“Maya!” Matt’s panicked voice echoed as he rushed down the sand toward us.

Of course he would come running like a loyal dog. He was always ready when it came to Maya. But if anything happened to me, he acted like it was just another normal day.

She collapsed into him, clutching her foot dramatically as tears welled in her eyes. “It hurts, Matt. It hurts so much,” she whimpered, burying her face in his chest.

He glared at me over her shoulder like this was somehow my fault. “What the hell happened, Jada?”

“She pushed me!” Maya answered, her voice trembling with fake emotion.

“She kicked a rock,” I said flatly. “On purpose.”

“Don’t you dare blame her!” he snapped, scooping her into his arms like she was made of glass. “You’ve been acting insane for months. God, look at you— just sitting there while she’s in pain?”

“She’s an adult woman who decided to kick a rock on her own. What do you expect me to do? Obsess over her like you’re doing right now?”

Matt looked at me with venomous eyes. “Have you always been so evil? She’s your cousin! How can you do this to her?”

“I’m fine Mattie,” Maya sniffled, eyes glistening with fake tears. “She didn’t mean it… she’s just upset. It must be hard for Jada to see me having the same party as her. I should’ve known she didn’t want to come celebrate with me.”

“She’s just trying to celebrate with her friends, why can’t you be happy for her?”

I almost laughed. The hypocrisy was just too much.

Matt kissed the top of her head, comforting her like she was a child. “We’ll get you back on the yacht and straight to the hospital, okay?”

Then he turned back to me. “And you, you’ll stay here and think about what you’ve done. Maybe some time alone will teach you to be kinder.”

I stood at alert. “Are you insane? We’re way too far from town. You can’t leave me here on this island. It’s going to be high tide soon!”

“Watch me.”

He carried her away, leaving me on the beach like I was invisible.

“Matt please…” I cried, but of course, he didn’t turn back.

He was too focused on the fragile princess Maya in his arms.

Soon enough, the sound of their voices faded, replaced only by the waves slamming against the shore like they were mocking me. I stood there in tears, staring at their retreating figures until they disappeared in the distance.

For hours, I sat on the sand, knees pulled to my chest, watching the party lights glowing faintly in the distance. Laughter drifted over faintly, adding salt to injury.

They didn’t come back for me.

They didn’t even look back once

The night deepened, the air was turning sharp and cold.

I only had my bikini on, and it was freezing cold. I’d left my phone on the yacht, so I couldn’t call anyone.

The tide crept closer until the water licked at my bare feet, then my shins. I stood, wobbling from exhaustion and hunger, but the sand was too soft.

One strong wave crashed into me, dragging me under. Salt burned my throat as I gasped and choked, swallowing more water than air. The current tossed me like a rag doll. I flailed, clawing against the pull, but it was relentless.

My body screamed for air, but I was so tired— so tired of everything.

For a moment, I didn’t fight it.

Then I heard Maya’s voice in my head, laughing. “Just get out of our lives already. He doesn’t love you.”

No.

I kicked upward, clawing at the water until everything went black. It was useless. I didn’t know how to swim.

---

When I opened my eyes again, I was blinded by harsh white lights.

The smell of antiseptic and the constant beep of machines told me I was in the hospital. I tried to sit up but my chest burned.

“You’re awake,” a nurse said gently. “You’re very lucky. One of the locals found you washed up on shore and brought you here. You’d been in the water for a long time.”

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“You swallowed a lot of salt water and passed out from suffocation, it’s a miracle you even survived.”

I looked around the room in a daze. “How long have I been here?”

“A little over a week now.”

My eyes widened. “A week? Did anyone come for me?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

“Yes ma’am,” she answered, much to my surprise. “You didn’t have an ID on you, so we put it out on the news, and a man arrived here days ago.”

“A man? Did you get his name?”

She walked over to the small table on the other side of the room where a large bouquet of flowers sat, and picked up a card. “He left this.”

I turned the card over. There was a handwritten note.

[ Get well soon. — A.G]

I immediately knew who it was. Asher Galanis.

“I have to go home.” I was already removing the IV in my hand despite the hesitation on the nurse’s face.

“Ma’am, you’ve been in a coma for days, we have to monitor you.”

“I’m fine. I have to get home right now.”

When I arrived home, laughter spilled out from the dining room when I pushed the door open.

I frowned and walked in, only to find Matt, Maya and Uncle Henry seated at a table full of our mutual friends. The table was decorated and everyone was dressed up in fancy clothes.

For a split second, I foolishly thought Matt had come back to his senses. I thought he must have found out I was coming home and he arranged this dinner for me, until he looked up.

“Oh… Jada, you’re here.”

“You sound disappointed,” I said, already cursing myself for being so delusional. “What’s going on here?”

Maya smiled then. “Oh, Dad and Mattie are just throwing me a dinner party since my birthday was ruined by the incident.” She pointed to her bandaged foot.

Uncle Henry cleared his throat. “Jada, I heard what happened on the yacht.”

“Oh you did? And nobody cared to look for me for more than a week? You left me out at sea to die and now you’re throwing a feast to celebrate?”

“Oh please, enough of the theatrics Jada,” Matt said. “You’re here, aren’t you? It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“I almost died!” I screamed.

Maya rolled her eyes.

“What exactly happened?” One of our friends chimed in, eyes darting between me and Maya. “Why would you attack her like that?”

I blinked. “Attack her? You all think I pushed her foot into a rock?”

Maya dabbed delicately at the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “Don’t be mad at them, Jada. I told everyone it wasn’t your fault. You’ve been under a lot of stress. I understand.”

My stomach twisted.

Matt set down his wine glass, eyes cold. “We all know you’ve been having… issues lately. Maya’s just trying to be gracious.”

“Gracious,” I repeated flatly.

“Maybe it’s best if you rest upstairs,” he said. “We’re trying to have a nice evening.”

“You can have some of the leftovers when we’re done… if you’re hungry.” Maya added.

Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They just watched me, silently judging. All the friends I introduced to Maya and Matt had turned on me. Nobody even cared about my side of the story.

I smiled faintly. “You’re right. I should get some rest.”

And then I turned and walked upstairs without another word.

My phone was on my bed when I entered my room and I picked it up to find missed calls from Asher. I dialed him back immediately.

He answered on the first ring. “Jada? Are you okay? I just got to the hospital and the nurse said you asked to be discharged.”

“Yes. I’m okay. They told me you stayed by my bed for days”

“Of course. I flew in the second I saw your face on the news.”

“You didn’t have to do that…”

“You almost drowned, Jada. I have no idea what exactly happened, but I can bet it had something to do with that Matt Bennett. You’re not safe with him. I’m coming over there to get you right now.”

I couldn’t stop the warmth from spreading in my chest. No one had cared about me like this in a long time. It felt like I was experiencing true love for the first time.

I closed my eyes. “I want nothing more than to leave too. But I can’t, not yet. There’s only three days until the wedding now. We just have to be patient.”

There was silence on his end before he asked in a soft voice, “are you sure?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Okay. Three more days and you’ll be mine.”

I called my lawyer the second Asher hung up.

“Miss Sinclair,” my lawyer answered groggily.

“I want you to draft eviction notices,” I said in a steady voice. “I want everyone out of my house in three days. And I want you to put a pause on the contracts that’ll bind Matt Bennett to my inheritance.

There was a pause. “Miss Sinclair, about that…”

I frowned. “What’s going on?”

“Matt Bennett has filed an appeal to the board to grant him full ownership and control of everything before the wedding. This was over a week ago. I’ve called countless times and sent a ton of emails but I couldn’t reach you.”

“What!? He can’t— he can’t do that right?”

“As it stands, you have more rights than he does right now because you’re not legally married yet. But don’t forget that your father officially betrothed you to him before he died. It’s public knowledge. Your father introduced him to everyone before he died. So if he’s able to prove that you’re mentally unfit, he might get the board to agree to his proposal.”

“What do you mean mentally unfit?”

“That was the basis of his appeal. And you know how these things work, Miss Sinclair. The board will only do things in the interest of the company, they don’t care about being loyal to you. So if they think Matt is a better fit for the job, they’ll give it to him.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It all felt like one big cruel joke.

“What do I do?”

My lawyer sighed. “You call a meeting tomorrow and fight like hell.”

The boardroom was silent when I walked in. Every member of the Sinclair board was already seated. Uncle Henry sat at the head of the table like he belonged there.

I walked straight to him. “You’re in my seat.”

He looked at me with his mouth slightly open like he was waiting for me to laugh and say that it was a joke, but when I motioned to the empty seat by his right instead, he scooched over with his cheeks bright red.

If they wanted to be petty, I would give them petty.

“Miss Sinclair,” one of the older members said, folding his hands. “We were surprised when you called this emergency meeting. You’ve been… difficult to reach.”

I took my seat, spine straight. “That’s because I nearly drowned,” I said flatly. “I was stranded after an incident on the yacht and was in a coma for more than a week. Nobody thought to check on me.”

A few of them shifted uncomfortably, but most just exchanged glances.

Matt gave a small laugh, oozing charm. “She’s exaggerating. It wasn’t as bad as she’s making it out to be.”

I ignored him. “I called this meeting because I’ve been informed that my fiancé, Matt Bennett, filed an appeal to gain full control of the company before our wedding. Without my knowledge.”

The murmurs started instantly.

“Yes,” one of the directors said. “We’ve received the appeal. Mr. Bennett has argued that you’ve been unstable and absent from key responsibilities, and that granting him early authority is in the company’s best interest.”

I raised a brow. “Instability? Based on what?”

Uncle Henry leaned back, looking regretful— like he hated to say this. “Jada… you’ve been under a lot of pressure. The breakdown at Maya’s party, the days you went missing without telling anyone… It scared people.”

I looked at him like he was a pesky fly. “And why are you here? Last time I checked, you’re not even a part of this company.”

Matt sighed. “Jada, he’s your father’s brother. He has a right to be here. And he’s also here for support. You have no idea how worried we were when you disappeared.”

“You mean when you left me to die?”

The room froze.

Matt’s jaw tightened, but he quickly recovered, wearing his perfect fake smile. “I would never hurt you, Jada. But the company can’t afford uncertainty. I stepped up while you were gone. The board knows I’m capable of leading Sinclair industries.”

“Capable?” I laughed once, coldly. “You mean capable of taking credit for my deals?”

A few board members shifted at that.

“You’re forgetting,” I said, pulling out the most recent quarterly reports. “It was my leadership that secured the partnership with Leston Technologies. I personally negotiated the deal that brought in $1.2 billion last quarter. Or have you all forgotten that?”

The room went silent.

One of the directors cleared his throat. “Miss Sinclair, nobody doubts your intelligence. But the company also values stability. It’s clear you’ve had… personal difficulties.”

“Everyone has personal difficulties,” I said evenly. “But my track record speaks for itself. If you think giving Matt power will magically solve everything, you’re mistaken. And anyway, his name will be on the papers after our wedding, so why the rush? Have any of you even thought about that?”

Matt spoke up again in a fake sweet voice. “Babe, we’re on the same side. This company is our future. You know I’ll take care of everything—”

I cut him off. “I’m not handing my family’s life’s work over to you before the wedding. If the board wants to replace me, they’ll have to do it the right way— the way my father stated in his will. This company and everything else will only be signed off to the man that I marry.”

A long silence took over the room.

Finally, one of the senior members said, “We’ll table the appeal for now. But we’ll be watching closely. The final decision will depend on what happens in the coming weeks. If there’s still any reason to believe that you’re unstable after the wedding, you’ll be stripped of all your rights and your husband will have total ownership over everything.”

I nodded in agreement. “Thank you.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Matt and Uncle Henry shared a secret smile.

---

Matt walked into my bedroom with a plate of food in his hand later that night, looking remorseful.

It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. I was used to his games now.

”You didn’t eat dinner, I brought you some.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You’re not upset about what happened at the office, are you? You know I didn’t mean any harm.”

I looked at him for a long time, suddenly drowning in memories of the past, when we used to be so in love. He used to be so gentle and so kind to me. Was it all an act? Was he just putting on a show to get what he wanted? I wanted to ask him if he thought that I was stupid. I wanted to ask what gave him and my uncle the audacity to think that they could take what belonged to me. But instead, I smiled.

“Of course not. You love me. I know you were only trying to take care of me.”

He smiled brightly like he had just hit the jackpot. “Our wedding is the day after tomorrow. It’s going to be the best day of my life.”

I smiled back. “Yes, it’ll be the best day ever.”

“Come here, I’ll feed you.” He placed the food in front of me and picked up the spoon, but just as he was about to scoop some of it, Maya’s voice called out from downstairs.

“Mattie! I can’t reach the remote!”

He dropped the spoon with a clatter, like he was being remote controlled. He was out of the room and running down the stairs to her in a heartbeat.

I pushed the plate to the side and snuggled into bed.

Our wedding was in two days, and my darling fiancé had no idea what was coming for him.