What lay in wait was far from benign. A folder marked with her name greeted her, and inside, shocking revelations awaited. Messages exchanged between her fiancé and her own sister depicted an intimacy that was bewildering and sickening—they referred to each other as “baby,” and their exchanges made light of Rose as if she were the punchline of a cruel joke. What she stumbled upon was not just infidelity; it was a cascade of betrayal meticulously planned by the very people she trusted.
Stunned, she felt the very fabric of her existence fray at the edges. Instead of an explosion of rage or tears, she simply closed the laptop, surrendering to an aching silence as the reality crushed her. The morning light of what should have been her wedding day broke over her, but she did not don her dress. Instead, she left it abandoned on the bed, departing without a trace, without even a note to explain her absence.
Months passed as she navigated the aftermath, each day a battle between reminiscing about what could have been and reinforcing her resolve. Yet, she
