Flashback — Elena Avalor
I didn't know how to explain it then.
I just knew I was beginning to disappear.
Logan and I had been together for six months when he asked me to move in.
His apartment was large — too large for someone like me.
The kitchen had marble countertops and hidden cabinets.
I felt like a guest every time I made tea.
He kissed my forehead and said things like, "You belong here."
But every time Madeline walked in, I could feel my body tighten like I was back in secondary school, waiting for punishment I didn't understand.
The first time she came by unannounced, I was wearing a simple T-shirt and joggers — barefoot, hair up, no makeup.
She looked at me like I had spilled something on her furniture.
"Oh," she said, smiling tightly. "No maid today?"
I blinked. "Sorry?"
She placed her purse gently on the counter. "I assumed Logan hired someone to help… considering the workload of a full-time girlfriend."
I said nothing.
Not because I was weak — but because I knew that if I spoke, I would scream.
Logan came in minutes later, distracted by phone calls and business updates.
Madeline poured him wine and rubbed his shoulder like a proud queen tending to her knight.
I watched them.
And for the first time…
I felt like the third wheel in my own relationship.
That night, I asked him, "Do you think your mother likes me?"
He laughed. "She's just intense. But she'll come around."
"She offered my parents money," I whispered.
He froze. "What?"
"She humiliated them. Said I'd ruin your name. Called my father a charity case."
He looked at me then — really looked — for a full five seconds.
And then he sighed.
"Elena… just give it time. My mother… She's difficult."
Difficult.
Like she had a cold.
Like calling my father a beggar was the flu and it would pass.
I nodded. "Okay."
But that night, I cried quietly into my pillow.
And Logan didn't notice.
Three weeks later
We went to a formal charity event hosted by the Hunters.
I wore a red dress Logan had gifted me. It was beautiful — off-shoulder, satin, flowing.
He said it made me look like royalty.
But when we arrived, Madeline barely looked at me.
Instead, she complimented every other woman in the room — Sierra Blake included.
Yes, that Sierra. The same woman she would later give to Logan like a housewarming gift.
Back then, Sierra was "the perfect daughter of the Blake family" — polished, soft, wealthy.
She smiled at me that night like she already knew something I didn't.
During the dinner speech, Madeline introduced Logan to the crowd and thanked him for "continuing the family's legacy."
Then she added, loud enough for the room to hear:
"Of course, we're still waiting for him to find someone truly worthy to build it with."
The applause was awkward.
My throat tightened.
I looked at Logan.
He looked… embarrassed. But not angry. Not defensive. Not protective.
He didn't say a word.
After dinner, I excused myself and walked out into the cold air.
I leaned against the railing, blinking back tears. My heart didn't hurt — it ached.
I was tired.
Tired of fighting for space.
Tired of smiling through bruises no one could see.
Someone joined me.
I turned, expecting Logan.
But it was his younger cousin — Alex. He'd been kind to me before. He wasn't like the rest of them.
"She does this to every woman Logan dates," he said quietly. "But you… you held on longer than most."
"I love him," I said.
He nodded. "But love doesn't speak for you when everyone else is trying to silence you."
That night, I went home with Logan.
But something had changed inside me.
I was still Elena Avalor.
But I was no longer soft.
Present Day — Elena Stone
Dominic stood beside me in the car as we drove past CrossBridge's tower downtown.
He didn't speak. He didn't need to.
I stared at the building — glass, steel, and legacy.
The place that once chewed me up and spit me out.
"You okay?" he finally asked.
I nodded.
But deep down, I could still hear that charity night —
her voice. Her words. Her empire.
And I remembered the way Logan just stood there.
"We're still waiting for someone truly worthy…"
Not anymore.
I've become the woman she thought I could never be.
And when she sees me again…
She'll wish she had buried me when she had the chance.