My entire family had been diagnosed with granulocytic leukemia. The medication we desperately needed came at an unbearable cost. And worse, it was nowhere to be found.

Only the Lewis family had access to it from abroad.

I swallowed my pride and begged Owen to save my family.

But he was vacationing in Santorini, basking in the sun with his childhood sweetheart and their dog.

In mere days, thirteen of my eighteen family members succumbed to acute complications.

Overnight, my world shattered.

Only my parents and three young nephews remained, clinging to life, writhing in agony.

With trembling hands, I finally reached Owen by phone.

His voice, sharp with irritation, sliced through my desperation.

"Stop making trouble! Is this all you ever do?"

Before I could muster a response, a woman’s sobs rang from the other end.

"Owen, my dog is dying!"

I stood there, breathless, drowning in despair and he refused to leave her side for even a second.

Ultimately, my parents and nephews couldn’t hold on any longer.

One by one, they slipped away.

After arranging the funerals, after burying every last piece of my heart, the weight of it all crushed me.

I collapsed, swallowed whole by the grief.

The moment I woke up, devastating news struck me like a dagger to the heart. Someone was trying to dig up my family’s graves.

——

“Stop! Who permitted you to do this?”

I bolted from the hospital, racing straight to the cemetery, only to be met with a gut-wrenching sight.

Two massive excavators tore into the burial site, uprooting the very ground where my family rested.

I had spent everything I had to secure this land, ensuring they could sleep peacefully beneath the earth.

Yet now, some heartless monster had dared to desecrate it.

I screamed, my voice drowned beneath the rumble of machinery.

The grief, the rage, it was unbearable.

“Stop!” I charged forward, reckless and desperate, blind to the danger.

Before I could reach them, an iron grip seized my arm.

I spun around and there he was.

Owen stood behind me, his expression as cold as a winter’s night.

His voice cut through the chaos. “What are you doing here?”

I clutched his sleeve like a mad woman, shaking, begging.

“Make them stop! These are my family’s graves!”

But he didn’t move. Didn’t even flinch. His voice was laced with ice.

“What nonsense are you spouting now? You’re getting more and more unreasonable.”

Not far away, Leah came running, cradling a pet urn in her arms.

Her eyes were red, her voice thick with emotion.

“Miss Walker, my dog is dead and you still won’t let it rest in peace?”

I froze.

Owen’s voice was low, soothing.

“Don’t mind her,” he murmured, wrapping an arm around Leah’s shoulders. “Just wait a little longer and the dog will finally be at peace.”

The words struck like ice-cold steel.

I let go of him in a daze, my entire body numb.

Was this the same Owen I once knew?

We had weathered storms together for five years, standing side by side through every trial.

The family business had thrived, rising to power and inching toward absolute dominance.

Owen had grown busier, but never once had he truly neglected me.

In my memory, he had loved me deeply.

But ever since Leah returned from abroad, everything changed.

Day or night, one call from her and he was gone.

It was as if they were the real couple, bound by something unbreakable.

Whenever I confronted him, his answer was always the same.

He owed Sophie a favor.

He had promised to protect Leah for a lifetime.

But what did that have to do with me?

Why did I have to suffer because of it?

I swallowed the bitter taste in my throat, my mind drifting back to that day when Leah’s massive dog barreled into me, knocking me to the ground.

Panic surged through me. I grabbed the nearest book and swung.

Maybe I struck its nose too hard. Maybe that was the only reason I managed to escape.

But Leah wouldn’t let it go.

She wept, accusing me of hurting the dog her mother had left her.

“It’s my mother’s last keepsake!” she cried. “If anything happens to it, I don’t want to live either!”

Owen’s fury was instant.

Without hearing a word of my explanation, he forced me to apologize to a dog.

But the dog wasn’t even hurt.

I was the one covered in scratches.

Not long after, the dog fell seriously ill.

Leah claimed she had dreamed of it, that it longed to see the scenery of Santorini one last time.

At the same time, my entire family’s condition took a devastating turn.

We needed an expensive medication.

It was out of stock everywhere except Owen’s family, who could obtain it from abroad.

Desperate, I rushed to the airport, barely catching up with Owen and Leah before they boarded their flight.

I begged him and pleaded with everything I had.

“Please… Help me get the medication!”

But he only glared at me, cold and unyielding.

“You lunatic! You nearly killed the only thing Leah has left of her mother!”

“I didn’t!” I panicked, my throat tightening. “I was just scared. I acted on instinct! I only hit it with a book…”

Leah sobbed pitifully, her voice trembling.

“Miss Walker, I know you’re afraid of dogs, but how could you poison it?”

Poison?

I froze, my breath catching in my throat.

Then I met Owen’s gaze, cold, disgusted.

Framed.

He didn’t believe me.

Without a word, he pulled Leah into his arms and turned away.

“Owen!” My voice cracked as I shouted his name, ignoring the curious glances of passersby.

“Please! I’m begging you… help me get the medicine. I can’t lose my family.”

For a fleeting second, he hesitated as if he might say something, but Leah’s soft cries shattered the moment.

Her expression was one of pure devastation.

“Owen… go accompany Miss Walker,” she whispered, voice fragile as glass. “As for me… I just want to leave this world with my dog…”

“Don’t say that!” Owen panicked, gripping her hands, his fear unmistakable. “I’ll go with you.”

But before he left, he turned back to me, his eyes sharp with resentment.

“Can’t you stop making up lies just to bother me?”

Maybe it was because, once, I had faked an illness just to make him come home.

Maybe that was why he thought I was lying now.

But I only did it because I cared.

I just wanted him to rest, breathe and stop pushing himself to exhaustion.

But he never understood me.

"Miss Walker, wasn’t it enough to destroy the only relic my mother left me? How could you not even let it rest in peace?"

Leah’s trembling voice yanked me from my thoughts.

She clutched the urn tightly, her arms wrapped around it like a lifeline. Large tears streamed down her cheeks, her grief painting a heartbreaking picture.

Owen’s expression darkened, his heart aching for her.

He reached out, brushing away her tears before turning on me with pure fury.

"Abigail, when did you become so vicious?"

"Owen, don’t blame Miss Walker." Leah’s voice was soft, understanding, so sickeningly forgiving. "She just cares about you too much… that’s why she accidentally hurt me and my dog."

Owen protected her, shielding her as if I were some unforgivable villain.

A tremor ran through me, rage coiling in my chest. My ears buzzed, drowning out the world around me.

The excavators roared to life, their relentless destruction continuing.

Bit by bit, my family’s cemetery was reduced to nothing but ruins.

A wave of powerlessness crashed over me, so heavy I could barely breathe.

Then, Leah smiled. A delighted, almost serene expression crossed her face as she gently caressed the urn in her arms.

"Doggy, even though someone killed you, I hope you can let go of your hatred and reincarnate soon… as my baby."

She sighed softly as if speaking to a child.

"I know you don’t like being disturbed, so I asked Owen to buy this cemetery just for you."

"If you have any unfulfilled wishes, don’t forget to come to me in my dreams."

Owen didn’t hesitate. He raised his walkie-talkie, his voice cold and decisive.

"Flatten it all. Make it quick."

He was doing this.

Destroying an entire cemetery for a dog.

Unbelievable.

Absurd.

Suffocating rage burned through me, but no amount of anger could change the cruel reality before my eyes.

My eyes burned and my voice wavered as I demanded, "Owen, what right do you have to do this?"

He turned to me with an impatient expression as if my pain was nothing more than an inconvenience.

"Abigail, Leah and I didn’t even hold you accountable for poisoning her dog.”

"But that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want."

"And can you find something better to do than clinging to me all the time?"

How could I forget? Someone like him would never care whose graves these were. To him, everything could be solved with money.

"Do you have any proof?" My breath came in short bursts, my chest rising and falling with restrained fury. "Do you believe everything Leah says?"