Lyra's POV I didn’t hear Angela come in. My world was already spinning as I sat on the edge of my bed, hands clasped tight around the pillow, my heart aching with an emptiness I didn’t know I was capable of feeling. It was supposed to be my life, my choices. Yet here I was, expected to marry a man who loved no one but himself. James had crushed every ounce of my dreams, and all that was left of me was a hollow shell. Why was Angela standing at my door now, looking at me with those cold, unfeeling eyes? The one person who should’ve understood, who should’ve stood by me, was glaring as if I’d stolen everything from her. A part of me wanted to scream, to tell her that I had no choice. That it was her friendship with James that brought me into this web of lies. But instead, my throat was tight, the words trapped as tears slid down my cheeks. Angela stepped further into my room, her heels echoing in the silence, a soft clack that filled the tense air between us. She looked so composed,
Angela POV As I left Lyra’s room, the air felt thick with tension, yet all I could focus on was the burn of her words. “Love? Fairytales?” Lyra had always been naive, but tonight, she’d taken it to a new level. Still, as her last words echoed in my mind, they stung in a way I didn’t care to admit. “Did she think I’d never know happiness?” I shook my head, my heels clicking angrily on the tiled floor. “How could she understand anything about my choices?”I took a sharp turn down the hallway, trying to shake off the strange hollowness her words had left in me. I was used to envy, to competition, to people looking out for themselves. That’s how the world worked. But love? The way she spoke of it, like some precious gem she could just hold in her hand, was infuriating.Just as I stepped outside to the veranda, hoping the cool night air would calm my nerves, I caught a group of people huddled by the grand fountain. Their voices were low, but I caught a name that made me stop in my tracks.
Angela’s POVI sat alone in the silence of my room, my heart racing, knowing I couldn’t escape the storm I’d set in motion. The phone lay heavy in my hand, and I felt the urge to call James back, to scream, to demand answers, to get any shred of remorse from him. But I knew better; it would be met with that twisted satisfaction of his, that smug amusement he never bothered to hide. The things he’d said echoed back to me, and his words refused to let me go.*“You think you’re any different from me?”* he’d sneered.My mind replayed it over and over. His laugh, mocking me. I wanted to escape it, but then… another voice began to invade my thoughts.Alice.I could still hear her voice from when this all began, cool and taunting, twisting the knife in as she threatened me. As if she were here again, taunting me.*“Angela,”* she’d said back then, *“did you think you could keep Lyra safe from all this? She’ll do whatever I tell her to. For you.”*“Alice,” I had whispered, my voice barely ste
Angela’s POVThe decision hit me like a lightning bolt. My guilt had paralyzed me long enough. Lyra wasn’t the weak one here. She was the kind, trusting one, and look where it had gotten her, pushed into a corner, married to a monster. I’d been sitting in the shadows, feeling sorry for myself, haunted by regrets and whispers of what could have been. But that pity was doing nothing for her, nothing for us. No more begging, no more silent tears. If I couldn’t shield her, then I’d do the next best thing, I’d take control.James had made it clear he wanted to see her suffer. His twisted words echoed in my mind, the satisfaction in his voice grating against my every nerve. But he’d made one big mistake: he’d underestimated me. My heart hardened as I replayed every mocking word he’d ever said, every cold laugh from Alice that I’d swallowed down. It all led to this moment.“Enough,” I whispered into the silence as if saying it out loud made it real.I needed leverage, something or someone th
Angela’s POVThe door clicked shut behind me, and the silence of the empty hallway seemed to echo. I could still hear Kurtis’s words in my head, cutting deeper than I wanted to admit. “The sister Lyra loved would never have done this.” As much as I tried to shake it off, those words felt like an anchor around my chest, dragging me down, suffocating me with every step.But something stopped me in my tracks. A knot in my stomach, a tension I couldn’t shake, like a hand tugging me back. My fingers itched against the door handle, and before I knew it, I was turning it, re-entering the room. Kurtis’s head jerked up, surprise flashing across his face. The look in his eyes held a challenge, daring me to do… what, I didn’t even know.I took a step forward, my heels striking the concrete in sharp clicks that shattered the tense silence. “You don’t get to sit there and judge me, Kurtis. You don’t know what I’ve been through, what I’ve had to do.”He scoffed, shifting in his chair as if testing
Lyra’s POVThe phone rang, pulling me out of my thoughts. I glanced at the screen and saw Sophie’s name. She rarely called this late, so I picked up immediately, a slight edge of worry in my voice. “Hey, Sophie, what’s up?”There was a pause on the other end before she spoke, her voice low and tense. “Lyra, I… I think something’s wrong with Kurtis.”My stomach tightened. “What do you mean?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.“I haven’t seen him in a couple of days, and I’ve called, messaged… nothing. You know how he usually is—he’s never out of reach. Even if he’s busy, he’d let me know he’s okay,” she said, worry seeping into her tone.Her words made my heart race. Kurtis never disappeared like this, not without at least telling me where he’d be. “You think he’s missing?” My voice was barely a whisper, but Sophie heard me.“Honestly, Lyra, I think something’s happened. It’s just… strange.” She paused, her next words coming out slowly, as if she were piecing them together carefull
Kurtis’s POVThe room was dark and silent, a chill settling over me as I tried to pull my mind from the constant aching in my wrists. But it was useless. Every time I closed my eyes, every time I tried to distract myself, her face surfaced in my mind.Lyra.I thought about the night I met her. Back then, I thought she was Angela, only to find out later that they were sisters two halves of a world I never expected to get lost in. I’d gone to that gallery with Angela on a whim, a favor to her, only to spot this quiet beauty who moved so differently, her calmness like a steady flame. I couldn’t look away. Her eyes caught mine that night, soft but curious, and the way she looked at me made everything around us fade. I fell in love at that moment, thinking it was Angela’s warmth yet I had been looking at Lyra all along.And when I realized it was her… everything clicked. She wasn’t Angela. She was her kind of mystery, and I’d fallen deeper, hopelessly drawn to the softness I saw in her.Bu
Lyra’s POVThe hallway stretched out before me like a dark, endless tunnel, my footsteps echoing off the walls as I neared Angela’s door. My heartbeat was a drum in my chest, loud and insistent, mirroring the fury roiling inside me. This was the second time I’d come to confront her about Kurtis. She'd denied any involvement before, but my instincts told me she was lying. And I wasn’t leaving until I forced the truth out of her.I took a deep breath and knocked, the sound sharp and unyielding. After a tense few seconds, the door swung open, revealing Angela’s face. Her expression flickered with surprise, but it quickly morphed into something smug as she took me in, standing there, brimming with anger.“Lyra,” she greeted me with a saccharine tone that made my skin crawl. “Back so soon? I thought I made myself clear last time. What do you want?”I squared my shoulders, meeting her gaze with unflinching resolve. “You know exactly why I’m here, Angela. And I’m not leaving until you tell m