added, "You just want me stuck under your thumb, always owing you, always beneath you.

"Rowan can give me everything I want. He can help me finally leave that crappy, poor life behind for good."

Rowan rushed in when he heard the commotion, and saw me and Carrie arguing.

Without thinking, he instinctively put himself between Carrie and me, shielding her. The sight made my eyes sting.

I asked him, "Rowan, after everything, are you still going to lie to me?

"Is this really what you want? Someone who's just... a shadow trying to imitate me?"

Rowan took a deep breath and finally came clean. He said, "Yeah, I admit it. At first, I helped Carrie because her eyes reminded me so much of yours.

"But she's not like you. She's not as tough, not as independent. Carrie needs me, totally and without reservation

"I was the one who taught her Sopealian, showed her how to deal with people, and molded her into the person she is now."

"Needs?" I repeated, then let out a low, absurd laugh, like the whole thing was some kind of twisted joke.

I finally said, "So, Rowan, you never really loved me. You love a fragile Stella, someone who needs you to rescue her."

I turned to Carrie, my emotions barely contained, almost at the breaking point.

I added, "And you, Carrie, you took the opportunity I gave you and used it as nothing more than a stepping stone to latch onto a man."

After that night, I locked myself away at home, feeling like my whole world had just come crashing down.

A few days later, I forced myself to get up and try to pick up the pieces of my shattered life, but before I could even start, I got a call from my dad.

"Stella, the company's gone. I'm so sorry, sweetheart..." Dad said, his voice heavy with regret.

Life hit me harder than I ever thought possible.

The company went under out of nowhere, gave my dad a heart attack, and he didn't survive. My mom passed away soon after.

With both my parents gone, I could hardly catch my breath from the grief.

On top of that, I was selling everything I owned just to keep the debt collectors at bay, and I was so broke I couldn't even afford their funerals.

I was exhausted to the bone, both physically and mentally, and I was about to fall apart.

Clinging to my last bit of hope, I called Rowan. Every ring felt like a sledgehammer slamming into my chest.

When the call finally connected, it was Carrie who picked up.

"Hey, Stella? Is that you?" she said. "Rowan's in the shower. Want me to tell him something?"

My throat was tight, and my voice was rough and shaky. "I need to talk to him, it's urgent. My parents... something happened..."

Carrie cut me off, her voice breezy and completely indifferent. "Oh, yeah, we heard about your parents. Hope you get through it.

"But Stella, Rowan's really busy right now. We're actually vacationing in Kranson, just trying to unwind.

"He finally got over all that mess, so maybe you should just deal with it yourself?

"Honestly, you've got to learn to handle your own problems. You can't expect others to bail you out forever."

With that, she hung up. Not long after she hung up, my phone buzzed with a bank notification.

Carrie had sent over some money, not a lot, but just enough to cover the bare minimum for the funerals. The note was brief, only two lines.

Carrie: [Stella, it's not much, but think of it as me paying you back for the tuition you covered for me years ago.

[We're square now.]

I stared at the words "we're square now," and humiliation hit me like a punch to the gut.

But I had no dignity left. I had to swallow my pride and take it anyway.

I lost my "sister," my boyfriend, and my parents. At twenty-two, my world went completely dark.

Thankfully, my aunt from overseas heard about everything just in time.

She handled all the mess for me, then took me abroad so I could start over and rebuild my life.

Five years went by in a flash, and I never thought I'd ever set foot in this place that held so much pain for me again.

But with my wedding to Ryan just around the corner, I knew I had to visit my parents' graves and tell them the good news myself.

Someone knocked softly on my office door. Evening was settling in.

Who'd show up this late in the day? Could Ryan be coming home early?

I couldn't help but smile, the corners of my mouth lifting as I reached for the door.

Still grinning, I called out, "You're here…?"

But my words caught in my throat.

Standing outside wasn't Ryan, the man I expected, weary from the road but always wearing that gentle smile.

It was Rowan standing there. He forced a faint smile, but there was nothing behind his eyes.

"Stella, I'm divorcing Carrie," he said quietly.