CHAPTER FORTY FIVE – BREAKING OPEN OLD WOUNDS

"You think it was that easy for me?" Raya shot back, eyes flashing with hurt and defiance. "After the way things ended between us? You made it perfectly clear you wanted no part of the life I envisioned for us." Lance's nostrils flared, the muscle in his jaw twitching. "That's not fair, and you know it," he ground out. "I was willing to compromise, to find some middle ground. But you were the one who couldn't let go of your high society dreams." "Is that really what you think?" Raya's voice cracked, and Kayla saw the glimmer of unshed tears in her eyes. "That I was just some shallow, materialistic socialite hellbent on a life of luxury?" The heated words hung heavily in the air, charged with years of pent-up bitterness and unresolved issues. Kayla felt like a trespasser bearing witness to the unraveling of a relationship that had once burned so brightly, only to be tragically snuffed out by misunderstandings and conflicting desires. Sensing the rapidly escalating tension, she clear