Chapter 1 - The Shattered Reflection
There are moments that divide your life into a before and an after.
Mine happened at exactly 11:23 on an ordinary Tuesday night.
The instant I unlocked my apartment door, I heard laughter drifting from my bedroom.
It wasn't innocent laughter.
It was intimate, careless, and so familiar that my stomach twisted before my mind even understood why.
My fingers tightened around my purse as I stood frozen in the hallway.
The bedroom door was slightly open, and a thin strip of light spilled onto the floor.
Every instinct told me to turn around, but I couldn't.
I took one slow step after another until I could finally see inside.
Liam, the man I'd loved for three years, was lying in my bed.
He wasn't alone.
The woman beside him had long blonde hair almost identical to mine.
It was my sister, Amber.
For one impossible second, my brain refused to believe what my eyes were seeing.
Then I pulled out my phone with shaking hands and snapped a picture.
The flash illuminated the dark room, and the click echoed like a gunshot.
"What the hell?" Liam shouted, scrambling out of bed and grabbing for his clothes.
His face drained of all color, his eyes wide with a panic that I found pathetically satisfying.
"Luna, wait! I can explain! It’s not what it looks like!"
Amber didn't even bother to rush.
She stretched out like a cat waking from a nap.
She calmly wrapped herself in my favorite silk robe and smiled as if we'd bumped into each other over coffee.
"Hey, sis," she said. "You're home early."
Something inside me shattered.
Not my heart.
That had already broken into a million jagged pieces.
It was whatever had been holding back my rage.
For my entire life, I had been the good sister. The responsible one.
Amber had always taken what she wanted—my clothes, my parents' attention, my friends.
But this? This was a line I never thought even she would cross.
"Get out," I whispered.
Amber stepped closer without a trace of shame, adjusting the belt of my robe.
"He came to me," she said with a smug smile. "I didn't steal him, Luna. He was tired of you."
Liam tried to intervene, his shirt buttoned entirely wrong. "Amber, shut up! Luna, please—"
"You're predictable, Luna," Amber continued, ignoring him. "Safe. Boring. I'm the exciting one."
My vision blurred.
Not because I wanted to cry.
Because I wanted to scream.
I grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at Liam's head.
Then another.
Then the heavy brass bedside lamp, which smashed against the wall just inches from his shoulder.
"Get out of my house!" I screamed, my voice tearing through my throat.
They stumbled toward the door, Liam struggling to pull on his pants while tripping over his own shoes.
Amber gave me one last victorious smile, her eyes gleaming with malicious triumph, before disappearing into the hallway.
The front door slammed shut.
The apartment fell violently silent.
I stood there for a long time, staring at the messy sheets.
Then I collapsed onto the floor.
I cried until there were no tears left, until my chest ached and my throat was raw.
I stayed on that hardwood floor until sunrise crept through the curtains I'd forgotten to close.
The morning light felt harsh, exposing the reality of my newly shattered life.
But as the sun rose, the tears stopped.
May you like
Something else was taking their place.
Something sharp, cold, and entirely unbreakable.
