Years of Devotion, A Lifetime of Betrayal
"Maya, we need to talk about the Nova Fellowship."
Ethanās voice was smooth, but his eyes held a look I knew well before he asked for something big.
The final interviews for my dream fellowship were just next week.
He sighed, running a hand through his perfect brown hair, then dropped the bombshell: Chloe, the Harrisonsā "lost" daughter, suddenly wanted to apply.
I stared, my heart pounding, realizing the application deadline had passed months ago, and Chloe knew nothing of astrophysics.
He quickly explained they were making an exception for Chloe due to "hardship," courtesy of the Harrisonsā pulled strings.
A cold feeling started in my stomach when he gently suggested I withdraw my application for "family goodwill."
He squeezed my hands, urging me to "give Chloe a fair shot" because she was "fragile."
I pulled my hands away, reminding him this fellowship was my entire future.
He insisted Iād find other opportunities, painting my sacrifice as a "gesture for family."
His words felt like cotton, trying to smother the fire of my lifelong dream.
He believed this was reasonable, that I should sacrifice everything for a girl he barely knew, who had appeared out of nowhere.
My carefully built world, with Ethan at its center, felt like it was tilting, as I realized I was just in the way.
Then, he left me stranded in a furious Norāeaster, sick and alone, rushing off to comfort Chloeās "panic attack."
Weeks later, the Harrisons, with Ethanās complicity, publicly branded me a plagiarist, expelled me from Blackwood, and stole my groundbreaking dark matter algorithm.
I saw Chloe presenting my lifeās work as her own, celebrated as a "rising star."
My reputation was in ruins, my academic dreams destroyed, my love for Ethan shattered into a million pieces.
How could Ethan, the man I loved, betray me for an imposter, and why did the family treat me as expendable after years of devotion?
Publicly shamed, injured in an angry crowd, I truly hit rock bottom, lying feverish and abandoned in a hospital bed.
Just as despair threatened to consume me, I remembered the private investigatorās card, tucked away in my wallet, leading to the biological family I thought were dead.
That night, lying shattered and alone, I reached for my phone, found the investigatorās number, and made the call to choose myself and reclaim my life.