The Vanishing Act

Summary

The day my father and his ex-girlfriend made headlines at a lavish gala, everyone mocked my mother. They ridiculed her for abandoning a promising career to marry into wealth, only to remain a nameless consort for thirty years, lacking even the courage to openly confront the "other woman."

My mother, her eyes swollen from weeping, looked at me wearily. "He betrayed me first, so I no longer want him either," she stated, her voice quiet but firm. "Elara, will you come with me?"

Just then, my phone buzzed with a message from Liam, my boyfriend of seven years.