Moonlit Mountain (Caleb and Sarah)

(Finding Forever After the Betrayal Chapter 21

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The city official's words were like a slap in the face, the sting of his dismissal bringing hot tears to Hannah's eyes. "Fine!" she choked out, her voice trembling with a mixture of anger and humiliation. "I'm going!"

She huddled in the back of the moving truck, her meager belongings piled around her like a physical manifestation of her shattered life. Each bump in the road sent a fresh wave of nausea through her, a knot of dread tightening in her stomach with every passing mile. The driver's impatience only amplified her despair, his curt questions about her destination a grating reminder of her uncertain future."Orchid Avenue," she finally whispered, the words tasting like ashes on her tongue. It was a return to a life she'd desperately tried to escape, a grim testament to how far she'd fallen.

The sight that greeted her arrival sent a fresh wave of shame washing over her. Her family, a huddled mass of worn faces and calloused hands, stood by the entrance of the complex, their presence a living, breathing indictment of her betrayal. Despite their clean clothes - a concession she'd insisted upon, clinging to the last vestiges of her pride - they were a stark reminder of the life she'd tried so hard to distance herself from.

Her parents, their faces etched with a mixture of hurt and fury, reached her

first, their words like stones hurled at her already battered heart. "Hannah! You owe us money!" It wasn't a request, but a condemnation. The rest of the family, grandparents, siblings, aunts, and uncles, descended upon her like a pack of

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wolves, their hunger palpable. They tore into her belongings with a ferocity that bordered on animalistic, her carefully curated life scattered on the pavement like so much garbage.

"Stop it!" she cried, her voice cracking under the weight of their

judgment. "Those are mine!" But her protests were lost in the cacophony of accusations and recriminations. The crowd that had gathered, a morbidly fascinated audience to her downfall, only intensified her shame. Their whispers, like buzzing insects, burrowed under her skin, each one a tiny barb poisoning her already wounded soul.

Her family, oblivious to the spectacle they were making, continued their assault. They ransacked her apartment, her carefully chosen furniture now just another piece of their conquest. She became their servant, her days an endless cycle of cooking, cleaning, and enduring their bitter pronouncements. "You've brought shame upon this family," her mother spat, her words a venomous viper coiling around Hannah's heart.

The constant barrage of criticism chipped away at her sanity, each day descent into a deeper circle of despair. Her reflection in the mirror became unrecognizable - a gaunt, hollow-eyed stranger staring back with a mixture of accusation and despair. Sleep offered no escape, her nights haunted by nightmares of Aiden and Ethan, their faces contorted with the same disgust she saw reflected in her family's eyes.

The realization hit her with the force of a physical blow: they were gone. 12:38

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The love, the laughter, the acceptance - all of it a cruel illusion she'd built her life on. The Lake House, once a symbol of hope and promise, now loomed in her mind as a monument to her catastrophic mistakes.

Driven by a desperate hope, she dragged herself to their doorstep, the words of apology and regret catching in her raw throat."Aiden! Ethan! Please!" she cried, her voice hoarse and broken. "I'm sorry! I know I was wrong!" But only the echo of her own despair ans She

didn't know that the security guard, dutifully following protocol, had informed Aiden of her presence. Nor did she hear the coldness in Aiden's voice, the utter lack of compassion that colored his words. "Ignore her," he said, his voice devoid of any trace of the ma And so she knelt, her body wracked with sobs, the weight of her actions

crushing her with the force of a thousand suns. Her tears fell onto the

unforgiving pavement, a silent, bitter testament to the heart she had broken, and the life she had destroyed.

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