"That the love and trust between us had been savaged beyond all repair. Because of my actions. My selfishness."
Stella's words hung in the air like a tangible miasma, seeming to leach the color and life from our surroundings as the full, unvarnished picture of her betrayal crystallized before us.
For a dizzying stretch, utter silence reigned. Then, with excruciating deliberation, Zoe's implacable front fractured ever-so-slightly as she pulled in a shuddering breath through flared nostrils.
"Yes," she ground out at last, each consonant clipped like shrapnel striking armor plating. "I remember that moment quite vividly myself. Every sight, every sound, every...agonizing emotion as my reality crumbled to ash around me."
Despite the acidic undercurrent, her voice remained carefully modula
