Jake stood at the altar, looking handsome in navy blue. When he saw Lena, his smile didn’t falter. He had that perfect poker face. But his pinky finger tapped twice against his thigh. Their signal. Tonight.
Lena watched Jake slip the ring onto Mia’s finger. Mia beamed. And in that moment, Lena understood the difference between her and her sister. Mia believed in love. Lena believed in being wanted.
Jake smiled, kissed her cheek like a brother would, and walked away.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured, close enough that his cologne—the same one he wore to their secret hotel meet-ups—wrapped around her.
Lena didn’t go to Portland. She went home, packed a bag, and left her phone on the kitchen table—unlocked, open to her forum DMs. The last message was a draft she’d written to Mia but never sent. She hit send now.
Lena thought of the forum. Of LostAndFound . Of the 147 other strangers who had called her a monster, a coward, and—a few of them—a survivor of something she hadn’t named yet.
It started with a shared Netflix password and ended with a shattered family portrait.
