She Is Tired

"Nora! You're awake!" Maya sprang to her feet the instant she saw Nora’s eyelids flutter open. Hot tears streamed down Maya's cheeks as she hovered over the sterile hospital bed. Her face was a messy portrait of relief and fierce anger.

Maya grabbed Nora's pale hand and squeezed it tight. "If the hospital director hadn't agreed to bypass protocol for the operation last night, you would have died." Maya's voice shook, echoing sharply in the quiet room. "You would have died alone because of his absence. Listen to me, Nora. You do not owe Dante a single thing anymore. Do you hear me?"

*Owe.*

Nora tried to swallow. Her throat felt like crushed glass. The word slipped past her chapped lips as a painful, hoarse mumble. She stared blankly at the harsh white hospital ceiling, letting the heavy scent of antiseptic ground her in reality. When her grandfather, Edward Carlisle, had forced Dante to marry her, she treated the mandate like a life debt. She always felt like a heavy burden who owed Dante her unending compliance for taking her on. But now, lying here hollowed out and surviving by a mere thread, a profound clarity washed over her. She realized she owed him nothing.

Her mind drifted back, sinking into the tragic shadows of her past. She was the legitimate eldest daughter of the prestigious Carlisle family. Yet, she had grown up far from their sprawling wealth. Her father, Lukas, had defied Edward's strict orders and eloped with a dancer. They built a simple, quiet life far away from the family's suffocating grip. That fragile happiness shattered when Nora turned fifteen. A brutal car crash took both her parents right before her eyes. Traumatized and orphaned, she was unceremoniously brought back to the cold, unwelcoming Carlisle estate.

By the time she arrived, Edward had already spent a decade carefully grooming his adopted heir. Dante was eighteen then, confident and established in a world she didn't understand. Nora remembered those terrifying early days in that massive mansion. She had huddled in a dark corner, shivering and lost. That was when Dante found her. He crouched down, meeting her gaze with gentle eyes, and made a solemn vow. He promised he would protect her from then on.

Those eyes sealed her fate. She fell irrevocably in love with him at first sight. She dedicated ten years of her youth to him, trading her voice and her agency for his presence. When Edward passed away three years ago, Dante needed to secure his inheritance of the Carlisle Corporation. The legal maneuver required a direct tie to the legitimate Carlisle bloodline. She silently agreed to a secret marriage purely so he could take control.

To hide his vulnerable adopted status from the public and the ruthless board of directors, Dante demanded they pretend to be strangers in public. He wanted no one to know his wife was the true Carlisle heir. In the shadows of their home, however, he played the role of an attentive husband. He manipulated her with soft promises, assuring her he would give her everything as long as she was a good girl. He promised no one could ever threaten her status.

Staring at the ceiling now, the truth was glaring. The supposed glory hidden in the dark was worthless. She had lost her own identity in a fabricated dream she had stubbornly refused to wake from.

Maya wasn't done. She pushed on aggressively, determined to smother any lingering, pathetic ounce of hope in Nora's heart.

"You almost died last night, Nora! And where was he?" Maya's voice cracked, thick with fury. "He was publicly parading around with that celebrity! He splurges fortunes on Chloe but never cares for your basic needs. Did you see the necklace Chloe wore at the recent film festival?"

With trembling fingers, Maya unlocked her phone and pulled up a high-resolution paparazzi photo. She shoved the glowing screen into Nora's line of sight.

Nora forced her heavy eyes to focus. As she registered the image, an invisible, jagged knife plunged directly into her shattered heart.

Resting gracefully around Chloe's neck was an exquisite emerald necklace. It wasn't just any piece of jewelry. It was the priceless token of love her father had given to her mother. After her parents' tragic deaths, Nora dutifully returned it to Edward. Her grandfather had reserved it as a sacred heirloom for Dante's future wife. Edward assumed it would eventually grace his granddaughter's neck.

Instead of placing it on Nora's neck, Dante had callously given her family's most precious sentimental heirloom to a random celebrity to flaunt on the red carpet.

Heavy tears brimmed quietly in Nora's tired eyes, slipping down her pale temples into her messy hair. She realized with finality that after three years of submissive marriage, she still couldn't capture even a fraction of his heart. She gave him her bloodline, her youth, and her mother’s legacy, and he gave it all to someone else.

Exhausted to her very soul, Nora turned her head slightly. "May," she whispered, her voice barely a breath. "I'm so tired."

Meanwhile, back at the Pine House.

The early morning sun slanted through the floor-to-ceiling windows as Dante punched in the passcode to the front door. He returned home after spending the night catering to Chloe, managing the media fallout, and finally coaxing her to sleep in her apartment.

Stepping confidently inside the foyer, he loosened his tie. "Nor?" he called out, expecting her usual quiet greeting.

Silence answered him.

His casual demeanor shattered the moment he walked further into the living space. He was greeted by a chaotic, horrifying mess. A knocked-over side table, scattered objects, and worst of all, a chilling patch of dark blood pooling on the hardwood floor.

Dante's heart tightened, a sudden panic gripping his chest.

"Nora!"

He sprinted down the hall and frantically threw open the bedroom door. He called out her name again, but she was nowhere to be found. The bed was perfectly made. The bathroom was dark.

Breathing heavily, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his dead phone. He rushed to the bedside outlet, jammed the cord into the port, and waited agonizing seconds for the screen to light up.

The moment it powered on, he was bombarded by a barrage of notifications. Dozens, then hundreds of missed calls and frantic text messages lit up the display. They were all from Maya and Nora.

A sudden, piercing, and terrifying coldness engulfed his being as he stared at the glaring red numbers on the screen.