ECHOES OF PAST

The sound of champagne glasses clinking felt like a bad joke. I was standing in the middle of the ballroom, dressed in the red dress Evan had picked for me, surrounded by people who didn't even know my name. All they cared about was him.

Evan Grayson. Golden boy. Charming smile. Liar.

He was standing a few feet away, holding a glass of whiskey and laughing like everything was perfect.

His hand was resting on Emma Lancaster's lower back like it had every right to be there.

I stared at that hand. The same hand that used to hold me at night. The same hand that promised me forever.

Laughter bubbled up in my throat,

but it didn't sound like me. It sounded cracked and broken.

Ten years of my life. Ten years of being his shadow, his quiet supporter, the woman behind the scenes.

I gave him my heart, my body, my time. He gave me lies. "Aria," Lena hissed beside me. She grabbed my arm, squeezing it.

"Don't do anything stupid." "Stupid?" I whispered. "I've been doing stupid for ten years." Her eyes flicked toward Evan and back to me. "Aria, this isn't the place."

I looked down at the engagement ring on Emma's finger. It sparkled under the lights like it was mocking me. Ten years together, and he had never proposed to me. Not once.

But he had been with her for six months, and now she was wearing my dream on her hand. Lena exhaled through her nose. "Please, don't make a scene."

I tilted my head and smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. "No, Lena. I'm done being quiet."

Before she could stop me, I crossed the room. My heels clicked on the marble floor, and heads began to turn. People whispered.

Evan turned just as I reached him. The smile froze on his face."Aria," he said, too calm, like he wasn't standing next to the woman he'd betrayed me with. "What are you doing here?"

I leaned in close enough to smell the expensive cologne he wore for special occasions. The kind he used when he wanted to impress.

"You invited me, remember?" My voice was sweet, almost too sweet. Emma blinked, all wide-eyed innocence. "Evan, who is she?"

My chest burned, but I forced the corners of my mouth upward. "Oh, don't worry, sweetheart. I'm just the

woman who's been living with him for the last ten years."

A ripple of gasps spread through the nearby crowd. Evan's jaw tightened. "Aria, don't start.

"Start?" I laughed. "Evan, I'm not

starting. You already started when you told me you loved me while buying an engagement ring for someone else."

His face shifted into something colder. "This isn't the time."

"Of course it is," I said. "You owe me that much."

Emma wrapped her arm around his, like she was claiming him in front of

me. "This is pathetic," she said softly. "You should leave."

I turned to her, and for a second,