Page 5 of Broken Destiny

My breath caught in my throat.

It was me.

I stared at it, unable to move.

I was asleep beneath the blankets, my dark hair spread across the pillow while the soft glow of a bedside lamp illuminated the room. Everything around me was shadowed and quiet.

My stomach tightened instantly.

I knew exactly when the photograph had been taken.

It was the night we had spent together for the first time.

The night everything between us had changed.

For a moment, I could barely breathe.

My eyes drifted to the photograph beside it, and my heart shattered.

It was the same room and the same bed, but this photograph had been taken from the opposite side. The space where I had been lying was empty.

Beneath the photographs were two small plaques.

The Night Everything Changed.

The Morning Everything Did.

My vision blurred as I stepped closer.

I stared at the photographs for several seconds, my chest aching as memories rushed through me.

I remembered waking in the middle of the night, slipping quietly from the bed while Cole slept, gathering my clothes and leaving before dawn because I had been terrified by how quickly my feelings for him had begun to grow.

Now, looking at those photographs, I wondered what that morning had felt like for him.

“Jiya?”

I turned and found Marjorie standing beside me.

Her eyes softened as she glanced toward the photographs.

“He left something for you.”

I frowned.

“What?”

She reached into her handbag and carefully removed a cream-coloured envelope.

Written across the front in familiar handwriting were three simple words.

For My Wife.

“Cole gave it to me months ago,” Marjorie said quietly. “He told me to give it to you personally.”

My fingers trembled as I accepted it.

“Thank you,” I whispered.