No Longer Yours to Break novel Chapter 9

[Today Connie said he’s gonna marry me when we grow up. I didn’t know what that meant, so I asked Mrs. Buxton. She said it means I’ll live with them and Connie forever, and I won’t go home anymore. She asked if I was okay with that. I was so happy. I don’t have a mom at home, and Mrs. Buxton feels like one. I wish I could grow up faster–I wanna stay with Connie forever!]

[Yesterday, Connie jumped in the water to save me. He still hasn’t woken up, and he’s burning up. I’m so scared. Mr. and Mrs. Buxton keep saying it’s not my fault, but if I hadn’t been pushed, Connie wouldn’t be sick.]

[Connie woke up, but I was the last to know. He doesn’t really want to see me. That’s okay. I made him sick. I’ll wait till he’s not mad anymore, then say sorry.]

Connor flipped through more pages, watching her handwriting shift–from messy little kid scrawls to something older, steadier.

Memories crashed back all at once.

Every line cut deeper.

Did he really tell her he’d marry her?

He always thought it was just a dumb kid thing.

But Zoe–she’d never had a real family. Of course she clung to it. Of course she chased him like it meant everything.

Because to her, it did.

The deeper he read, the worse it got.

Still, like he owed it to her, he kept going–hands shaking, breath uneven.

The tone changed. The happiness faded. Pain bled into every line.

“Connie hasn’t talked to me lately. I asked if he’s still mad. I even reminded him I took care of him when he was sick, but he got angrier. He said I should stop stealing what doesn’t belong to me. I don’t get it. I didn’t steal anything. Why was he so mean?”

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Then it hit Connor.

That was right after he woke up from the fever.

He’d thought it was Vicky who stayed by his side those three days. So when Zoe came to visit, he was already bitter.

She said she’d taken care of him–he thought she was lying.

He snapped. Told her to leave. Told her not to come back.

She’d looked so lost.

She probably never saw it coming–the Connor who always had her back suddenly turning ice–cold.

Her eyes were red, glassy with tears she refused to let fall.

Still, she went home blaming herself, wondering what she’d done wrong.

And she kept coming back. Again and again. Hoping to fix it.

All she got was silence. Rejection. Cold words that cut deep.

The later pages got darker–full of doubt.

Zoe had started questioning everything.

Why did Connie, the boy who swore he’d marry her, change just like that?

Some pages were wrinkled. Tear–stained. Like the pain was soaked into the

paper.

Every crease felt like a punch to the gut.

Connor never knew Zoe had hurt this much.

What he used to see as clingy and shameless…

Was really her holding on. Crying herself to sleep. Still hoping.

Everything he believed–that she lied, manipulated, threw her weight around—

None of it was true.

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All she ever did was hide the pain, smile through it, and try to bring back the version of him who once made her feel like she mattered.

***

Connor stumbled out of the bedroom–nearly crashing into a courier.

“Hey, sorry–did Ms. Zoe Hertbert move out? I’ve got a delivery for her.”

Connor said nothing. The guy, realizing he was no help, called the number on the package.

Disconnected.

A robotic voice confirmed it: the line was dead.

That flat tone echoed in Connor’s ears, dragging his stomach down with it.

It hit him like a freight train-

He’d made the biggest mistake of his life.

And he might never get the chance to fix it.

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