Year: 2026

You walk out of the tenth-floor OR with your shoulders tight and your hands still remembering blood and sutures. You’ve been standing for six hours,

The pen feels heavier than it should, like it’s loaded with more than ink. You sit at the end of a glossy conference table that

The slap lands with a hard, dry crack that doesn’t belong in a house this beautiful. You feel it in your teeth more than your

You spend three years being mistaken for background noise, and what’s worse is how quickly the world gets used to it. In the polished hallways

You’ve known the Ritz ballroom can make people feel immortal, the way crystal chandeliers scatter light like permission to be reckless. Tonight, the room is

You never expected this day would come. Not like this, anyway. The invitation arrived on a crisp Tuesday morning, wrapped in an elegant envelope that

You were always the quiet one. The one who rarely spoke up, who let the world rush by, unnoticed. That’s what he thought about you.

You’re hiking back to your cabin on Christmas Eve with a six-month-old baby sleeping against your chest, and the snow is falling so quietly it

You tell yourself you agreed to the engagement because you’re responsible, because you’re built for pressure, because your father’s name still sits like a crown

You drive fifteen minutes past your office like everything is normal, then turn down a side street you never use. You park behind a thick