Chapter 3

Minutes ticked by.

The wall clock clicked steadily.

Outside, the sky slowly bruised into night.

Julian's phone sat entirely silent on the coffee table.

The composure on his face began to fracture into an almost imperceptible restlessness.

He picked up his coffee and took a sip, his brow furrowing deeper.

The coffee was stone-cold.

Usually by this hour, I would have already replaced it with a warm latte.

He remembered that I hated the bitterness of coffee.

Yet he had grown used to the perfect warmth I delivered to his hands every single day.

Lucas paced back and forth across the suite.

"It's eight o'clock already, and Chloe hasn't made a single peep."

"Did she really run off to hide in some godforsaken ditch?"

Victoria, who was massaging Bella's calves by the bed, scoffed.

"A girl who's tasted luxury like this? Suffer in some slum?"

"She's probably shacking up with some scumbag."

"You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trash out of the girl."

Bella tugged timidly at Victoria's sleeve.

"Mom, please don't say that about Chloe."

"What if... what if something really happened to her?"

"That nurse sounded so certain. It's making me anxious."

Julian slammed his coffee cup onto the glass table.

It landed with a sharp, heavy thud.

The room went instantly dead silent.

"An accident? What could possibly happen to her?"

Julian's voice remained steady, but his cadence had quickened.

"She's just exploiting the fact that we urgently need blood to play mind games with us."

"If she wants to play, I'll play until she breaks."

He pulled out his phone and dialed his assistant.

"Contact our media partners."

"Leak the story that Chloe forged a death certificate, abandoned her sick sister, and refused to support her family."

"Buy top trending spots. Stoke the fire."

"I want the whole city to see her for the monster she is."

On the other end, his assistant hesitated.

"Mr. Hayes... isn't that taking it too far?"

"Miss Chloe is your fiancée, after all. If the public backlash spirals—"

"Do as I said."

Julian cut him off without a shred of mercy.

"She started this war, and I'm going to finish it."

"Only when she's pushed to the absolute edge will she realize who her only protector is."

Hovering above, I watched Julian issue the hit piece with ruthless efficiency.

My heart was shockingly peaceful.

No anger. No sorrow.

Just an overwhelming sense of hollow boredom.

He was always like this—using that brilliant, rational mind to calculate the most precise ways to crush my dignity.

He believed that if he cut off every escape route, I would come crawling back to his feet.

He had no idea that I had already reached the true dead end long ago.

Within half an hour, the internet erupted.

The video of Victoria causing a scene in the ER had been edited and posted online.

It was slapped with a sensational headline:

[Billionaire Heiress Forges Own Cremation Certificate to Spite Family and Starve Sick Sister of Blood!]

The comments were a unified wall of vile abuse.

—"What an evil bitch. She won't even save her own sister?"

—"Mrs. Vance is a saint. How did she birth such an ungrateful parasite?"

—"Dox her! Drag her out by the hair and strap her down to a donor chair!"

Lucas scrolled through the comments, a satisfied smirk curling his lips.

"Let's see where she hides now."

"When the entire internet is tearing her apart and she can't even step outside, she'll finally regret it."

Just then, Julian's phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID, his gaze sharpening instantly.

It was his assistant.

He tapped answer, his tone dripping with condescending mockery.

"What? Did she finally use a card?"

His assistant's panicked voice came through the speaker.

"Mr. Hayes, we got a hit!"

"Miss Chloe's card had a charge go through ten minutes ago near a scrap yard in the industrial slums!"

Julian shot to his feet.

The glare on his gold-rimmed glasses flashed brightly under the chandelier.

"Get the car."