Chapter 76 Echoes Of The Lie

• Zara didn’t leave her room all day.
• She lay curled beneath her duvet, blinds drawn shut, the only light coming from the dull glow of her phone screen. The article was still open. She hadn’t read it again, but she didn’t need to. The headline had branded itself into her skull.
• She had thought she was prepared for drama. She had faced rejection, humiliation, sabotage—but this? This felt personal. Like someone had reached inside her chest and twisted the very heart she had learned to protect.