Our engagement party was supposed to be the most lavish social event in all of New York, but a month before the big day, my fiancé, Julian Sterling, had my father thrown into the city's most notorious private prison.

Julian's reason? His ex-girlfriend, Scarlett Hale, claimed someone had leaked company secrets, and the supposed evidence was conveniently found on my father's computer. He gave me no chance to explain, informing me with chilling calm that unless I could spin a convincing tale, my father would rot there for the rest of his life.

His thumb brushed my jaw, a touch devoid of any warmth, his eyes as cold as frost. He assured me he wouldn't call off our engagement over such a "trivial matter." The party, he said, would proceed as planned.

The thought of my father suffering in that hellhole shattered me. In that moment, I made a vow: if this was how he treated the people I loved, then I was done with Julian Sterling. For good.

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1

One word from Scarlett Hale was all it took. On her word alone, my fiancé, Julian Sterling, had my father, Arthur Vaughn, locked away in a private prison on the edge of the city.

After hearing the news, I rushed to the prison to see him.

When I finally arrived, breathless, the sight that greeted me was shattering. My father was swallowed by a tattered prison uniform, his face a canvas of bruises. He gasped for air, one of his ribs clearly broken during a so-called prison "conflict."

I slammed my fists on the thick glass of the visitation room, desperate to claw my way through and check his injuries.

Tears streamed down his face as he clutched the receiver. "I can't take much more of this, Aurora. Please, you have to get Julian to move me to a proper hospital."

Sobbing, I called Julian again and again, but every call went straight to his cold, automated voicemail.

The call finally connected just as guards were forcibly hauling my father away from the phone.

"Didn't I tell you I'm at an important party? Stop bothering me." Julian's voice was sharp with impatience. "You're about to become Mrs. Sterling. When are you going to stop making a scene?"

In the background, I could clearly hear Scarlett’s coquettish laughter mingling with the buoyant sound of a crowd cheering "Happy Birthday" over the music.

My father’s condition was critical. I sobbed, my voice cracking as I begged him, "Please, just let him go to a hospital. He's hurt so badly. He's dying, Julian."

There was a pause on the line, as if he were calculating something, before he finally said, "I'm aware," and hung up.

We waited as the day bled into night, my father's breathing growing shallower with every passing hour.

Just as I was sinking into despair, I overheard a nearby guard grumbling to his partner. "Can you believe this? Sterling booked the whole rooftop at The Peak for his ex's birthday, and we're stuck here babysitting inmates."

Hearing this, my father understood everything. The last glimmer of hope died in his eyes.

With his last ounce of strength, he pressed the antique pocket watch he always carried into my palm.

"Scarlett… she used my computer… must have planted it… A felony… He'll never believe me… I can't drag you down… Only way to prove it now… is with my life…"

"This watch is for you… Aurora, I hope you find happiness…"

Before he could finish, his breath hitched, and then there was nothing. His eyes remained wide open, staring at something I couldn't see.

I didn't even have a moment to grieve before orderlies came and wheeled him away on a gurney. My frantic screams and pleas were useless; they couldn't stop them from taking my father from me.

I lost my father that night. All I could do was watch them take his body away before my legs gave out, and I collapsed to the cold floor, my wails echoing in the empty corridor.

In the distance, brilliant fireworks exploded over the Manhattan skyline, celebrating Scarlett's birthday. On social media, a photo surfaced of Julian holding Scarlett in his arms. They looked for all the world like the happy couple.

The image dragged me back through our past.

I was a junior architect back then, just starting out, when I found him passed out in a bar after being dumped. I took him back to my tiny apartment and made sure he was okay for the night. The next morning, he left a five-figure check on the counter as thanks and disappeared.

I thought that was the end of it. But soon after, he acquired the design firm where I worked. He pursued me relentlessly, finally winning me over by purchasing an abandoned historic building I’d always dreamed of renovating and giving me complete creative control over the project.

Desperate to feel worthy of him, I poured everything into my work, chasing one success after another. But the good times didn't last. The moment his ex-girlfriend Scarlett returned to the city, everything changed.

My promotion was indefinitely postponed, while Scarlett was installed as the company's new "art consultant." Julian told me to be patient. "Aurora, think of the big picture. You'll be the lady of the Sterling estate soon enough."

I naively thought compromise would bring peace. Instead, my silence only emboldened him.

He forgot my award ceremony but booked out a Michelin-starred restaurant to celebrate Scarlett signing her first minor contract. When I was rushed to the emergency room with severe food poisoning, he was busy dispatching a helicopter to retrieve Scarlett, who had merely twisted her ankle on a hike.

The final straw came when I walked in on him slipping the engagement ring I had personally designed for us onto Scarlett's finger. I exploded. When I confronted him, he accused me of being unreasonable. "Aurora, it's just a ring. Is this really worth making a fuss over?"

The memories evaporated, stranding me in the cold, hard present. For three days, I'd been camped outside the morgue, fighting to claim my father's body. I refused to let them cremate him until I had answers. Just then, my phone rang. It was Julian.

Julian's voice was sharp with impatience when he called. "Where are you? The engagement party is just around the corner, and you're off gallivanting somewhere? Send me your location. I'm coming to get you."

I ignored him, but he found me anyway, using my phone's GPS to track me to the morgue's entrance.

He took in my disheveled appearance, his brow furrowing in distaste. "Look at the state of you. Why have you let yourself go like this?"

I looked up, my expression numb, and stared at the man responsible for my father's death. Word by word, I said, "We're supposed to be having an engagement party. That man was your future father-in-law. And he didn't leak anything."

For a fleeting moment, a flicker of something—pity?—crossed his face. But it was gone in the next second, as Scarlett rushed to his side, grabbing his arm in a theatrical panic.

"Julian, I was just so scared... Those files had my private photos in them. If those had gotten out, I—" She covered her mouth, her eyes welling with crocodile tears.

Julian immediately pulled her into a protective embrace, turning back to me with a hardened expression. "You heard her. Those files had her private photos. If they got out, her reputation would be ruined. You of all people should understand that."

The sheer absurdity of his excuse stole my breath. For a few photos, Julian had sent my father to a living hell and let him be tortured to death.

Just then, Scarlett stepped forward, offering me a bouquet of white lilies, her face a perfect mask of sorrow. "Aurora, we know the conditions here are… unpleasant. We wanted to bring something for him. After all, he's your father. We can't let him suffer, can we?"

Her saccharine smile was like acid in my eyes. I slapped the flowers from her hand. "I don't need your fake sympathy!" I roared.

Scarlett froze, and then the tears came, real or not. "Aurora, I was only trying to apologize. This has all been a terrible misunderstanding."

A misunderstanding that cost my father his life.

I clutched the pocket watch in my pocket, the cool metal a stark contrast to my burning rage. I took a step back. "Fine," I said, my voice dangerously low. "You want to apologize? Then kneel."

"Have you made enough of a scene?" Julian stepped forward, his fingers clamping around my wrist like a vice. His tone was ice. "Scarlett never would have come to a place like this if it weren't for you, and now you're deliberately making things difficult for her."

On cue, Scarlett let out a choked sob and ran off as if she were the wounded party.

The weight of the last few days—the shock, the grief, the exhaustion—crashed down on me all at once. My vision tunneled to black, and the world dissolved.

When I woke up, I was in the master bedroom of the penthouse. Julian was sitting by the bed, holding my hand. "You just collapsed," he said, a hint of relief in his voice as he saw my eyes open. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

A chilling numbness spread through my chest. I turned my face away from him, and a new panic seized me as I realized the pocket watch was gone.

"Where is my watch?" I demanded, my voice raw. It was the only piece of my father I had left.

"Oh, that," Julian said dismissively. "I had it put in the safe. For safekeeping."

I knew I couldn't fight him, not now. I had no choice but to stay, a prisoner in a place I once called home.