The Betrayed Rose Rises Anew

id he rescued from the streets. He built

end, Karis, showing off the enga

t a "placeholder," a "stray he picked up," a useful toy to ke

how easily he c

placed gifts, and she'll be back w

ng me over to a monster, sacrificing me as a

foster kid with nowhere to go

ean, I was already gone-saved by the powerful family I never knew

pte

Ware

s before Glenn Christensen. He found me, a lost girl, caught in the undertow of a life I didn't choose. He pulle

lieved him. He didn't know about Juilliard. He didn't know about the music that lived inside me, t

not street smart. I was both. I didn't think twice. My fists flew, my nails tore, my knees connected with flesh. I was a tornado of fury, protecting the man

himself that night, his

tracing the line of m

his touch. "

illed it with everything I could ever want. Clothes, jewelry, endless possibilities. He told me it was all ours. Our future. Our life. I had never had

vie. His texts popped up. Karis. My best friend. A photo. Her hand, perfect

arp ache, and spread through my veins. My fingers went numb. The

eded answers, even if they shattered my world. I dressed quickly, my movements stiff, robotic. I hailed a

. Karis, her face alight with a joy that sliced through me like a razor blade. She said yes. She threw her

had scooped out my insides, leaving a hollow, aching void. T

sunderstanding, a fight about my late nights at the library – actually Jui

wide with a despair that felt genuin

our initials. "This," he' d said, fastening it around

of his betrayal hit me like a physical blow. He had promised me forever with a locket

uffled conversation stopped me. Glenn's voice. Karis's. They were just inside

tone sickeningly sweet. "Your

legalities are simple. Fae's 'marriage' to me is easily dissolved. It was always a placeholde

hed. Legalitie

icked edge to her tone. "Wh

I'll keep her close, of course. She' s too... useful to let go entirely. A little gasl

er, so independent. But she's just a stray

r crash that nearly ended my Juilliard scholarship application last year? The mysterious "lost files" that prevented my transf

ave?" Karis pressed, her voice laced with fe

have everything under control. I'll make sure she stays exactly where I need h

But his silence, when Karis alluded to my past trauma, was the loudest confession of

nizing. It wasn' t just my heart that was break

tered, his voice barely audible. "She's so emotional. I'll tell her I'

from Glenn: Missing you, love. Busine

s: Finally! Glenn proposed! We're getting married

ing fly. I thought back to the "business trips" he used to take. The times he'd disappear for days, always with a plausible excus

. I was Fae Ware. And I was done playing his game. I would not allow myse

ht? He was about to get one. But it wouldn't be the kind he expec