Ste couldn’t describe what she was feeling.


    Just tired. Bone deep, endless exhaustion. She just wanted to find somewhere and sleep forever.


    She took an Uber to the city’s fireworks disy.


    Under the exploding lights, everyone was paired off. Only she stood alone.


    I heard making wishes under fireworks really works. You should try it!”


    That was from their first New Year together. They’d been broke, so she’d bought a pack of sparklers. Gabriel had been sulking all day, refusing to leave the


    apartment.


    It was the best way she could think of to cheer him up.


    What had Gabriel said back then?


    “Who the hell uses sparklers instead of real fireworks? That’s not how it works-your wishes won’te true.”


    Right. She’d used sparklers instead of fireworks. Wrong from the very start.


    Brilliant fireworks painted the sky as Ste broke down sobbing among everyone else’s happy cheers.


    All the pain she’d bottled up came pouring out.


    She had no memory of getting home, only waking up to Gabriel’s dark expression.


    Where exactly were you nning to go?”


    That’s when she realized she’d somehow bought a train ticket to Riverside.


    Their old college town. The happiest time of Ste’s entire life.


    “College reunion. Want toe?”


    The ss group chat had announced it yesterday while she was crying. She’d bought the ticket on impulse.


    But she knew Gabriel wouldn’t go.


    After all the mockery he’d faced at graduation, plus his parents dying there, he’d never return.


    Sure enough, his expression softened slightly.


    “I’m not going.”


    Where were you yesterday?”


    Seeing her still in yesterday’s clothes, Gabriel felt an inexplicable unease creeping in.


    I went to see the fireworks. Called you but no one picked up.”


    She hid the part about looking for him and falling in the water. Having her dignity trampled once was enough-she didn’t want to look even more pathetic on


    her way out.


    Guilt shed across Gabriel’s face as he handed her a credit card. <fnb3cd> ??? ????? ???????s ??? ?????s??? ?? find[?]ovel</fnb3cd>


    “Sorry, I was tied up yesterday. Buy whatever you wanttely.”


    Gabriel had offered her money before, but she’d always refused.


    This time, she studied his face carefully and took the card.


    She was leaving anyway. If she couldn’t have his love, might as well get somepensation.


    Chapter


    Since she was going to Riverside, Gabriel didn’t question her packing. He’d been swampedtely-too busy to pay attention to her.


    Ste shipped all her belongings to Emily’s address.


    she nned to stop in Riverside first-not for the reunion, but to visit her parents’ graves. After all these years of chasing Gabriel around, she’d never gone back to pay her respects.


    t hit her suddenly how much she’d missed for Gabriel’s sake.


    Ste Rivers, you totally deserve this,” sheughed bitterly at herself.


    ler phone buzzed with an anonymous text:


    Bitch, stay away from Gabriel or you’ll regret it.”


    te nced at it without caring. She’d gotten countless messages like this.


    hey’d scared her at first, but after receiving so many dead rats and cats in the mail, a simple text was nothing.


    he blocked the number and powered off her phone like nothing happened.


    fter bagging up thest of the trash, every trace of her existence had been erased from the apartment.


    te kept her head down as she stepped off the elevator, heading for the dumpster nearby.


    uddenly, a pair of hands reached out. Everything went ck as she lost consciousnesspletely.