With that, everyone who had come out of the room to see what the commotion was about left and the door slammed shut behind the last of them,Tricia stood rooted to the spot, her mind blank, her body numb. This was the last thing she had expected.
She had never known this kind of silence. It wasn't just the absence of sound—it was the hollow echo of abandonment. One by one, those she had laughed with, shared secrets with, and defended in times of conflict had walked away, leaving her alone in a corridor that suddenly felt too cold and too quiet.
Her pride stung more than her throbbing hand. Never—never—had she lost like this. Never had she been so thoroughly humiliated. She had never lost to anyone. She had never been treated so unjustly.
But the most painful part wasn't the injury or the humiliation—it was the fact that the very people who had been her friends for years had turned their backs on her for a woman they had just met.
