Chapter 2

The next few days were a blur of quiet, determined activity.

Stella moved like a ghost in her own life, the life she was meticulously dismantling.

She called the wedding planner, a woman whose effusive greetings turned to stunned silence.

"The wedding is off, Mrs. Albright. Please inform all relevant parties."

"But Miss Rossi! The preparations! The deposits!"

"Consider them forfeit," Stella said, her voice flat. She felt nothing. No regret, only a grim satisfaction.

She emailed her parents, a brief, factual message. The engagement to Ethan Cole is terminated. I am pursuing a long-term research opportunity. Further details are not available at this time.

She knew the fallout would be immense. The Rossi family, "old money" art patrons, linked to the Coles, "new money" tech giants. It was a merger of dynasties as much as a marriage.

Her mother would be disappointed, perhaps heartbroken. Her father, pragmatic, would worry about the social and financial repercussions.

But Stella couldn't care. Not anymore. Her first life had taught her the price of caring too much for the wrong people.

There was one thing she needed to do before she disappeared.

Her mother, a renowned sculptor before her illness and death, had created a final piece: "A Mother's Embrace." A tender, abstract form suggesting a protective hold. It was deeply sentimental, a tangible piece of the mother she missed, the mother who had believed in Stella's scientific dreams long before Ethan Cole had ever entered their lives.

The sculpture was being auctioned at the annual Children's Hospital Charity Gala, an event her family had supported for generations. Stella had set aside a considerable sum from her personal trust – money her mother had left her, untouched by Rossi family control or Cole expectations – specifically to acquire it.

It was her last link to a past she was leaving, but a piece of it she intended to carry into her new future.

The night of the gala arrived. Stella dressed simply, a dark, elegant gown that spoke of quiet confidence, not bridal anticipation.

She saw them across the crowded ballroom almost immediately.

Ethan Cole, devastatingly handsome in his custom tuxedo, his arm possessively around Chloe Vance.

Chloe, barely out of her teens, looked ethereal in a pale blue dress, her expression one of wide-eyed innocence. She clung to Ethan, her head sometimes resting on his shoulder, a picture of fragile dependence.

Ethan spotted Stella. His eyes narrowed. He said something to Chloe, then strode towards Stella, a thundercloud on his perfect face.

"Stella," he bit out, his voice low and furious. "What is the meaning of this? Cancelling the wedding via a planner? Humiliating both our families? Is this your idea of getting my attention?"

Stella met his gaze coolly. "I told you, Ethan. It' s over. There' s nothing to discuss."

"Nothing to discuss?" He almost laughed. "You think you can just walk away from this? From me? From our families' commitments? You want more, is that it? A bigger settlement? A public display of groveling?"

His arrogance was breathtaking. He truly believed she was incapable of leaving him, that every action was a ploy.

"I want nothing from you, Ethan," Stella said, her voice even. "Except to be left alone."

Just then, Chloe drifted over, her eyes wide and seemingly concerned. "Uncle E? Is everything alright? Stella, you look... upset."

She called him "Uncle E." The diminutive that emphasized a familial, non-threatening bond, masking the truth Stella now knew.

Ethan' s expression softened instantly as he looked at Chloe. "It' s nothing, sweetheart. Stella is just being... dramatic." He turned back to Stella, his eyes hard. "We will talk about this later."

"There will be no later," Stella said, turning away from him and heading towards the auction display.

"A Mother's Embrace" stood on a velvet pedestal, illuminated by a soft spotlight. It was even more beautiful than she remembered.

The auction began. Stella waited, her heart surprisingly calm.

When "A Mother's Embrace" was announced, she raised her paddle.

The bidding started low, then climbed. Stella matched each bid, her focus absolute.

Then, a new voice joined the fray.

"One hundred thousand," Ethan Cole' s voice rang out, clear and challenging.

Stella turned. He was looking directly at her, a smirk playing on his lips. Chloe was beside him, her hand on his arm, whispering something in his ear.

Stella raised her bid.

Ethan countered immediately.

It became a duel. The room quieted, sensing the undercurrent of personal animosity.

Stella bid again, pushing her limit. This was her mother' s legacy.

"Two hundred thousand," Ethan declared, his voice louder now, almost a taunt.

Chloe suddenly gasped, a delicate hand flying to her mouth. "Oh, Uncle E," she whispered, loud enough for those nearby to hear, tears welling in her eyes. "It' s... it' s so beautiful. It reminds me of my own mother. The one I barely knew."

Her performance was flawless. The picture of sudden, overwhelming emotion.

Ethan looked down at Chloe, his expression melting into concern and tenderness. He squeezed her hand.

"Don't worry, Chloe-bug," he murmured, loud enough for Stella to hear. "It will be yours."

He looked back at Stella, his eyes now filled with a cold triumph. He was doing this for Chloe. To appease Chloe.

Stella felt a fresh wave of pain, sharp and deep. He was using her mother' s memory, her mother' s art, as a trinket to please his mistress.

The auctioneer looked from Ethan to Stella. "Two hundred thousand going once... going twice..."

Stella wanted to scream. She wanted to tell them all what he was, what Chloe was. But what was the point? They wouldn' t believe her. They saw Stella Rossi, the spurned fiancée, acting out.

She lowered her paddle.

"Sold! To Mr. Ethan Cole for two hundred thousand dollars!"

A polite smattering of applause. Ethan beamed, accepting congratulations, Chloe clinging to his arm, dabbing at her eyes with a lace handkerchief.

Publicly humiliated. Again.

Later, at a private reception for major donors, Stella saw them. Chloe was holding "A Mother's Embrace," cradling it awkwardly. Ethan was by her side, beaming.

As Stella watched, a cold dread filling her, Chloe seemed to stumble.

The sculpture slipped from her grasp.

It hit the marble floor with a sickening crack.

It shattered. Not into large pieces, but into a dozen jagged fragments.

"A Mother's Embrace" was destroyed.

Chloe burst into loud, theatrical sobs. "Oh, no! Oh, I' m so clumsy! It' s ruined! I' m so sorry!"

Ethan immediately wrapped his arms around Chloe, murmuring comforting words. He glared over Chloe' s shoulder at Stella, his eyes accusing. As if Stella' s mere presence, her "attitude," had somehow caused Chloe' s distress and the destruction of the sculpture.

Stella stared at the broken pieces of her mother' s legacy, her heart a cold, heavy stone in her chest.

The loss was absolute. Ethan' s blatant favoritism, his cruelty, was a knife twisting in an old wound.

This was the man she had loved. This was the man who had called their life a "transaction."

She turned and walked away, the sound of Chloe' s sobs and Ethan' s comforting murmurs fading behind her.