Chapter 3

I bit my lip until I tasted iron, swallowing back the whimper clawing at my throat.

My mother, driven to her death. My baby, aborted.

They had dismantled my entire life with their bare hands.

I came back to demand answers. To take my mother's last belongings and leave.

But as I pushed open the bedroom door, I froze.

There, on my marital bed, two bodies were violently entangled.

Harper's legs were locked tight around the man's waist. And Julian, my Julian, was pinning her down.

Harper noticed me by the door. She let out a piercing shriek, snatching the blanket and shrinking against the headboard.

"Sloane, let me explain! It's not what it looks like..."

Julian rolled off the bed.

There was no panic of a man caught cheating. His first instinct was to shield Harper behind him.

"Don't you know how to knock?" he snapped, his brow furrowing with deep irritation. "Have you lost all sense of basic decency, Sloane?"

I shoved Julian aside, grabbed a fistful of Harper's hair, and dragged her out from under the covers.

"Give me my baby back!"

Harper let out a harrowing wail, letting her body go entirely limp on the hardwood floor.

"I'm so sorry, Sloane... Hit me if it makes you feel better..."

"That's enough!" Julian grabbed the back of my collar.

With one vicious heave, he threw me aside. My back slammed into the doorframe, the sharp wooden edge biting into my flesh.

Julian didn't even glance at me.

He pulled Harper into his arms, glaring at me with ice in his eyes.

"You're having another manic episode, Sloane. Throwing a fit over nothing. Get on your knees and apologize to Harper. Now."

"I'm manic? You murdered my baby, and you want me to apologize?"

"It's all my fault. She's just in so much pain," Harper sobbed into Julian's chest. "Sloane, actually... the day Mom passed away, she walked in on Richard and me."

A violent shudder ripped through me.

She kept going. "She was furious, but Richard told her he never loved her. It's all my fault."

"When Mom died, she foamed at the mouth so much. Her body was thrashing so hard she clawed through the bedsheets... It must have been so painful."

In that split second, the image of my mother's agonizing death flashed behind my eyes.

"I'll kill you!"

I lunged at Harper, my fingers locking like a vice around her throat.

Harper's face turned purple, her eyes rolling back.

"Let her go!" My father, Richard, stormed into the room.

Seeing Harper choking, he rushed forward. Together, he and Julian pried my fingers back, breaking my grip before pinning me flat against the floor.

"You're just as hysterical as your psycho mother!" Richard drove his knee into my spine, his voice dripping with absolute disgust.

Breathing heavily, Julian delivered the final blow: "Someone like you never deserved to be a mother."

The cramping from my induced labor and the trauma to my back began to numb me.

I slowly lifted my head, staring at them.

"You better kill me today. Because if you don't, I swear to God I'll make Harper pay for my mother and my baby with her life."

Right then—

"I deserve to die! If Sloane won't forgive me, I'll pay with my life!"

Harper suddenly screamed. She tore herself away and sprinted barefoot straight toward the adjoining open-air terrace.

"Harper!"

Without a second thought, the two men abandoned me and bolted after her.

I pushed myself off the floor and walked out onto the terrace.

Harper had already climbed onto the edge of the railing.

"Don't do anything stupid! Take my hand!" Julian reached out in sheer terror, too afraid to step closer.

Richard spun around, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and dragged me violently toward Harper.

"Go calm her down!" he roared, his eyes bloodshot.

I looked at him, feeling absolutely cold. "Let her jump."

"You're beyond saving."

Jaw tight, Richard pulled out an antique music box. Inside it was the blood-stained letter my mother left behind.

It was the only reason I had returned today.

Richard dangled the music box over the abyss.

"Get on your knees!" he death-glared at me. "Say you forgive her, or I let go!"

The strength instantly vanished from my legs.

"That's all I have left of her..."

"Please don't drop it."

The second my knees hit the pavement, Harper's gaze shifted into pure mockery.

Leaning dangerously outward, she let out a fake gasp. "I'm slipping—!"

"Harper!"

Their hearts stopping, Julian and Richard lunged at the railing simultaneously.

In the chaos, Richard's arm jerked, knocking the music box right out of his hand.

"No—!"

I dove forward, reaching out.

I grabbed nothing but empty, howling wind.

"It's okay, you're safe."

The two men were tightly gripping Harper, who was slumped weakly in their arms.

Richard snapped his head toward me, roaring, "Look what you did! If you hadn't forced her and distracted us, the box wouldn't have fallen!"

Julian swept Harper up into his arms, shooting me a look of pure contempt from above.

"Go clean up your wounds. Stop embarrassing yourself."

I slowly raised my head.

The man I once loved unconditionally, and the father who gave me life. They were holding the murderer of my mother and my unborn child as if she were their most precious treasure.

Together, they had killed my baby. Destroyed the last trace of my mother. And then branded me a lunatic.

I slowly stood up, stepping backward.

Julian's face finally dropped.

"Sloane, what the hell are you doing out there? Come here!"

I kept my eyes on them and let my lips curve into a hollow smile.

Then, I closed my eyes, and let myself fall backward.

I heard Julian's psychotic, throat-shredding scream.

"Sloane—!"