All that talk from Finnian about liking her, wanting to take care of her and the baby- how he’d mistaken Liliana for being pregnant and felt obligated to be with her out of responsibility, claiming he had no real feelings for Liliana—none of it was true. It was all just deceitful nonsense.

Amara closed her eyes, recalling how she’d been unconsciously clinging to the sense of security Finnian brought her these past few days. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous she felt, and the more she resented Finnian for his behavior.

If he ever tried to convince her again that he liked her or didn’t care for Liliana, she knew she would never believe him.

She saved all the photos onto her phone, so they could serve as a constant reminder of who Finnian truly cared about.

Recently, she’d told herself—and even said out loud that she didn’t care about Finnian, didn’t want to be with him, yet she still found herself enjoying having him around. Amara hated herself for these contradictions.

She didn’t want to become someone who said one thing and felt another. She wanted to forget Finnian as soon as possible, let go of everything connected to him, and start over.

She put her phone away, took a deep breath to collect herself, and was about to head home when Elysia called.

“Hey, Ely, what’s going on?”

Elysia’s voice sounded frail. “Ama, I’m at the hospital. I just had the procedure.” Amara was so surprised she asked twice, “You had the abortion? It’s already over?” Hadn’t Elysia said her appointment was scheduled for a few days from now? Why had it happened so suddenly?

“It’s already done,” Elysia said softly. “Are you busy? Could you come over?”

Elysia’s voice sounded incredibly weak.

Amara knew that after a procedure like this, Elysia would naturally be in a fragile state, but she had a feeling there was more to it. Something just didn’t seem right. “Which hospital are you at? Is it the one you mentioned before? I’ll come right now.” Elysia replied, “Yes,” and Amara hung up, immediately heading out to the hospital.

Amara hurried into the hospital

room and saw Elysia sitting on the bed, her face as white as a sheet, completely expressionless. The silence in the room felt almost chilling

Amara rushed to her side and grabbed her hand. “Ely, what happened? Why did you suddenly decide to go through with it? You look awful.”

She gently touched Elysia’s cheek, which was ice cold-a detail that made Amara’s heart ache.

Elysia turned her head and looked at Amara. “I got a photo this morning. It was from Jessica.”

A photo?

Amara’s heart skipped a beat.

Just moments ago, she herself had received a set of anonymous photos, likely sent

by Liliana. Naturally, she assumed Elysia had gone through a similar ordeal.

She squeezed Elysia’s hand. “What kind of photo? Was it a picture of her and Dorian together?”

Elysia nodded. “Yes. Here, look.”

She handed her phone to Amara, who looked down at it.

The photo showed Dorian and Jessica lying together in the same bed. Jessica was nestled against Dorian, who was sound asleep while she was clearly awake, holding her phone up to snap the picture.

The blanket was pulled up high, covering them to their chests, and judging by their bare shoulders, neither of them was wearing. anything underneath Was this a post-coital photo?

Amara’s hands were shaking with anger.

“What is Jessica trying to do by sending you something like this? What’s her goal?”