Too Late to Understand

Twenty-two years of shared history, a lifetime of promises, and my mother’s handmade wedding dress—all shredded in a single night. I am Emily Harper, and I was supposed to be a bride. Instead, I’ve become a ghost in my own life, watching my childhood sweetheart, Lucas, hand my academic research and my dignity to the half-sister who crawled out of the shadows to dismantle my world. They think they’ve broken me by locking me out of my home and stripping me of my future, but they’ve forgotten one thing: a scientist knows how to play the long game. As I prepare to vanish across the globe, I’m leaving behind one final, devastating gift for their wedding day. They wanted to steal my life; I’m going to make sure they burn in the wreckage of their own.