Collide Into Ruin

The night stretched wide above her, an endless expanse of inky black stitched with silver. The air smelled of salt and jasmine, the distant murmur of the waves below blending with the soft hum of the city beyond the resort's secluded edges.

Emilia sat at the rooftop's edge, her legs tucked to her chest, the cool stone pressing against her palms. It was quiet up here. Peaceful.

She had always found comfort in solitude. It was safe, predictable. Up here, there were no expectations, no lingering gazes waiting for her to crack open and spill everything she held inside.

And yet, for the first time in a long time, she wasn't hiding.

She was just... existing.

A breeze swept through, brushing loose strands of hair across her face. Emilia exhaled, watching the night swallow her breath.

This year had been a hurricane.

There were days she still couldn't believe it—how easily the life she had built unraveled right before her eyes. If she closed them, she could still feel it, that moment everything shifted.

The text message.

Just a single notification, glowing on her screen like a warning. Hallie's name. The weight in her stomach before she even read it. And then—

The world as she knew it cracked down the middle.

She had thought she was over it. The heartbreak, the anger. But it wasn't just about Chase cheating—it was about how easily he had discarded her. Like she had never mattered. Like the years she spent loving him were nothing.

The confrontation played back in her mind like a film reel, grainy and raw.

Chase's voice, defensive. "You act like I meant to hurt you."

The way her stomach had twisted. "That's the worst part, Chase. You didn't even think about me at all."

She had spent so long holding onto the pieces of that relationship, trying to figure out where she went wrong. But now, sitting here beneath the vast sky, she saw the truth.

She hadn't failed him.
She hadn't been lacking.
She wasn't the reason he betrayed her.

Chase had made his choices, and she had survived them.

That realization settled over her like the tide, washing away the last remnants of guilt she hadn't even realized she was still carrying.

But it wasn't just Chase.

This entire year had tested her in ways she never could've imagined.

She had spent months building walls, convinced that if she let anyone in, they'd leave her in ruins. That trusting again meant risking everything.

And yet—

Henry.

Emilia bit her lip, warmth curling through her chest.

If someone had told her months ago that she'd find herself drawn to a man like Henry Kingsley, she would have laughed. He was so different from her. Loud. Confident. Relentless in the way he cared.

And yet, somehow, he had become the one thing she hadn't realized she needed.

He had seen her—the cracks, the shadows, the sharp edges she had tried to keep hidden—and he hadn't flinched. He had only drawn closer, like the idea of her being difficult was some kind of challenge he wanted to take on.

She thought about the way he looked at her. Like she was worth something.

She thought about the nights he cooked for her, even when she insisted she wasn't hungry.