Chapter 2

"You knew about my father's sick affair with Harper the whole time. You even helped him cover it up, didn't you?"

Annoyance flickered in Julian's eyes. "At the end of the day, this is your mother's fault. She couldn't even hold onto her own marriage, forcing your father to seek comfort in his adopted daughter."

"Do you have any idea how desperate Harper was? She ran to me in the pouring rain, crying and shaking. She even wanted to swallow sleeping pills. I was just protecting a victim your family pushed to the brink. And then... I couldn't help but fall for her."

He reached out and cupped my face. "Listen to me, you are still the one I love the most. You are my future wife. But I can't just abandon Harper. I promised to protect her."

"The wedding will go on next week as planned. For the sake of our baby, grow up."

He had chased me like a madman for two whole years.

Just months ago at a gala, in front of hundreds of flashing cameras, he publicly declared: "Sloane is the only woman I will ever love in this lifetime."

And now.

He was casually admitting he caught feelings for Harper, condescendingly ordering me to grow up.

I slapped his hands away, bile rising in my throat.

I turned and walked toward the master bedroom—I needed to take my mother's belongings before I left.

Inside, Harper was wearing the wedding dress my mother had spent six grueling months sewing by hand for me.

Her usual pitiful, damsel-in-distress act vanished, leaving nothing but viper-like triumph in her eyes.

"Gorgeous, isn't it? Too bad when your mother caught Richard and me, she was so furious she couldn't even speak. She choked on her own fury until it killed her."

"You're next, sis." Her gaze dropped down to my stomach. "Did you really think that lump of flesh inside you could keep him? When Julian held me last night, he said you were as boring as a dead fish."

"Take it off." I glared at her.

"Why should I?"

"Take it off!"

I lunged and grabbed the neckline.

Harper screamed. Using my momentum, she stumbled backward, retreating right to the edge of the staircase.

Just as I lost my footing, Harper reached back, clamped her hand around my wrist, and violently shoved me.

I tumbled all the way down the steps.

At the top of the stairs, Harper dramatically grabbed her head and wailed, "I'm sorry, sister! Please don't kill me! It's all my fault!"

My fiancé and my father rushed out simultaneously.

They completely ignored me as I lay there, curled into a ball of agony.

"Harper! Are you hurt?" Julian dropped to his knees on the landing and pulled Harper into his arms.

"Sister tried to push me... I'm so scared..." Harper sobbed, gasping for air.

My father turned, pointing a finger down at me. Disgust covered his face. "You are beyond saving! It was bad enough your mother was a hysterical mess, but now you're vicious enough to attempt murder?"

A tearing pain ripped through my lower abdomen. Warm liquid soaked through my clothes.

I was losing my baby. And there stood my father and my fiancé, blaming me for the sake of the murderer.

When I opened my eyes again, the hollow cramping in my stomach was a cruel reminder: the baby was gone.

The hospital room door pushed open. Julian grabbed my hand. "It's okay, Sloane. We'll have more children."

"The doctor said this miscarriage was entirely caused by your emotional breakdown. Sloane, you can't keep acting this crazy."

"Listen, I do still care about you." Seeing my total lack of reaction, his tone softened. "The wedding is still on. Harper will continue living with us. She has severe PTSD right now. As long as you behave, I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

Three years ago, I miscarried from overworking to save his company. He knelt by my hospital bed and swore he'd never let me suffer again. And now?

Tears instantly spilled from my eyes. I slowly pulled my hand away.

"The wedding is canceled. Julian, I'm not marrying you."

His expression instantly fractured. Just then, his phone rang. It was Harper.

He glanced at the screen. "The wedding is not getting canceled. You just stay here and cool off for a few days."

He spun around and left without a second glance.

Not long after, my father walked in.

"Canceling the wedding? What, you think you're some hot commodity right now?"

"Two miscarriages. Who in our circle would dare marry you? If you don't marry him, you'll bring nothing but shame to the Kensington family."

"Get out," I said coldly.

"Face reality, Sloane."

The door slammed shut. The last shred of pretense between father and daughter shattered with it.

Late that night, my phone buzzed. It was Julian's number.

I answered it, only to hear Harper's voice on the other end.

"Don't bother. Julian worked very hard taking care of me tonight. Anyway, it's not like it's your first miscarriage. Stop acting so pitiful and dramatic. It's getting annoying for everyone."

The line went dead.

A violent wave of nausea roiled in my stomach. I blindly ripped the IV needle from the back of my hand, pushed open the door, and bolted for the restroom.

I gripped the sink, dry-heaving.

Suddenly, two nurses walked in. Instinctively, I backed into a stall.

Over the sound of running water, their conversation drifted in with horrifying clarity.

"That patient with the severe hemorrhage is so pitiful. When they first did the ultrasound, the fetal heartbeat was perfectly strong..."

"It was Mr. Vance. Her fiancé signed the consent form for the abortion himself."

"Why? That was his own flesh and blood."

"There was a young girl with him. She grabbed his hand and cried, swearing that if he had another woman's baby, she'd jump off a building and kill herself. And you know what? He turned around and demanded an immediate surgical abortion..."

Those words were like an ice pick rammed straight into my windpipe, stripping away every instinct I had left to breathe.