I came back to the home I'd lived in for three years. Every corner of it I had arranged with my own hands.

The nursery still held the tiny clothes and shoes I'd bought for our baby.

Once, Patrick had held me close, his forehead pressed to mine, his eyes impossibly tender. "Serena, let's have a baby. I want a daughter, as beautiful as you."

He used to rest his hand on my belly and read stories to the baby every single night without fail.

Worried I wouldn't like what the housekeeper cooked, he taught himself to make meals suited for a pregnant woman.

Back then, I believed we would be happy forever.

Now, all of it was ash.

I threw everything connected to Patrick into boxes. I was leaving, and nothing would stay behind.

With every item I cleared away, a memory surfaced. Every movie we watched together. Every trip we took.

But once it all went into the boxes, I could let go. And once I let go, it wouldn't hurt anymore.

Then I called the housekeeper and told her to take it all to the dump. Immediately.

I had just finished when the front door opened.

Patrick's brow creased as he scanned the half-empty rooms. "Why is so much stuff missing?"

I didn't spare him a glance. My voice came out flat and cold.

"It was old. Time to throw it out."

He took my indifference as anger over the incident with June and the sweet soup, nothing more.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin in the curve of my neck.

"Come on, don't be mad. You know how June's been ever since she found out she isn't the Foxes' biological daughter. She's insecure. And you're the real daughter. She has nothing. That's why I..."

Before he could finish, a baby's cry pierced the air from behind him.

Patrick released me. I spun around.

June walked in carrying a child, maybe a year old. The baby's brow and eyes bore an unmistakable resemblance to Patrick.

My blood stopped moving. A high-pitched ringing filled my ears.

Patrick's gaze flickered. He shifted June and the child behind him, cleared his throat, and spoke.

"June and I have a child."

Something detonated inside my skull. Cold flooded every inch of my body. My fingertips shook.

"What did you just say?"

Patrick exhaled heavily.

"You can't have children anymore. But the Harding family needs an heir. Besides, you love kids, don't you? From now on, this will be our child."

"He's still too young to be away from June. I brought them here to stay with us. It'll give you two a chance to bond."

The next second, June turned to me with reddened eyes, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Serena. Please don't blame Patrick. It was all my fault. A year ago, someone drugged me. Those men were going to assault me, and Patrick saved me. I never expected to get pregnant. The doctor said my uterine lining is too thin. If I'd terminated, I might never conceive again. I'm sorry..."

My breath locked in my chest. The cold cut straight to the bone.

A year and a half ago, Patrick and I were planning our future. He held me and said, "Just a little longer. Next year, we'll have our baby."

A year and a half ago, on my birthday, he threw a lavish party. He released sky lanterns and presented me with a one-of-a-kind opal diamond ring, swearing he would love only me for the rest of his life.

A year and a half ago, he coaxed me to sleep every night and made love to me.

And while he was doing all of that, he had already fathered a child with June.

Blood surged up my throat. I choked it back down.

"You're both disgusting."

There was a time when June stole from me, slandered me, and Patrick stood up for me every single time.

He even forced June to apologize to my face.

He pursued me for an entire year. Fresh flowers flown in daily. Breakfast made by his own hands. He memorized every little thing I loved and hated.

When he proposed, he knelt before me and cried like a child. He gave me the grandest wedding.

Eight years. From seventeen to twenty-five, I poured every ounce of love and trust I had into him.

And now, barely weeks after I lost our baby, he was moving June and their child into our home.

I laughed until my whole body trembled. Tears ran unchecked down my face.

"Patrick, can you look our child in the eye and say this is fair?"

His gaze darted away. Guilt swelled dark and heavy behind his eyes.

But June's sobbing pulled him back. He sighed.

"Serena, just be good about this."

I wiped my tears. My voice went quiet. Steady.

"Fine. They can stay."

He froze. He hadn't expected me to agree so quickly.

In his mind, I should have fallen apart. Screamed. Thrown things. Made a scene.

I turned and walked away. I had barely reached the foot of the stairs when Patrick's voice carried after me.

"Have the nursery cleared out. The baby will sleep there."

I whipped around, my voice rising before I could stop it.

"On what grounds?"

I had stayed up countless nights for that room. Visited store after store. Arranged every detail with my own hands. Every inch of it held the hope I'd carried for my child.

June immediately lowered her head.

"If Serena doesn't want to, it's fine. We can take the guest room."

Patrick's expression hardened. His voice turned to ice.

"No. Your health is fragile, and the baby is too young. The Harding heir is not sleeping in a guest room."

The housekeeper headed upstairs at once. I ran after her.

I stood there and watched as everything I had prepared for my baby was carried out, piece by piece.

The pain went so deep it turned numb.

I spent the entire night packing up the baby's things.

By the time dawn broke through the windows, I was so exhausted I finally fell asleep.

When I woke again it was already the next day. I went downstairs to find something to eat.

"Serena."

Patrick walked toward me. He stared at my retreating figure for a long moment, then reached out to touch my hair. I stepped away before his fingers made contact.

His hand froze in midair.

"That room was always meant for a child. You'll be the baby's mother. We'll always be together. No one could ever replace you."

I let out a quiet laugh. "Fine."

Patrick blinked. He'd been trying to make amends for two days straight, yet I remained just as cold.

Impatience crept into his voice. "Think it over carefully!"

The doorbell rang. It was my brother, Carl Fox.

He walked in frowning and headed straight for Patrick.

"I told you not to bring June and the baby here."

Then his gaze shifted to me, sharp and wary.

"You haven't been bullying June and the baby, have you?"

Before I could say a word, Patrick shook his head firmly.

"As long as I'm here, June and the baby won't be hurt in the slightest."

Hearing the commotion, June came out and threw herself into Carl's arms.

His expression softened instantly.

"If anyone's giving you a hard time, just say the word. Mom, Dad, and I will always have your back."

June shook her head, the picture of wounded innocence.

"It's okay. Serena doesn't really like me. I'm used to it."

I watched the three of them and felt something between disbelief and bitter amusement.

So my biological parents and my brother had all known that June was carrying Patrick's child.

Every single one of them knew. I was the only fool kept in the dark.

A dry, humorless sound escaped my throat.

"Your family really raised a fine daughter. She stole eighteen years of my life, humiliated me the moment I came back, seduced my husband, bore his child, and moved right into my nest like a cuckoo."

Carl's face darkened. His voice cut through the room like a whip.

"Shut your mouth, Serena. If you hadn't shown up out of nowhere, June would never have felt so insecure. Everything she did was because she was terrified you'd steal our love."

He looked at me, his eyes glacial.

"Even if she made mistakes, you pushed her to it. And Patrick should have married her in the first place."

I laughed. The sound tore out of me, ragged and raw.

June had slandered me, framed me, more times than I could count. My parents knew the truth every single time, yet all they ever said was, "You're the older sister. Let her have her way."

Whenever anything was bought, Carl always let June choose first. "June has no one but us," he'd say.

I used to hide in my room and cry. Patrick was the only one who wiped my tears, who placed the best of everything in front of me, who told me over and over that he loved me, who held me like I was the most precious thing in the world.

And in the end, the man I'd poured every ounce of love into betrayed me. The family I'd been desperate to belong to despised me.

Patrick's brow furrowed at Carl's words. He wanted to argue but said nothing.

He still believed I was the one he loved and that June had been an accident. But hearing me lash out at her like that made anger flicker across his face all the same.

His expression went cold.

"Serena, I told you it was an accident. Someone drugged June. Was I supposed to just stand there and watch her get assaulted? If it had been you, I would have done the same thing."

If it had been you, I would have done the same thing.

Saved her right into his bed. Saved her all the way to a baby. Saved her straight into our home.

June's eyes welled with tears on cue. Her body trembled.

"I'm so sorry, Serena..."

Carl pulled her into his arms and cut her off.

"You have nothing to apologize for. Stop crying. We'll take you to your favorite restaurant."

As he turned to leave, he cast one last frigid glance in my direction.

"Serena, if you keep throwing these tantrums and bullying June, I will send you back where you came from. You can go back to scraping by."

I smiled. Cold and thin.

They thought I'd grown up in some slum. They thought without the Fox family I had nothing.

They had no idea that my adoptive parents were one of the most powerful families in Havenport.

When I'd insisted on returning to my biological parents, Mom and Dad Delgado had held back tears and said, "Serena, if they ever mistreat you, come home to us."

But I'd chosen blood over the people who actually loved me. I'd pushed them away, convinced that sincerity could be repaid with sincerity.

What a joke.

June walked out surrounded by their doting attention. At the door, she paused and looked back at me, triumph glittering in her eyes. Her lips moved silently.

You lost again.

I met her gaze and let the corner of my mouth curl upward.

The next morning, I went to the office. It was the last time I'd ever set foot in that building.

First, to clear out my things. Second, to take my projects with me.

Every single one of those deals I'd negotiated myself, piece by piece. The partners knew my name, not anyone else's.

Patrick pushed the door open and saw the files in my hands. His brow creased.

"You're still recovering. You shouldn't push yourself like this. Hand these over to June and let her take care of them."

I looked up at him, almost stunned by the absurdity.

These projects were built on how many sleepless nights I'd spent writing proposals, how many rounds of revisions, how many meetings I'd personally sat through with every partner.

And he thought one sentence was enough to gift them to June?

When Patrick saw I hadn't moved, his expression darkened.

"I'm doing this for your own good. Besides, projects don't wait. June needs a big account to prove herself and shut people up."

Funny. When I first joined the company, Patrick said he was worried people would think I'd gotten in through connections. So he made me start from the very bottom.

In the dead of summer, over a hundred degrees, I was out chasing leads. In winter blizzards, I sat across from partners alone.

Back then, giving me any kind of advantage never once crossed his mind.

I let out a quiet laugh and handed him the files.

"Fine."

I hoped June Fox could handle them.

I turned to leave and nearly ran into Patrick's assistant, who was coming in with documents. She froze when she saw me.

"Mrs. Harding, why are you leav—"

"I just had a miscarriage. My health isn't great. I'm here to hand off some work."

I cut her off before she could finish.

Patrick's gaze sharpened. He'd caught the start of the assistant's question and was about to press further.

The assistant looked apologetic. "Oh, you really should rest properly then. Mr. Harding is so good to you, always worried you'll overwork yourself."

I smiled. "He is."

Patrick watched me, and only when he saw nothing out of the ordinary did the tension leave his face.

I walked out without looking back.

When I got home, June was lounging on the couch eating fruit. The moment she saw me, she sauntered over with a smirk.

"Hey, sis. See? Patrick's willing to give me anything I want."

"And did you really think what happened a year and a half ago was an accident? I slipped the drug myself. Those men were hired by me. I wanted him to rescue me. I wanted to seduce him."

"Why should he care about you so much? Why should he be willing to hate me for your sake? I won't allow anyone to love you. I'll take everything from you. Mom and Dad's love, our brother's love, and Patrick. So what if you're the real heiress?"

She laughed, mocking and cruel, her red lips curled like a wound.

"You know what? After your miscarriage, Patrick thought you were disgusting. Tainted. He couldn't even stand to touch you."

"But with me? Oh, he was so eager. Kept me in bed for three whole days..."

Crack.

I couldn't hold back any longer. My hand connected with her face so hard my palm went numb.

The sting radiated all the way up my arm.

"As long as Patrick and I aren't divorced, you'll always be the other woman. The mistress everyone spits on!"

June clutched her cheek, stunned for a few seconds. Something vicious flashed through her eyes, and she raised her hand to strike back.

The next second, Patrick and Carl walked through the door.

Her face transformed instantly. Tears poured out like a faucet had been turned. She dropped to her knees in front of me and started slamming her forehead against the floor.

"Please, I'm sorry, I know I was wrong! Don't expose what happened between me and Patrick, I'm begging you. I don't want my reputation ruined. I won't fight for Mom and Dad's love anymore, or Carl's. The baby is yours. You're the only true daughter of the Fox family. I'll leave, I'll disappear..."

Patrick's pupils contracted. He shoved me aside and snarled.

"Serena, why do you keep dragging this out? Apologize to June right now. Tell her she's not the other woman."

The shove sent me stumbling. My lower back slammed into the corner of the table, and the pain was so sharp that tears blurred my vision.

I stared at him, my voice raw and shaking.

"Why should I apologize? Isn't that exactly what she is?"

Patrick looked at my ashen face and something in him flinched. The words on his tongue died before they left his mouth.

Carl rushed forward, pulling June to her feet, and turned on me.

"Just because you can't have children, you want to destroy June and her baby? How can you be this vicious?"

I lifted my chin and laughed, cold and hollow.

Patrick saw that I refused to bend. He looked at June's red, swollen eyes, and his face went dark, fury filling every line.

"Since you won't repent, you can go sit in the storage room and think about what you've done. No one lets you out without my permission. No food. No water."

He waved the bodyguards over. They seized my arms and dragged me toward the storage room.

The door slammed shut. The lock clicked into place.

Darkness and cold swallowed me whole.

I leaned against the frozen wall.

Once, he would panic over a scraped knee. Now, weeks after a miscarriage with my body still wrecked, he locked me in a room cold enough to see my own breath.

They didn't let me out until the following evening.

Every muscle had seized. My thoughts drifted in and out of focus.

I dragged myself down the hallway toward my room. As I passed the master bedroom, the door sat slightly ajar. The sounds that spilled out were unmistakable, breathless moans and gasps, each one drilling into my eardrums like a needle.

I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes, let out a bitter laugh, and stumbled into my room. I collapsed onto the bed and sank into a black, dreamless sleep.

I didn't know how much time had passed before fingers closed around my throat and jolted me awake.

Patrick loomed over me, his eyes bloodshot, screaming.

"Where's the baby? What did you do with the baby?"