Chapter 4

By evening, my phone buzzed with a text.

I got up and threw on a light coat.

The moment I walked down the front steps, I saw my former fiancé.

Julian was leaning against his Porsche. Seven or eight crushed cigar butts littered the pavement around his shoes. The red cherry of his current cigar glowed between his fingers, illuminating a face that looked completely hollowed out.

Hearing my heels, he looked up.

The second our eyes met, he dropped the cigar, crushed it under his heel, and strode toward me.

His voice was a ragged rasp. "Chloe. I finally found you."

I stopped in my tracks. "What do you want?"

He was shaking. "Why did you abandon me? Why did you leave New York without a single word? Do you have any idea how much agony I've been in looking for you?"

I let out a cold laugh. "I abandoned you?"

"Julian, when that car was barreling toward me, you were the one who let go of my hand."

"Tell me, who abandoned whom?"

Julian's face went rigid.

Looking at him, the past flooded back.

Our families were old money. We grew up together. As teenagers at the same Manhattan prep school, he walked me to class every day. Whenever I was in trouble, he was always the first to step up.

During a Christmas vacation at his family's ski lodge, we made it official. The elders silently green-lit our future marriage.

Back then, everyone in New York's high society said Julian would make the perfect husband.

Until Mia showed up.

He noticed my coldness toward her and pulled me aside. "Mia has had it rough. Don't always target her."

Then, he crossed the line. He took the Cartier bracelet my mother had left me and gave it to Mia.

His excuse? Mia said she was having nightmares and needed something to soothe her anxiety.

We had a massive fight.

Julian's face had darkened. "What do the grudges of the previous generation have to do with her?"

I had screamed at him through my tears. "Then what gives her the right to take my things? That was my mother's! What gave you the right to give it away?!"

Julian hadn't seen the problem. "Mia likes it, and you rarely wear it. It's just sitting in a box wasting away."

He slammed the door and ignored me for three days.

I should have known then. Once favoritism takes root, betrayal is the only logical conclusion.

I shook my head, forcing the pathetic memories away.

Seeing me turn to leave, Julian panicked and grabbed my shoulders. "It wasn't like that, Chloe... I thought Lucas was going to save you! I thought—"

The exact same excuse they had fed me in the hospital room five years ago.

Lucas had said: "I thought your fiancé Julian would save you."

Julian had said: "I thought your brother Lucas would save you."

They both had such perfectly logical reasons.

But the truth was, they both left me to die.

Julian's eyes were bloodshot. "Chloe, I know I messed up..."

"I just felt sorry for Mia back then, but you're the one I love. It's always been you!"

"Love?" I repeated the word softly. It sounded like a joke. "Julian, is your version of love agreeing to delay my emergency surgery for a shattered leg, just to keep Mia from feeling insecure?"

The blood vanished from his face. "How... how do you know about that?"

"I heard you. Outside the ICU. I heard every single word you all said in that hallway."

After the crash, I was in a coma for seven days. When I woke up, the doctors said it was a miracle I was alive, but I had a comminuted fracture in my right leg.

I needed a second surgery immediately, or the damage would be permanent.

My father, Lucas, and Julian took turns guarding my door. I thought, at least in that moment, they truly loved me.

Until late one night.

The painkillers had worn off. I was in too much agony to sleep, and I heard the hushed argument outside my door.

"We need to schedule the surgery immediately." That was Julian.

Lucas argued back: "Wait a little longer. Mia is traumatized. She hasn't stopped shaking. We can't make her feel like we only care about Chloe..."

My father chimed in: "Listen to Lucas."

"Mia's biggest regret in life is that she can't dance ballet. Chloe has already danced for so many years. That should be enough for her."

Julian was silent for a long time before finally saying, "Fine. Chloe can do other things even if she can't dance. But Mia can't take another shock."

My surgery was delayed for two full weeks. I missed the optimal window for recovery, leaving me with permanent nerve damage.

Now, whenever it rains, the pain in my right leg is so blinding I have to rely on painkillers.

And I had to say goodbye to the stage forever.

Julian stumbled backward, as if all the strength had been drained from his body.

I turned away from him. "So don't talk to me about love. Your love is too cheap. I don't want it."

He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around me from behind, his voice breaking into a sob. "Chloe! Give me one more chance... I've been waiting for you all these years. Let's start over, please? Your leg... I'll find the best orthopedic surgeons in the world..."

"Let go."

I violently wrenched myself out of his grip.

Just then, the bright sweep of headlights cut through the dark, and a sleek car pulled smoothly to a stop right beside us.

A black Maybach.

The driver's side window rolled down.

"Darling, it's time to head back to our estate."

The man's voice was low, steady, and carried an unquestionable, commanding authority.

Julian froze in place, staring into the car in absolute disbelief.