Three punks with bleached-blond hair had been tailing me for a while now. I had no idea when they'd started following.

They whistled at me every few steps, and no matter how fast I walked, I couldn't shake them.

Unease crawled through my gut. I broke into a run toward the villa.

But when I reached the front door, I discovered the keypad lock had been changed.

The three of them stood under a tree a few yards away, leering at me with sickening grins.

They watched me like I was putting on a show for them. Like I was a piece of meat they could swallow whole whenever they pleased.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I pressed the doorbell over and over, but no one answered.

The second-floor window swung open. Yolanda appeared in a silk camisole.

She hurled my suitcase out the window without a second thought. The light caught the hickeys on her neck, vivid and shameless.

"Clement, I thought you had so much pride. Then take your garbage and get out of my house."

"I've already frozen your cards. That pitiful balance in your bank app probably won't cover half a month's rent."

I didn't have time to care about her contempt. I was panicking.

"Yolanda, there are creeps following me. Can you just let me inside first?"

"Or at least call the police for me. My phone's dead. They're standing right there under that tree. Come out and look if you don't believe me!"

Yolanda froze for a moment, instinctively turning around.

"What? Don't worry, I'll—"

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back.

Nathan appeared behind her, shirtless, flashing me a taunting smile.

"Hey, buddy. This is a gated community. Without a resident's permission, security won't let strangers through the gate."

"You publicly called off the engagement today and humiliated Ms. Morton. You won't even apologize, and now you're making up lies to trick her? That's pathetic."

"Ms. Morton, if you don't teach him a lesson this time, people will walk all over you."

Yolanda's expression shifted. She looked down at me with undisguised disgust.

"Clement, I didn't realize you were this manipulative. You can kneel out there tonight and let the rain wash some sense into that head of yours."

"Tomorrow morning, I want to hear you go on a livestream and beg me to take you back."

"And remember—without me, you're nothing. A man I've used up and thrown away isn't worth a dime."

She shut the window without hesitation.

Behind the curtains, two silhouettes tangled together in shameless abandon.

My heart went cold, inch by inch.

The three bleached-blond thugs stalked toward me, grinning like wolves. One of them dragged his tongue across his lower lip.

"Pretty boy, your girl's busy with her new man. She can't even be bothered with you. Why keep embarrassing yourself? Come play with us instead."

"Don't worry, we don't pay for our fun. Damaged goods like you aren't worth the money anyway." He threw his head back and cackled.

They clamped a hand over my mouth and dragged me toward a dark corner.

I thrashed and fought. Then someone came running out, brandishing a bat.

It wasn't Yolanda.

It was a middle-aged couple who also lived in the community. They'd just gotten back from out of town and had been sitting in their car talking. They'd witnessed the whole thing.

The three thugs bolted the moment they realized they'd been spotted, too fast to catch.

I picked up my suitcase and politely declined the couple's offer to let me stay the night.

The husband insisted on giving me two shirts from his younger days, then drove me to a nearby hotel.

Yolanda really was ruthless. To force me to grovel, she'd confiscated every expensive accessory she'd ever given me.

Not that I cared. Things like that—I'd never been short on them.

I borrowed a charger from the front desk and planned to catch a flight home the next morning.

But on the way to the airport, the rideshare driver suddenly changed direction.

The man who'd gotten in halfway through the ride was staring at me like a predator sizing up its prey.

I reached for my phone to call the police. The driver let out a cold laugh.

"Mr. Delgado, today is Assistant Harding's birthday. Ms. Morton arranged a lawn party for him at the estate, and you—well, you're the special gift she's prepared."

"Ms. Morton says if you behave yourself and keep Assistant Harding happy, she'll consider throwing you that engagement banquet after all."

He jerked his chin toward the heavyset passenger beside me.

"Otherwise, we dump you right out that door. This is the highway. You probably won't even finish dialing before the cars behind us turn you into roadkill."

"So sit tight if you want to live. A pretty boy mooching off Ms. Morton's charity, and you actually thought you were the man of the house?"

Only then did I realize I'd been tricked.

I had no idea what Yolanda was playing at.

But no matter what, I wasn't about to gamble with my life. I put my phone away in silence.

The estate was decorated to perfection, even more lavish than the engagement banquet had been.

Yolanda had her arm looped through Nathan's, clinking glasses and exchanging pleasantries with the guests who'd come to celebrate.

Matching jade pendants hung around both their necks.

Anyone who didn't know better would have thought this was their wedding.

When she spotted me, Yolanda walked over, her gaze appraising.

"I hear you were trying to get to the airport. Where exactly were you planning to go?"

My voice was calm. "Home. Is that a problem?"

Something smug flickered in her eyes.

"So you've finally figured it out. Without me, you can't survive in Pearl City. Your only option is crawling back to whatever backwater you came from to till dirt."

"I'm not heartless, though. All you have to do is wear this and play Nathan's little pet for the day. Do that, and I'll let yesterday slide. We'll have the wedding next week."

It was a wooden sign, roughly the size of a laptop screen.

Five words were carved into it in bold, unmistakable letters.

Nathan Harding's Dog.

I stared at her in disbelief.

"You want me to be Nathan Harding's dog?!"

"In your dreams. He could drop dead and still wouldn't deserve it!"

Yolanda's expression went cold in an instant.

"Today is Nathan's birthday, and this is the one gift he wants more than anything. I promised him that whatever he asked for, I'd deliver."

"Besides, you nearly hurt him yesterday. You owe him."

She produced a small resin pendant and held it up like a threat.

"You care so much about sentimental value, don't you?"

"If you don't cooperate, I'll burn this. And then you won't even have a memory left."

The pendant itself was worthless. But sealed inside the resin were strands of my mother's hair.

She had died in an explosion. There was nothing left of her.

Those few strands were all I'd managed to gather, collecting them one by one from around the house.

Having them set in resin made it feel like she was still with me.

The moment I saw Yolanda raise the pendant toward the barbecue grill beside her, I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached.

Every word came out ground between them.

"I'll do it."

The crowd erupted in mocking laughter the second I put the sign around my neck. Phones shot up from every direction.

Yolanda smiled, satisfied.

"There we go. Now remember, whatever Nathan asks you to do, you do it. No fuss."

"Don't worry. Keep him happy, and once the party's over, I'll give the pendant back. And everything I promised you—I'll follow through."

I lifted my head, my face completely blank.

"Can I use the restroom?"

Yolanda didn't refuse, but she confiscated my phone.

She even posted two bodyguards at the door, terrified I might try to run.

What she didn't know was that I no longer wanted to leave.

Because leaving would be letting her off too easy.

I shut the stall door and pressed a button on my watch.

A crackle of static hissed through the connection, and then a voice bubbled up from the other end—bright, affectionate, playful.

"Big brother! Didn't you say you were coming back to Harbor City today?"

"I figured you'd be tired, so I brought people to pick you up. Pretty thoughtful of me, right? Where are you?"

I drew a slow breath and kept my voice even.

"I've been detained. She betrayed me. She's trying to force me to be her lover's pet."

"The Delgado Family Code—every kindness repaid, every wrong avenged. You don't need me to tell you what to do."

Silence hung in the air for a single heartbeat.

When Gwendolen Delgado spoke again, every trace of that bubbly warmth was gone. Her voice was ice wrapped around a blade.

"Send me your location. I'm on my way. That piece of filth is dead."

Yolanda had me dragged before Nathan, her tone dripping with tenderness—though none of it was meant for me.

"Nathan, darling, Clement is your personal pet today. You can make him do whatever you want."

"Wow, I always knew Ms. Morton spoiled me the most!" Nathan planted a gleeful kiss on her cheek.

Then his gaze dropped to the wooden sign hanging from my chest, and he burst out laughing.

"So that's why Clement didn't like yesterday's sign made from a beer bottle—turns out he prefers this kind. A born glutton for punishment."

He cocked his head, grinning wider.

"But I've never seen a dog standing in front of its master before. Looks like someone needs to learn some manners first."

The words had barely left his mouth before Yolanda flicked a glance at the bodyguards.

A boot slammed into the backs of my knees.

I crashed to the floor with a dull, heavy thud, pain shooting up through both legs. The entire room erupted in laughter.

I tried to push myself up, but hands clamped down on my shoulders and pinned me in place.

Nathan sauntered over, swaggering with every step, and slapped my face—hard, twice.

"That's better. Dogs should look like dogs."

"Good boy. Are you hungry? Your master prepared something delicious for you."

He snapped his fingers, and someone brought over a trash can from the banquet table. Inside were chicken bones he'd just finished gnawing on, tossed in a heap.

And beneath them—the vomit of some lightweight guest who'd barely managed half a glass before getting sick.

Nathan leaned in close, his lips nearly brushing my ear, his voice a low, taunting whisper.

"You worthless piece of trash. You were so full of yourself yesterday, weren't you? Too bad the one picking through garbage now is you."

So that was what this was about. He was getting back at me for what I'd said the day before.

I lifted my gaze to Yolanda. My voice stayed level.

"Is this what you want too?"

Something flickered behind her eyes—hesitation, maybe—and her lips parted as if to speak.

But Nathan beat her to it, his lower lip jutting out in an exaggerated pout.

"Ms. Morton, I'm only doing this to teach him to behave. So he doesn't throw jealous tantrums whenever he pleases, or threaten you with divorce once you're married."

"Besides, you promised you'd stand up for me. Was that all a lie? Fine then—forget it. I'll return the jade token, resign on the spot, and get out of your sight!"

Yolanda pulled him into her arms, soothing him like a wounded child, then turned to me with the cold authority of a command.

"Clement, don't forget what you just promised me. Or do you not want the pendant anymore?"

"Nathan only has your best interests at heart. What successful woman doesn't have a man on the side? As her husband, you need to learn to be generous and accepting. Consider this a test of your character."

"Don't ruin Nathan's birthday. Eat it, and I promise I won't think less of you. After today, you'll be my one and only Mr. Morton."

My fists clenched slowly at my sides. I stared in silence at the woman I had once given my whole heart to.

When the Morton ancestors left behind that pair of jade tokens, they'd said the tokens could serve as protection in ordinary times—and if the family ever hit rock bottom, they could be sold as seed money for a comeback.

But generation after generation, no matter how bitter or desperate things got, not a single Morton had ever parted with them.

Yolanda's ambitions reached the sky. She wanted to build her own empire, but she refused to sell the heirlooms to do it.