Chapter 31: Walk of Shame
TERESA’S P.O.V.
I ran out of Lucian’s room, barely seeing through the tears streaming down my face. Each step felt like I was running against a wall, the pain in my chest tightening with each passing second. I could still feel his words echoing, his voice cold and distant like I was nothing. I’d been hurt before, but this... this was so much worse. The kind of hurt that roots itself inside you and won’t let go.
The stairs blurred beneath me, and suddenly, I collided with someone. Alex. I stumbled back, landing on the cold marble floor, and for a moment, we both just stared. I thought I caught his nose twitching slightly, like he could somehow smell what had happened, and his eyes widened, filling with a strange mixture of shock and confusion. My heart twisted tighter, the humiliation adding to my ache.
"S-sorry," I muttered, scrambling to my feet, desperate to escape before my sobs turned into an outright breakdown. Alex’s voice followed me, concerned but cautious.
"Teresa, wait... Are you alright? What happened?"
But I couldn’t bear to answer, couldn’t bear to show how much this had torn me apart. I mumbled a thank you and bolted, rushing toward the other wing of the house, hoping that no one else would see me. This wasn’t me; I wasn’t the girl who got tangled up in men like Lucian. Lucian, with his perfect smile, his smirking, sarcastic charm, his intense gaze that seemed to pull every thought out of my head. I thought I had gotten to him. I thought he’d seen something in me. But now... now, I just felt foolish.
When I stumbled into my room, my whole body felt like it was vibrating, each breath ragged as if I’d run a mile just to get away. I grabbed my bag, but my hands wouldn’t stop trembling, making it almost impossible to unzip the damn thing. The more I tried to steady them, the shakier they became, as if my body itself was protesting, clinging to the fragments of my shattered heart.
I started throwing things into the bag without thought, just the essentials, only the pieces of myself I’d brought here before everything went wrong. All the beautiful things he’d given me—the delicate jewelry, the dresses, the notes with his words that once made me feel wanted, special, like I was finally worth something—all of it lay strewn around the room, as discarded as I now felt. Leaving it all behind felt like a silent scream as if I was finally breaking free of the illusion he’d spun around me. But it hurt, god, it hurt.
I took a long, painful look around the room, and memories flooded me. I remembered the first day here, that sense of excitement, the warmth that had filled me when he’d first reached for my hand. It had felt magical like I’d stumbled into some fairy tale, a place where I could be the princess in his kingdom. I had felt so certain, so safe. But now... now I was nothing. Less than nothing. I felt used, hollowed out, tossed aside like yesterday’s trash. The room that had once felt like a palace now felt like a prison I was finally breaking free of, but at a cost, I hadn’t been ready to pay.
With my small, meager bag clutched to my chest, I took a deep, shaky breath. Each step down the hall felt heavier than the last, but I forced myself forward. When I reached the front doors, my heart almost stopped. There they were, my two assigned bodyguards, their eyes narrowing the moment they saw me. Confusion flickered across their faces, but it was their noses that caught my attention. Just like Alex’s, they flared slightly, taking in some scent I didn’t even know I was carrying.
I froze, feeling the blood drain from my face. What were they smelling? Did they know? Could they smell the remnants of my broken heart? Did they know that last night, I had given him everything, my trust, my vulnerability, my love—and he had shattered it, tossed it aside without care? My stomach churned, and I could barely swallow the bitterness rising in my throat.
They exchanged a look that made me feel naked, and exposed. My cheeks burned, my head spun, and all I wanted was to escape, to vanish into thin air and leave this humiliation behind. But there was nowhere to go, no place that could erase the mark he’d left on me, the pain I now carried.