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At least she wouldn’t have to live with them for long.
She knew Zane. No one on this earth knew him better than she did. If he found out what she was going through, he’d jump on the next plane to Delhi. He’d drop out of college to sit beside her sick bed as she withered away. And then after she’d gone, what would happen to him? His whole life ruined for nothing. Never gonna happen. He meant too much to her for her to let him throw everything away for a woman with no future.
So she’d cut him off. Instantly. Brutally.
At first his texts sounded confused and tinged with hurt.
Why are you ghosting me?
What did I do to upset you?
Oh god. Is everything okay? Please let me know you’re okay? I tried to call your parents, but I can’t get through. Just send me a text. Just one, Lori. That’s all I ask.
Come on, Lori. Talk to me. You’re pissing me off now.
You said there’d never be another. Were you lying? Fuck’s sake, Lori, answer me!
And then came the first of many attempts at a joke.
If you don’t reply right fucking now, I’m asking Savannah Phillips out on a date.
Savannah had wanted Zane for ages, ever since the first year of junior high. Except she’d wasted her time. Zane only had eyes for his Lori, as he often called her, amongst many other pet names, and each one he said with love.
Okay, that’s it. I’m flying over.
This was the text she’d dreaded. She’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but she could not allow Zane to travel to India. He’d take one look at her and know, in an instant, that something terrible had happened. Better that he hated her than uncover the truth. And so she’d responded—with an unforgivable lie.
I’ve met someone else.
Four words. Four paltry words that would crush the one person in her life she’d never intended to hurt. But this was the only way to save him from a lifetime of pain. A savage cut, but one that would, in time, heal.
He’d taken his time to reply. She’d kept checking her phone, the knot in her stomach tightening as each hour passed. And when the message came, his words had gutted her. Not because his response was cruel. That wasn’t Zane. Even as she ripped out his heart, he’d put her first.
I hope he makes you as happy as you made me.
He didn’t fight for her, not because he didn’t care, but because he knew her. He knew she’d never lie to him—and that was what she’d relied upon. He’d believed her when she said that she’d met someone else, and so, like the kind, generous, wonderful man he was, he’d stepped aside. Even if she somehow survived this, there would be no second chances for them. No opportunity to repair the damage she’d caused. In time, Zane would meet someone else. He’d move on, marry, and have a family of his own. It was as it should be.
But god, it hurt. It tore her damaged heart to shreds.
And now, it had come to this. The time to say goodbye for good.
She curled on her side in her bedroom at their rented house on the other side of the world, miles away from the man she loved, and read through the hundreds of texts he’d sent her. Tears pricked behind her eyes as she deleted every single one and blocked his number, then deleted it from her contacts list. Weaker moments would come, many of them, and she didn’t trust herself not to cave in and call him. Deleting the thousands of photographs of them together was the hardest, but she steeled her spine, closed off her stupid, ruined heart, and rid herself of them all.
She imagined what her parents might have engraved on her headstone.
Here lies Lorelei James. Beloved daughter. Taken too soon.
Lori preferred the blunt truth.
Here lies Lorelei James, died of a broken heart.
The duality, and irony, of it appealed to her.
Goodbye, Zane. My one and only love. I’ll watch over you from the other side.
PART I
CHAPTER 1
