Twenty-Six receipts of betrayal Novel novel Chapter 7

When they got home, Nicholas carefully cleaned and bandaged every scrape and bruise on Elara’s body. The guilt was eating him alive.

For the next few days, he didn’t leave the apartment. Stayed glued to her side.

Elara barely reacted to any of it.

་ བོ་ཇོ་ ྃ་

Late one night, after he’d gone to bed, she wheeled herself into his study and found the journal he thought he’d hidden so well.

She opened it.

The entire page was filled with one sentence, written over and over in angry scrawl:

You’re such a piece of shit, Nicholas. You’re such a piece of shit. You’re such a piece of shit.

She closed it and put it back.

The second she left the study, the bedroom door flew open. Nicholas stumbled out–shirt half–buttoned, barefoot, hair a mess.

When he saw she was fine, he exhaled hard. “Elara–Jesus, it’s two in the morning. What are you doing out here?”

Elara looked away. then lied smoothly. “Thirsty. Getting some water.”

Nicholas rushed to the kitchen, poured her a glass of water, and handed it over. His voice was still shaky.

“Just wake me up next time, okay? If something happened to you and I wasn’t there… God, I don’t even want to think about it.”

Elara looked up, her gaze steady and direct.

“Nicholas. Is there something you want to tell me?”

He froze for a second, then shook his head. “No. Why?”

All he had to do was tell her the truth. Right then. That’s all it would’ve taken.

But even now, he didn’t.

She closed her eyes, a faint, bitter smile masking her disappointment.

The next morning, Elara dragged out all their old photo albums. She didn’t even try to be subtle about it.

She cut every single photo into pieces.

Nicholas walked in and just stared at the pile of shredded memories on the floor. “What–why would you do that?”

Elara didn’t bother coming up with a real excuse. Just said they’d gotten water–damaged and warped. No point keeping them. They could take new ones later.

The way she said it–so casual–made Nicholas’s chest tighten. He didn’t know if he should believe her.

The next day, she called a housekeeper and had her box up everything–matching mugs, scarves, shirts, keychains.

Then she threw it all in the dumpster.

12:17

Twenty–Six Receipts of Betrayal: My Silence Was the Countdown to His Eternal Regret

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Chapter 7

When Nicholas noticed, he asked her about it. She told him everything had gotten moldy from the humidity. He seemed to buy it.

A few days after that, she donated every gift he’d ever given her to a local charity. Told him the styles were outdated anyway. Said he could get her something new if he wanted.

Day by day, the apartment emptied out.

Everything that had been Elara’s–clothes, books, photos, trinkets–slowly disappeared.

Nicholas didn’t notice.

On the anniversary of her parents‘ death, Nicholas went with her to the cemetery.

But as he stood there listening to her talk to their graves, something felt… off.

“Mom, Dad… I hope you’re doing okay up there. Don’t worry about me. I think we’ll see each other again soon…”

Nicholas remembered past visits. She used to talk about how much she missed them. How life was going. Normal stuff.

This didn’t sound normal.

He was about to ask her what she meant when a voice interrupted from behind them.

“Nicholas? Elara? Oh wow, small world.”

The moment was gone. Nicholas turned around, confused.

Valentina stood a few feet away, looking pale and unsteady.

She was favoring her left ankle.

Nicholas’s face immediately filled with concern. “Valentina? What are you doing here? What happened?”

“Visiting my grandma’s grave. It’s so slippery from the rain–I twisted my ankle pretty bad.”

Her voice trembled. Nicholas instinctively stepped forward to steady her.

Valentina looked up at him with watery eyes. “Nicholas… could you maybe take me to urgent care?”

Nicholas didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, of course.”

He barely glanced back at Elara.

“Babe, take your time. I’ll be right back.”

Neither of them asked Elara if she was okay with it.

They just left her there–alone in the cemetery,

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Chapter 8

Chapter 8