chapter 123

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,