Elenora Quinn POV:
I cursed her. I cursed Isla for her cruelty, for her recklessness. I cursed Greyson for his betrayal, for turning a blind eye. I cursed them both, with every fiber of my broken being, for taking everything from me.
But my curses were met with a cruel twist of fate. I, Elenora Quinn, the victim, was arrested. Greyson, with his endless resources and ruthless cunning, had twisted the narrative. He produced doctored dashcam footage, fabricated witness testimonies. He painted me as a deranged ex-wife, a gold-digger, trying to blackmail him, who had deliberately thrown herself in front of Isla's car in a desperate attempt to frame her.
The media, once my champions, now vilified me. I was the conniving hussy, the calculating villain. I, the crippled ballerina, was branded a "road-rage scammer."
Justice was a hollow joke.
Three years. Three agonizing years I spent in a prison cell, a place of concrete and despair, while my mother, the last connection to my past, withered away in a hospital bed, her life slowly drained by the shock and grief.
Then, the news came. My mother was gone.
Kailey burst into the visiting room, her face swollen with tears, her body wracked with sobs. She collapsed into my arms, clutching me as if I were the last anchor in a raging storm. "She's gone, Elenora," she choked out, her voice barely audible. "Your mother... she's gone."
A cold, dead stillness enveloped me. The last thread snapped. My family, my home, my identity. All gone.
"She wanted to see you," Kailey whispered, pulling away, her eyes red-rimmed. "She woke up for a moment. She looked at Greyson. She begged him. She begged him to let you go. To set you free."
A bitter, humorless laugh escaped my lips. My freedom came at the cost of my mother's life.
With my mother's death, the divorce papers were finally processed. Greyson had no reason to hold me anymore. I was officially free, a broken bird with clipped wings.
The day I was released, the world outside felt alien. The sun was too bright, the air too fresh. I sat in my wheelchair, a hollow ache in my chest where my heart used to be.
Then I saw him. Greyson. In a park, surrounded by reporters, cameras flashing. And beside him, Isla. Radiant, smiling, a diamond sparkling on her left hand. He was proposing.
"Isla," he declared, his voice booming for the cameras, "you are the love of my life. You are more important to me than anything. More than my own life. Marry me."
The words, so similar to what my father had said about me, echoed in the air, a cruel parody. Tears streamed down my face, hot and stinging, but they were not tears of sorrow. They were tears of pure, unadulterated release. The last vestiges of hope, of love, of the girl I used to be, finally died. And in that death, there was a strange, terrifying freedom.
But freedom from prison didn't mean freedom from the past. I was diagnosed with severe PTSD, depression, and anxiety. The nights were a hellscape of flashbacks and nightmares. I would lash out, screaming, convinced the masked men were back, that Greyson was there, that Isla was laughing. Kailey often bore the brunt of my terror, her arms covered in bruises from my unseeing attacks.
When Kailey wasn't around, I would wheel myself to the cemetery, sitting by my parents' graves, talking to them, seeking solace in the cold stone.
Kailey, my guardian angel, refused to let me drown. She rallied old friends, former dance colleagues, anyone who believed in me. She pushed me, gently but firmly, back to the one thing that still held meaning: dance. Not on stage, not for an audience, but for myself.
Slowly, agonizingly, life began to seep back into my shattered existence. The colors seemed a little brighter, the music a little sweeter. I found a new way to dance, a new rhythm, a new purpose.
"You've come so far, Elenora," Kailey said one evening, pouring me a glass of wine. "I'm so proud of you. Look at you now. You're living again."
Just then, my bag, sitting on the table, vibrated. My phone was ringing.
Kailey frowned. "Who's calling you at this hour? Probably some work thing. Let me get it." She reached for my bag, her movements quick and decisive.
