Chapter 1

I was Carter Sinclair's mother and also the person he hated the most.

I had been running the farm alone, and he and I had been strangers for ten years.

Yet he came back, bringing along a whole production crew, to the place he once swore he would never set foot on, to take part in a reality show about farm life.

The director, Cole, kept trying to convince me to let him stay, saying the money was worth it. Carter just stood off to the side, silent and cold as a statue.

I was about to chase him away, just like in my previous life.

Suddenly, a series of words floated before my eyes, words only I could see.

[Oh, this is the iconic moment. Right here, Carter gets his heart broken by his mom all over again, and this time, he finally loses hope.]

[He chose this show just because he knew it was his mom's farm. He just wanted to see her, even if it was only once.]

[Look at his hands. They were meant for the piano, but he's spent the past month secretly working on the farm. Now they're covered in calluses.]

The barrage of comments was like a sharp blade, cutting straight through the heart I'd kept locked away for years.

Back then, I threw Carter and the whole crew out of my house without a second thought.

I called him a two-bit actor, said he'd shamed our ancestors, and even accused him of killing his father.

The spark in his eyes died little by little, and in the end, he just turned around and walked away, not looking back once.

From that day on, he never set foot here again, not even when I got sick and died on this farm.

After I passed, my soul hovered above. I watched him lock himself in his room, clutching that one faded photo of me and sobbing like a kid the whole world had left behind.

So it wasn't that he didn't love me; it was that he'd forgotten how to love at all.

And it wasn't that he didn't hold a grudge; it was that he was drowning in resentment.

Cole begged me, sounding genuinely desperate. "Tessa, he's still your son. At least for the sake of the show, let him stay, okay? The pay is really good.

"And he would even make sure all his payment for this show went to you."

Carter, who'd been silent the whole time, dropped his head, his shoulders sagging.

He looked like someone whose defenses had been torn down, raw and helpless, every hurt laid bare for the world to see.

Back then, I thought he was just trying to rub it in my face.

I figured he was using money just to buy a chance to be near me.

But the livestream comments set me straight.

[Carter's just worried his mom might not have enough to get by. He's so dumb; this is the only way he knows how to show he cares.]

It was like someone had their fist wrapped around my heart, squeezing so tightly that I could barely breathe.

I stared at Carter, my son, both familiar and a stranger after all these years. Ten years apart, and he'd grown into a man, tall and strong, but the stubborn look in his eyes was exactly how I remembered.

My throat felt raw. I swallowed down the chaos inside me, and with everything I had, I forced out three words through clenched teeth.

"Stay," I said.

Cole was stunned, wondering if he'd heard me right.

Carter looked up suddenly, and for the first time, a flicker of shock and disbelief lit up eyes that had long lost their spark.

I didn't look at him. I turned and walked into the house, my voice steely and unyielding. "You can stay, but don't bother me," I said.