Lucy didn't know what was worse—running out of funds and staring down the barrel of a collapsed dream, or the gnawing realization that she might be running out of trust, the very bedrock of her closest relationships.
Her phone wouldn't stop vibrating. It was a digital cacophony of impending doom. Investors she hadn't heard from in months, now suddenly interested in her demise. Journalists, like vultures, were sniffing for startup blood, eager to write the obituary of her ambition. Even her mom, bless her heart, sent a GIF of a kitten clinging precariously to a branch with the caption: "Hang in there!" Thanks, Mom.
But the most deafening silence came from the one person she desperately wanted to hear from. Cole hadn't texted. Not since the fight, not since she'd stormed out, leaving a gaping chasm between them.
The Night Before: A Broken Trust
