Sarah spotted Harvey in the office at the very top of the vineyard estate. From the day she arrived, she had been repeatedly warned to stay away from that restricted area. She never imagined that Harvey himself had put up those boundaries, deliberately keeping her at a distance.

When they first met, he came across as just another college student—humble, quiet, unassuming. Nothing about him suggested wealth or influence, so she had naturally assumed he came from a modest home.

But now she saw it. He’d been lying from the start, hiding who he was, keeping her at arm’s length the whole time.

She pushed past the guards who scrambled to stop her. Harvey’s gaze darkened the moment he saw her.

Zoey was seated beside him, giving Sarah a lazy, amused once-over. She looked exactly how Zoey liked her: disheveled, broken, pathetic. She had never liked Sarah. Not even from the beginning, especially after learning the real reason Sarah had ended up in her home.

As Sarah looked at Harvey, she gritted her teeth and dropped to her knees.

“Harvey,” she said, her voice tight, “if you want to mess with me, fine. But my grandma was the only family I had left. Can you return the transfer agreement to me? Please don’t move her grave. I’m begging you.”

Even when life had knocked her down, Sarah had never begged anyone.

Only twice.

Once, to a doctor, begging them to save Harvey’s life.

And now this.

Harvey’s brow twitched. For a moment, it looked like he might actually say something.

But before he could, Zoey cut in sweetly. “Harvey, help me pick a ring for the charity gala. That fifty-carat pink diamond you gave me last week? I think it’s perfect.”

Then she leaned in close, her voice barely above a whisper. “Harvey, only three more to go.”

Harvey noticed the signal but never looked back at Sarah. He turned away as if she didn't exist.

Sarah trembled. Her body still hadn’t recovered from the snake trap, and she had just sold blood again. She could barely stay upright.

But the two of them sat there, warm, close, and content, like she was invisible.

Sarah told herself it didn’t matter. She should let it go.

After all, she knew now that none of Harvey's warmth, the smiles, or promises had been real. Every bit of it had been calculated.

Still, knowing that didn’t make it any easier.

She sat there watching Harvey hold Zoey’s hand, watching them pick out rings she wouldn’t have dared to dream of even in her most extravagant fantasies.

She dropped her head, forcing down the sting in her eyes.

He handed out pink diamonds like candy while she worked under the scorching sun, picking grapes and selling her blood to buy Harvey medicine.

“Harvey, what is this?” Zoey’s voice rang across the room. “This cord is so ugly! It’s chafing your wrist. Let’s just burn it.”

She casually slipped off the knotted cord bracelet with the charm and reached for the lighter on the table.

Sarah froze.

That bracelet was her grandmother’s.

Before thinking about it, she lunged forward and yanked it from Zoey’s hand.

Zoey stumbled back in surprise. Her eyes immediately welled with tears.

“Sarah, I know you don’t like me,” she said, her voice trembling. “You always try to take everything from me. Please stop bullying me… I’m scared.”

For a second, Sarah almost believed her.

She had never truly understood why Zoey hated her so much. For years, she thought staying quiet and innocent would be enough to keep the peace.

But now, with Harvey right there, she opened her mouth without thinking.

“I didn’t—”

Suddenly, a sharp crack of shattering porcelain broke the moment as a teacup smashed against the tile beside her, and in the same instant, a searing pain shot through her temple.

Warm blood began to slide down the side of her face. Dazed, she reached up, her fingers coming away sticky, while her clothes, soaked from the grape juice, clung to her skin, cold and damp.

Harvey looked down at her like she was nothing.

“This isn’t the place for your tantrums, Sarah,” he said, flat and cold. “Zoey’s too kind to lay a hand on you, but I’m not.”

Sarah blinked, stunned, as the man before her felt like a complete stranger.

Once, they had shared real moments. Harvey had no hidden identity back then, and she had no idea he came from unimaginable wealth.

In that tiny rented room where they used to talk about the future, he would look at her with eyes so tender she truly believed she could lose herself in them.

The tears she’d tried so hard to hold back finally broke free.

For a second, Harvey’s face shifted. It softened, like he might be hesitating.

Then Zoey let out a soft whine. “Harvey, I’m not feeling great. I wonder if it’s the baby…”

Her voice snapped Harvey out of it. Without a word, he turned away from Sarah and lifted Zoey into his arms.

Before walking out, he turned to Joseph.

“Have her kneel here,” he ordered. “You keep watch.”

“Yes, sir,” Joseph responded instantly.

Sarah didn’t move. She held the charred bracelet tight against her chest. The porcelain edges cut into her skin, but she didn’t even notice.

Only when Harvey’s silhouette finally disappeared did the last of her strength drain away.

The world tipped sideways.

And she collapsed.

Sarah slept longer than she had in years. In her dreams, she was a little girl again, safe in her grandmother’s small, cluttered house. Life back then moved more slowly. The air smelled like simmering soup, and rain gently tapped the tin roof.

But even in dreams, the shadows found her.

She remembered how people used to stare with pity, whispering behind their hands. That was how she learned the truth—her parents had abandoned her, and she had become a burden her grandmother carried alone.

She cried for days. Children don’t know how to hide heartbreak.

It wasn’t until her grandmother placed a knotted charm bracelet around her wrist and promised it would keep her safe that she finally stopped.

“Sarah, my dear,” her grandmother had said softly, “your mom and dad didn’t leave you. They just can’t come back right now. One day, when you're older, you’ll understand.”

But Sarah never got the chance to grow up with her. Illness took her grandmother too soon.

Her dream then shifted.

Now Sarah was in the Stevens' house—cold, spotless, and perpetually too quiet. In that place, she had always felt like an outsider.

It didn’t matter how high her grades were or how careful she was not to step out of line. The smiles of her adoptive parents always disappeared the moment she walked into the room.

And outside the house was even crueler. Her classmates didn’t bother pretending. They cut her clothes, tore her notebooks, and made her backpack vanish just before the bell rang.

One moment stood out more than the rest.

Her backpack had been strung up in a tree. She stood beneath it, pacing and panicked, jumping and failing to reach it. Her hands were scraped and stinging, and tears clung to her lashes, just waiting to fall.

Then a breeze carried the smell of wild grass and warm earth.

She looked up, and he was there.

A tall boy in a school uniform, his collar undone just enough to look effortlessly cool. In his hand was her backpack. In his eyes, there was a calm, unbothered kind of kindness.

Under the bright summer sun, he smiled.

“Hey,” he said. “Nice to meet you. I’m Harvey.”

When Sarah opened her eyes in the hospital, she stared up at the ceiling, dazed.

Back then, she never would have believed that the boy smiling in the sunlight would grow into the man who caused her so much pain.

Suddenly, a gentle beep interrupted her dream. Someone had pressed the call button next to her bed.

For a brief second, something flickered in her chest.

Maybe it was Harvey. Maybe, despite everything, he had come.

Maybe he still cared.

She turned her head.

It wasn’t him.

It was Joseph, the vineyard manager.

Joseph saw the flicker of disappointment in her eyes and scoffed. “Don’t get your hopes up. Sir Harvey is with Miss Zoey. If you’re tired of living like this, maybe stop acting like a victim and apologize. To both of them.”

Sarah let out a bitter laugh and thought inwardly, 'Apologize? Apologize for loving Harvey? For refusing to let Zoey cheat her way through life?'

But she didn’t say a word. Her silence said enough.

Joseph rolled his eyes, yanked open the door, and walked out.

...

A few minutes later, Zoey walked in.

Her belly had just begun to show, a small curve that hit Sarah like a punch to the chest.

Zoey folded her arms across it, her posture casual but her expression smug.

Her voice came out sweet, but every word landed like a slap. "Sarah, I told you not to cross me. Now that you know Harvey only got close to you because of me, how does that feel? Like your whole little world just collapsed?"

She paused, overseeing Sarah, savoring the moment before she added with mock sweetness,

"Oh, and by the way, your grandma’s grave? It's the perfect location. I joked to Harvey about needing a peaceful resting place for Luna, and he just handed it over."

Sarah’s breath caught in her throat. She knew exactly who Luna was.

Zoey’s hamster.

Her heart stopped.

Harvey had given up her grandmother’s grave for a hamster?

The disbelief barely had time to settle before memories slammed into her like a freight train.

She remembered taking Harvey to that hillside when things were still good. She had run ahead, cheeks flushed with excitement, pulling him by the hand. She had looked at him like he was her future.

“Grandma,” she had said, grinning from ear to ear, “this is Harvey. He treats me so well. You don’t have to worry anymore. We’ll come visit all the time.”

But after the so-called debts took over that day, she was never allowed to return.

Harvey had known. He had known exactly what that place meant to her.

And he had still done this.

Something inside her cracked wide open.

She didn’t care that she’d just fainted. She didn’t care about the IV needle in her arm, the hospital gown clinging to her, or the pounding pain behind her eyes.

With strength she didn’t know she had, Sarah shoved Zoey aside and bolted from the room.

The rain had been relentless all week.

When Sarah reached the old part of the town, her shoes were soaked and her clothes clung to her from the drizzle. The roads here were rough and uneven, winding through crumbling alleyways and forgotten lots.

Her grandmother’s grave was supposed to be nestled peacefully in a cemetery. Instead, she found the tombstone discarded in a patch of weeds, mud-stained, cracked, and tossed aside like trash.

Sarah’s breath caught in her throat.

She stood frozen for a moment, then dropped to her knees and gently wiped the dirt from the stone, her hands trembling.

“Grandma…” Her voice cracked. “It was my fault. I misjudged him.”

Her chest tightened as the memories came rushing back. The first time she brought Harvey here, she’d been so nervous, so proud. She wanted him to understand how much her grandmother meant to her.

Back then, had he already been laughing at her behind her back? Mocking her for being naïve?

Maybe the devil does appear when spoken of.

A strong hand suddenly yanked her by the wrist.

Sarah gasped, jerking her head up, and there he was.

Harvey.

He looked like he’d rushed over, breath heavy, hair slightly disheveled.

For a moment, she foolishly thought he was worried about her.

But then, a voice crackled from his phone, still on speaker. "Sir Harvey, Miss Zoey isn’t doing well. She said Sarah pushed her. Have you found Sarah yet? Miss Zoey has been crying nonstop."

Joseph’s voice.

And just like that, the illusion shattered.

Harvey’s grip on her wrist tightened, and she felt like her bones might snap.

He muttered a few clipped responses, then hung up.

When he turned back to Sarah, his eyes were hard as stone.

"Zoey said you pushed her. The baby’s position is unstable now. Sarah, have you been getting too comfortable lately? If you’re looking to die, then go do it somewhere far from me."

His venomous words hit her like a slap.

There had been a time when Harvey was worried if she’d eaten, if she remembered to wear a coat, or if she was lonely or cold. Now, he didn’t even ask if she was okay. He just took someone else’s word and threw it at her like a weapon.

Sarah let out a bitter laugh, the sound low and broken. "Fine. As long as you're willing to show some mercy and return my grandmother’s ashes, I’ll disappear. I’ll stay far, far away from you."

She meant it.

She didn’t know what kind of madness he was caught up in, but she was done.

Instead of letting go, Harvey gripped her tightly. His fingers dug into her skin.

"If anything happens to Zoey," he said, voice low and dangerous, "I’ll send you straight to the afterlife to join your grandmother."

Before Sarah could react, he dragged her roughly down the hill and shoved her into a car waiting by the curb.

The pain came almost immediately. Her stomach clenched, waves of nausea crashing over her.

Sarah curled up in the corner of the backseat, clutching her abdomen, trying to breathe through the sharp, twisting cramps.

Harvey sat beside her, scrolling through his phone like nothing had happened.

Eventually, out of his eye, he noticed her trembling.

He scoffed, "Scared now? Trying to fake being sick so I’ll feel sorry for you? Zoey told me you’ve always been jealous of her. Adopted daughter playing victim. How many tricks do you have?"

Sarah opened her mouth, wanting to speak, wanting to defend herself.

But the look in his eyes stopped her cold.

All warmth was gone. There was nothing left of the man she had once loved.

The Harvey who used to hold her, support her, and make her feel safe had disappeared.

In his place was someone cold, someone who had spent years leading her into a cruel trap to help Zoey break her down piece by piece.

Sarah turned her face toward the window, the city lights blurring behind the rain-streaked glass.

Exhausted, Sarah thought, 'I just need to find a way out.'

She didn’t know where she’d go or how she’d survive, but when this was over, she never wanted anything to do with Harvey.

She vowed never to come back.

Just then, the car rolled to a stop in front of the hospital, and the driver called out that they had arrived.

Only then did Harvey look up from his phone.

Sarah hadn’t moved. She was still curled up in the corner of the backseat, her body rigid, drenched in sweat. Her shirt clung to her, and her lips had turned pale.

Something about her stillness made Harvey hesitate.

He turned to look at her more closely.

Slowly, almost uncertainly, he brushed her hair away from her face.

She didn’t flinch.

There was no color left in her cheeks. Her breathing was shallow. Her skin felt like ice.

Harvey’s stomach dropped.

"Sarah," he said, shaking her shoulder. "Sarah, wake up."

No response.

"Sarah—"

The driver turned, eyes wide. "Mr. Jameson, she’s bleeding a lot!"

Harvey froze.

His gaze dropped to her lap. His heart slammed against his ribs.

A dark red stain was spreading fast.