<h4>Chapter 83: Apologies</h4>


    The restroom gleamed like something out of a luxury magazine—marble sinks polished to a mirror sheen, crystal chandeliers scattering soft light across every gilded surface. But the air was heavy, choking, charged with a storm that hadn’t yet broken.


    Eliana stood rigid in front of the mirror, her reflection fierce yet fragile, eyes burning with hurt. Those deep brown eyes—eyes that had once trusted Sarai with every secret—now zed with betrayal. Her long hair tumbled over her bare shoulders, the sequins of her dress glittering faintly under the light, a cruel contrast to the turmoil twisting inside her.


    Her voice cracked through the silence. "Sarai, stop. Just... stop with the sweet talk. Why?" She shook her head, disbelief hardening into anger. "Why did you betray our friendship? After everything—growing up side by side, whispering secrets, being like sisters—how could you turn on me like that?"


    The wordsnded like blows.


    Sarai’s hand faltered under the running faucet, soap slipping from her fingers as thevender scent clung too heavily to the air. Her sharp green eyes flickered in the mirror—calcting, but for a split second, caught. She straightened slowly, her sleek bun pulling her glossy ck hair tight, every inch of her designer dress molded to perfection. On the outside, she looked unshaken, but her stomach twisted violently. ’God, I might puke.’


    She wanted nothing than to spit the truth, to slice Eliana’s heart open with the de of her hatred for Eliana. But Bianca’s voice coiled through her memory, silk over steel: ’Act pitiful, Sarai. Eliana’s soft heart is our way in. Rafael will fall in our hands through her. Once we’ve taken what we need, she’s finished.’


    So Sarai swallowed her pride, tasting bile as it went down. She let her shoulders sag, let her breath stutter just enough to sell the lie. Green eyes shimmered with rehearsed tears, a practiced fracture in her armor.


    When she reached out, her manicured fingers trembled—not from regret, but from precision. The perfect touch of false remorse.


    "Oh, Eliana..." Sarai’s voice cracked, soft as foam butced with performance. She let it tremble just enough to sound raw, hershes heavy with the gloss of manufactured tears. "I... I don’t even know where to begin. This guilt—it’s been suffocating me for years, pressing down on my chest every single day. You deserve the truth, no matter how much it hurts."


    She lifted a hand, dabbing at her eyes, smearing the perfect mascara lines she’d so carefully painted earlier. The w made her look more human, more vulnerable—exactly as intended. "The truth is... I’ve always been in love with Jason." Her voice thinned, breaking as if the confession itself wounded her. "Since we were kids. Back when we’d y in the school garden, when you and I would lie under the trees and whisper our dreams into the sky. I never knew how to tell you—how could I? You were so radiant with hope, so taken by him. Every time you looked at him, I saw that light in your eyes, and it... it tore me apart. Watching you both, while my own heart bled for him."


    Eliana’s lips parted, her breath catching as if the floor had tilted beneath her. Her warm brown skin seemed to drain under the golden glow of the chandeliers, leaving her pallid, shaken. She braced herself against the marble counter, its coolness biting into her palms, the only anchor against the storm building inside her chest.


    <fn9890> The rightful source is Find1Novel</fn9890>


    "In love with him?" Her voice was thin, a mix of disbelief and anguish. "Sarai, we were best friends. You could have said something—anything—instead of this. Instead of..." Her throat closed on the rest, the weight of betrayal pressing too hard on the words.


    Sarai nodded hard, as if the force of it alone could drive the lie deeper into Eliana’s heart. Her voice softened to a hushed, trembling confession, each wordced with calcted sorrow.


    "I know. I know," she whispered, shaking her head as though crushed under the weight of her own guilt. "But love—it blinds you, doesn’t it? And lust..." She exhaled shakily, letting her lips tremble. "God, Eliana, the way he looked at me sometimes... those stolen nces when you weren’t watching. It consumed me. I couldn’t fight it. I let it swallow me whole."


    Her green eyes glistened with tears, her mascara bleeding down like shadows. She clutched at her chest, her breath ragged. "That’s why I betrayed you. I thought it would be just once—just once to burn out the fire inside me. To quench it, to be free of it. But it spiraled, it twisted, and before I knew it, I was lost in it. Drowning."


    Her voice cracked, breaking into a whisper that dripped with shame. "I was weak. Selfish. Every time I saw your smile, I hated myself more—knowing I was the reason it would one day break."


    Tears streamed down Sarai’s cheeks, glistening trails that caught the chandelier’s glow as if choreographed. With a soft, deliberate copse, she sank to her knees on the shiny marble floor, her designer skirt fanning around her like spilled silk. The humiliation scorched her chest—’Kneeling? To her? To this naive girl dragged up from the slums?’ —but she buried the bitterness, hiding it behind a mask of trembling devotion.


    She clutched at Eliana’s hands, her manicured nails pressing just enough to sting. "Please, Eliana, forgive me," she choked out, her voice quivering like ss about to shatter. "I regret it every single day. When you left, when I found out you knew about Jason and me... I was devastated. Absolutely broken, knowing I had destroyed you. My sister in everything but blood."


    Her shoulders shook with carefully measured sobs, her mascara bleeding down her cheeks, ck streaks painting her contrition. "I ended it the moment I realized. I swore I’d never let him near me again. We’re nothing now—just friends, shadows of what was. But I can’t forgive myself. Not for this. It’s like carrying a sword in my chest, twisting deeper every time I remember what I did."


    Sarai’s voice faltered, dropping to a whisper meant to crack even the hardest heart. "I’ve cried myself to sleep more nights than I can count, reliving every mistake, wishing I could turn back time. You’re the kindest soul I know, Eliana. If anyone could pardon a wretch like me... it would be you."


    She lowered her head, shoulders heaving, every line of her body broadcasting repentance. But behind the veil of tears, her green eyes burned with something far less innocent—triumph waiting for its cue.