Chapter 3

The day I arrived in Yundara, news about Matthew running eight red lights and getting his license revoked was all over the trending feeds.

My mother, Casey, called and scolded me for running away from the wedding. "How could you do this? Matthew's been your childhood sweetheart, and you even saved his life! How could you walk away like that?"

I swallowed the bitterness in my chest and asked, "Does that whole life-saving thing still mean anything to me?"

My mother paused for a moment.

Then she snapped, "What's the big deal if Sophie got all the credit? Why are you still so hung up on it?"

After the SAT, Matthew and I traveled together, but we met Sophie halfway through our trip.

Back then, Matthew only had eyes for me. Sophie made a mistake when driving, and we ended up in a nasty wreck.

Matthew threw himself in front of me, taking the hit and getting wedged tight between the seats. He blacked out instantly. Sophie, meanwhile, dodged at the last moment and walked away almost unscathed.

I managed to drag Matthew out and get him to safety, but then I collapsed on the spot.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was lying in a hospital bed.

Matthew told me that maybe we were prejudiced against Sophie.

"She gave everything she had to get us to safety, and even went so far as to slash her wrist and feed us her own blood to keep us alive. Natalie, trust me, there's no way she could be a bad person," he said.

I saw gentleness and worry in his eyes, glanced at the scar on my own wrist, and remembered the awful sting from that cut. I wanted to protest, but before I could say a word, my parents burst in and cut me off.

Just like that, all the gratitude and credit for saving our lives landed on Sophie's shoulders.

And from that day, Matthew's feelings toward Sophie began to shift in ways I couldn't ignore.

Maybe everything back then really did have something to do with it, but no one knew how we got to where we were now.

I hung up, glanced at the flood of texts that kept popping up from Matthew, let out a long sigh, broke my SIM card in half, and threw it straight into the trash.

Life in Yundara wasn't what I'd pictured, but I figured I could get used to living without Matthew.

That was until one day, when I was heading home, I saw Matthew standing at my door.

He seemed to have lost a lot of weight, and his whole person was in a mess. When he saw me, his eyes went teary.

He said, "Natalie.

"Look, I changed the dress back."

He carefully held out the dress Sophie wore, trying to pass it to me, but I turned away, dodging him without a word.

"Matthew, you and I both know this isn't about the dress," I said.

I met his gaze. His eyes brimmed with tears as he said, "But we've been together for so many years. Are you really going to leave me? Natalie, we walked all the way from that little town to Parvoria together."

I sighed and cut him off. "But Matthew, what did you do?"

The heavy silence between us was finally cut through by the shrill ring of his phone. He declined the call, but it rang again. I glanced at the screen—it was Sophie.

"Go on, pick up," I said.

Sophie's voice chimed in from the other end. "Matthew, I think maybe. Natalie is pregnant.

"I found some prolactin injections at home. The doctor said only women who are breastfeeding use those. Maybe...

"I'm suffering from milk discharge, so I definitely wouldn't need something like that. It has to be Natalie. Did she break up with you over this?"

Silence filled the room.

Matthew stared at me, his gaze lingering on my stomach.

He finally asked, "Whose baby is it?"

I scoffed, "After eighteen years, is trusting me really that impossible for you, Matthew?"

Matthew shot back, "Then why did you run away from the wedding?

"And what about that bastard? Where is he now?"

I met his bloodshot eyes, feeling a prickle of fear as I instinctively looked for a way out. But that only irritated Matthew. He clamped onto my hand tightly and asked, "Where do you think you're going? Off to see that man?"

I pressed the alarm hidden in my bag. The shrill siren finally forced him to let go.

I collapsed to the floor, but this was far from over.

At the police station, I stared at Sophie. "You said I was taking prolactin injections. So where's your proof?"

My assistant handed me the fresh medical report, and I threw it down in front of Matthew and Sophie. It spelled it out in black and white—no prolactin in my body, and not a single sign of pregnancy.

My lawyer chimed in, voice cold as ice. "Ms. Sophie Coleman, if you can't produce evidence, we'll have no problem suing you for slander."

Sophie's face turned bone-white. She turned to Matthew. "Matthew, please, help me."

I let out a cold laugh. "Sorry, but Matthew can't save you this time."

The procedure was completed soon. Even with the Coleman family trying every trick in the book, Sophie still ended up behind bars for fifteen days.

Sure, it was just a slap on the wrist, but it finally let me breathe a little easier.

After we stepped out of the police station, Matthew was still following me.

By the time we were nearly at my house, my patience was gone. I told him to get out of the car to talk.

"Natalie, I know you're angry at me, but it was just an accident. Why can't you just let it go?" he begged.

Then, he suddenly got down on one knee and pulled a ring box from his pocket.

He said, "This is the finest diamond that South Afrelia has produced this year.

"I call this ring our 'New Beginning.' Let's start over, Natalie."

I looked at him and asked softly, "Can the sign of our new beginning be Sophie landing in jail?"

The next second, a slap landed hard across my face.

My mother glared at me. "You really want Sophie to end up in jail? How could you be so heartless?"

I yanked her hand off me and sent her crashing to the floor.

Maybe it was just too much tonight, or maybe I finally realized I was totally alone. I couldn't take it anymore. I shouted at the top of my lungs, "If I were heartless, you would've been in jail a long time ago!

"You treat your real daughter like a tool, while you treat the fake one like some treasure.

"And you, Matthew, believe whatever an outsider says. Oh, I forgot you've already slept with her, so she's not just some outsider to you anymore, is she?"

Matthew threw himself between me and my mother, voice edged with fury as he shouted, "Mrs. Coleman, how could you hit Natalie?"

My mother fired right back, "Did you forget already? It was Sophie who saved your life. And now Natalie got my Sophie tossed in jail, and you're actually defending her?

"She just had a miscarriage, and now she's discharging milk. What if it's cancer?"

Matthew froze where he stood. I knew guilt was creeping back into his mind, as usual.

I let out a deep sigh, gripping my phone. "There's really no point in dragging this on anymore.

"Matthew, you know who actually saved your life that year? It was me."