🕯️ Chapter 7: Flashback of Yesterday
Before the blindness.
Before the betrayal.
Before the girl named Erica Salcedo disappeared into the dark—45Please respect copyright.PENANA7xNZkvxOHI
she was light.
She was laughter in the halls of a design firm. She was charity events, travel vlogs, quiet love letters, and handwritten dreams. She trusted too easily. Believed in the good too quickly.
And her biggest mistake?
She trusted Lia. Her best friend since high school. The one who knew her passwords, her secrets, her heart.
But while Erica was away on a work trip to Singapore, Lia was busy selling off Erica’s furniture… bags… jewelry. Her personal laptop. Even Erica’s custom piano.
All in secret.
No permission.
No remorse.
And worse?
David Guerrero. Erica’s suitor. The man who said he loved her. Who promised forever.
He wasn’t just watching it happen.
He was funding it.
Lia and David.45Please respect copyright.PENANAukHcM4fLlK
The two people she loved the most.
He said, “You won’t need all that, Erica. You’re too busy. Lia’s helping you start over.”45Please respect copyright.PENANAEDW6NnL2t4
She said, “It’s just stuff, ‘Ca. I’m protecting you.”
Erica didn’t believe it at first. But the receipts were real. The bank withdrawals. The fake signatures. The lie after lie.
And when she confronted them…
They gaslit her.
Accused her of overreacting, of forgetting, of being unstable.
Erica’s hands trembled. Her chest grew tight. Her body shut down.
She couldn’t breathe.
The world spun.
And then…
Darkness.
Her eyes stopped seeing.45Please respect copyright.PENANA8JVMjKp9oc
And no doctor could find anything wrong.
Because it wasn’t her eyes that were broken.
It was her trust.
It was her faith in people.
And that kind of pain doesn’t bleed.45Please respect copyright.PENANAPJGm2VPmqT
It blinds.