Page 34 of Wasted Grace

This can’t bereal.

She’s... dead.

I buried her in every goddamn corner of my mind.

I held her ghost andbeggedit to stay. I’ve kissed shadows, whispered to air, nearly died chasing her memory.

And now here she is.

Smirking at me like I’m the one who crawled out of hell.

This isn’t real.

I’m not standing in a hallway. I’m not on the job. I’m back in my own head—

Caught in one of those spirals my therapist keeps warning me about.

The ones where I confuse grief with resurrection.

But I can’tbreathe.

Because if this is my mind again—

Then why the fuck is she not loving me back?

Because then she’s... real, isn’t she?

NINE

Aadya

This doesn’t seem like the Advik I knew.

When Vir nodded behind me, I expected someone more composed. Sharp. Put-together.

After all, he was supposed to be a senior partner at GenVault. The one man holding accounts that could bring this entire operation crumbling down.

But instead, he looks... hollow.

Gaunt.

I force my smirk to hold steady, but it’s a hard battle.

My head tilts slightly—calculating.Assessing.

Come on, Advik. Show some sign of life. Unlock your damn body and move.

But he doesn’t. He just stands there, face pale, skin graying like he’s seen a ghost. Which he has, I guess.

His eyes are pinned to the scar on my cheek—never quite meeting mine. Understandable, I guess. It’s not every day your dead ex-girlfriend resurfaces at your workplace like a hallucination.

Still, I’m prepared. I won’t let any of it get under my skin.

So I step forward, deliberate and controlled. I pluck his office ID straight from his frozen fingers, careful not to touch him.

A glance at it confirms what I already know:Advik Sharma, Senior Partner.

I hand it back to his trembling hand, impassive.