Everyone knew the flower seeds in the garden at Hillside Estate were the ones my parents died to protect. They were my lifeline—the only thing left of them.

Years ago, William spent tens of millions importing a climate-control system and specialized soil from overseas, all so I could cultivate those seeds.

An entire villa, not for living in, but for me to grow my flowers. That was how William proposed to me.

People on the outside laughed, called me flower-obsessed like my parents, said I truly had inherited their mission, that even William wasn't as important to me as those flowers.

But William's love for me was the one thing everyone agreed was beyond question.

So I always believed he loved me. That after my parents died, he was the person in this world who loved me most.

Until the night I made a last-minute decision to go back to Hillside Estate, and saw two figures standing in the sea of flowers I'd grown.

"William, this… this is incredible! I'm definitely winning at the International Floral Expo!"

He pulled her into his arms. "Why do you think I went through all of this? To keep her happy, keep her clueless, so she'd grow this whole garden for you without a second thought. You like it—that's all I care about."

So the tens of millions were never spent for me. The marriage was just a tool.

——

"William, but if June finds out, she'll be furious. She was planning to enter the competition too, and you know how things are between us…"

He cut her off. "Don't worry about that. Just bring the flowers to the competition on the fifteenth. All I want is to see you standing where you've always wanted to stand, shining." He kissed the top of her hair, the picture of tenderness. "I'll handle the rest. Trust me, I will never let her become an obstacle for you. She'll never be in your way."

I stood behind a Roman column, watching their silhouettes in the garden. The woman must have been beautiful. The dark green fitted dress made her figure look even better.

It hit me the way it had eight years ago, standing there watching my parents burn alive. Their voices kept trading places in my head, overlapping, doubling back, until nothing I was hearing matched anything I could feel. I stumbled out of the villa and couldn't hold it anymore, crouching on the roadside and throwing up until there was nothing left.

My eyes burned red. In the end I couldn't breathe, and all I could do was claw at the fabric over my chest, trying to make the pain ease up even a little.

There were only two things I had left in the world—William, and the seeds my parents left behind.

If either one ceased to exist, the pain would be more than I could survive.

I should have stepped out and confronted them right there. I knew that. But I had nothing left in me.

I could accept betrayal from anyone. Why did it have to be William?

I didn't even have the courage to confront him.

Born in the same delivery room, pulled into the world by the same doctor's hands. William, who had been by my side for as long as I could remember.

Why did it have to be him?

I pulled a slip of paper from my pocket, something I always carried with me, and stared at the faded writing.

My tears soaked through it.

The pain swallowed me whole, like it meant to consume every last part of me.

I crammed the paper into my mouth and forced it down, like swallowing every poisoned thing loving him had ever grown inside me.

Tears kept spilling, but when the call connected my voice came out without a single tremor. "I'll give you what you want. You help me with one thing. Can you do that?"

The person on the other end agreed without hesitation.

William was already at the dining table eating breakfast when I walked back into the villa.

He looked up at me in the doorway, frowned slightly, rose, and came over to tuck my hair back from my face—proprietary, automatic, the way he'd done it for decades. "What happened? Where were you last night? You didn't answer your phone. I was worried about you, Junie." He cupped my face in both hands, gentle as ever, warm as ever. "Something going on? Need me to help? Hm? We don't keep secrets from each other, Junie."

But this face—the same face I'd looked at for all those years—now all it gave me was nausea. I tilted my head and pulled his hands off me.

The rejection displeased him, though he didn't let it show much.

"I missed my parents," I said. "I went to visit their graves."

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and murmured, "After all these years, still the same as before? Junie, when are you going to let yourself stop missing them?" His composure was flawless, as though last night's conversation had never happened.

Then he said, abruptly, "Oh, there's something I need to tell you."

I glanced at him, instantly on guard. "What?"

"You probably won't be able to go to the International Floral Expo. I had my secretary bring your checkup results to the doctor yesterday. Flying could put too much strain on your heart. I can't let you take that risk, Junie."

The words from last night crashed back. I cut him off, my voice sharp. "I know my own body. You know this has been my parents' dream and my dream for years! William!"

I'd already decided to leave. There was no point in tearing things apart, so I didn't want to bring up what I'd overheard.

"Junie, I don't want you gambling with your health. Just listen to me, okay? Growing those flowers—that's what you actually care about, isn't it? I know you. The recognition never mattered to you."

I forced myself steady. "I'm asking you one more time. Is this really about me, or is it something else? Tell me the truth, William." I had so little left—just this. Just hoping he'd give me one honest word. If he did, I would have ended it cleanly. If he wanted to be with whoever he actually loved, I would have let him go. A clean divorce, everyone's dignity kept. I'd already worked out every last piece of how to let him go gracefully.

He looked at me with perfect bewilderment. "Junie, what are you talking about? Of course it's for you. What could possibly matter more to me than you?"

Something inside me shattered.

Decades. That was how long it had taken to build.

I'd never been this tired in my life.

Why—why wasn't there even a flicker of guilt? Why could he say it that naturally? How could anyone do this?

And the ease of it made my own collapse feel laughable.

I steadied myself and said, "It doesn't matter. Even if something goes wrong, I'm going to that competition. You know me—for my parents' wish, there's nothing I won't do."

The truth was, the competition had stopped mattering to me a long time ago. What I wanted to know was how far he would go. How much he was willing to hurt me for that woman after all these decades together.

I wanted to see what his plan was.

Would he actually kill me?

We're wretched like that—just desperate to see the cruelest possible answer with our own eyes.

When I said those words, I caught a flash of venom in William's eyes. It vanished almost instantly, but not before it cut through me.

He smiled and patted my shoulder. "Let's not talk about anything unpleasant right now. Eat first. Your health is already fragile enough without you skipping meals."

"I'm not hungry. You go ahead. I'm going to stay at Hillside Estate for a few days."

"Eat, June." He couldn't hold back his displeasure anymore, his voice dropping into a command.

I ignored him, went upstairs to grab my things, and drove to Hillside Estate. Locked the door behind me and fell into bed like something shutting down.

But the sleep was wrong—thick and suffocating, pulling me under and holding me there. When I finally clawed my way back to consciousness, I had no idea how much time had passed.

There was nothing left in my body. I lay on the bed limp as a rag, unable to move.

The room smelled like medication. I looked down at the back of my hand and saw a needle taped into the vein.

My vision swam, then slowly tightened on a figure in dark green standing at the vanity. She was turning my jewelry over between her fingers, picking up pieces and dropping them back like they bored her.

"Oh, you're awake?"

The woman in green walked toward me, and her face hit me like a fist to the chest.

It wasn't a stranger. It was the daughter of my parents' research assistant at the Floral Research Institute. Joy Henson.

That night at Hillside Estate, the voice had been hers. The silhouette too.

Why Joy Henson? Why?

My mind fractured into pieces.

Joy's mother, Daphne Henson, was one of the suspects in the fire that destroyed the Institute. But there had never been enough evidence, and eventually Daphne and Joy had vanished like smoke, as if they'd simply ceased to exist.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. Her name tore out of me like something bleeding. "Joy Henson."

"I'm surprised you still remember me, Junie. All these years and you still hate my mother that much?" She stuck her tongue out at me playfully. "But it's not Joy Henson anymore. My name is Jade Holloway now. Don't get it wrong again."

The bedroom door opened.

"You're awake?"

"William!" My whole body was shaking—I couldn't stop it. "Do you know who she is? Do you know who she is?!" The words ripped out of me raw, half-scream, half-sob, and I couldn't tell where the trembling ended and the screaming began.

He didn't even flinch. "Oh—June, I forgot to mention. This is Ms. Holloway. You haven't been feeling well, and she's offered to help. Her father is a business associate of mine. The Expo is in four days, so she'll bring your flowers and compete in your place. There's nothing to get upset about."

"No... no... she's—"

"June, you're half asleep. She just happens to have the same face. That's all."

I couldn't stop shaking. How could he do this? How could he do this?

"Oh dear, it looks like your wife isn't too happy to see me. If she'd really rather I didn't, then never mind—forget I offered. You just rest up, okay? Don't go upsetting yourself on my account."

I opened my mouth to say more, but my tongue went dead. Just like that—mid-breath—the words wouldn't come. All I could do was stare at them, wide-eyed and mute.

I had never hated anything the way I hated that helplessness.

"You're sick, June. Stay home, rest, be good." His voice was so gentle it made my skin crawl. "Does it really matter who brings the results back? You just wanted the results, didn't you?"

His hand stroked gently over the top of my head, and my tears broke loose, streaming down without stopping. Why? Why would he do this?

I didn't believe it. I didn't believe he had no idea Jade Holloway was Joy Henson.

And then a far worse possibility flashed through my mind. He had always known.

He was the one who helped them disappear.

It shredded me. The enemy I had spent years searching for—the person I had never stopped hunting—had been hidden beside the man I loved all this time.

They left the room.

I understood what it meant that he'd let Joy Henson walk into my presence. It meant I had no value left. Because I had already cultivated Emberwake.

He was going to keep me locked in here forever.

How could he? How could he do this to me?

I pulled out my phone. A few dozen words took me nearly two hours to type.