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Chapter 2

Penulis: Candy
The moment the door to the Lane estate opened, my grandmother, Eleanor Lane, dropped her teacup. It shattered on the floor.

She took one look at my soaked clothes and ashen face, and her expression slowly hardened.

"Who did this?"

I handed her my phone.

On the screen was the marriage confirmation the Thorne family had just sent over.

"Grandma, I'm going to the Thornes."

Eleanor stared at the agreement for a long time.

"Everyone's been saying the Thornes specifically asked for Chloe Stevens. But the response they sent back said only this: the Lane candidate."

She looked up at me.

My throat tightened.

Eleanor set the agreement down in front of me.

"Chloe didn't want to go, and what does that have to do with you? Vivienne, you are not anyone's stand-in, and you are not anyone's backup plan."

A sharp screech of brakes came from outside the door.

Harrison, Garrett, and Nathan had followed me here.

Eleanor pressed a pen into my palm.

"If you've made up your mind, sign it. This time, sign it for yourself and no one else."

I lowered my head and wrote my name.

Harrison burst into the living room just as I finished the last stroke.

"What did you sign?"

"A marriage agreement."

Garrett's face changed.

"You're marrying Damian Thorne?"

Nathan strode over, reaching for the document. I stepped aside.

His hand hung in the air, his expression frozen.

"Vivienne, don't gamble with marriage out of spite. We'll figure out what happened with Chloe."

I looked at him.

"Figure out what? Keep pushing me into frozen lakes?"

Harrison yanked his tie loose in frustration.

"I was angry. But you were wrong too. You knew Chloe is terrified of water, and you still pushed her that far."

"I didn't push her. She smashed her own computer and jumped into the lake herself. As for why none of you bothered to ask before deciding it was me, I'd like to know that too."

Garrett frowned.

"Where's your proof?"

My heart sank.

So they did know that accusations required evidence.

They just didn't need any when it came to Chloe.

When it came to me, every word had to be proven.

I let out a quiet laugh.

"I don't have any."

Harrison took that as surrender and reached out to ruffle my hair.

I turned my face away.

"Fine. Since you don't have proof, drop it. Chloe got a real scare. Go see her at the hospital tomorrow and clear the air."

I looked up at him.

"Why should I?"

"Because you ruined her competition entry, forced her into the lake, and you owe her."

Eleanor slammed her palm on the table.

"Harrison Hale, who exactly owes whom?"

She looked at me, her voice cold.

"My granddaughter nearly froze to death in that lake. The three of you stood on the bank. Did any of you lift a finger to help her? And now you have the nerve to tell her to take care of someone else?"

Garrett lowered his voice.

"Mrs. Lane, we'll make it up to Vivienne."

Eleanor laughed sharply. "Make it up to her? With what? That affection of yours that you can take back whenever you feel like it?"

The living room fell silent.

Then a tearful voice came from outside the door.

"Harrison!"

Chloe stood in the snow, wearing nothing but a thin knit sweater, her face deathly pale.

Harrison rushed out almost on instinct.

Garrett took off his coat and wrapped it around her.

Nathan held her steady, asking softly if she was cold.

The three of them surrounded her.

Just the way they used to surround me.

Chloe leaned against Harrison's chest, lifting her teary eyes to look at me.

"Vivienne, I'm sorry. Maybe I should be the one going to the Thornes. I'm not afraid. I just don't want to keep hurting you."

Harrison's face went dark.

"Don't be ridiculous. Going to someone like Damian Thorne would be a death sentence."

My pain was just something for them to move past.

But the mere suggestion that Chloe might go to the Thornes was enough to make them lose their heads.

Eleanor dialed the Thorne family right in front of them.

"The Hales won't let this go easily. Tomorrow night is too late."

The other end was silent for a moment.

Then a low, steady voice came through.

"Understood. I'll move the flight up."

Eleanor hung up.

"Vivienne, you're leaving tonight."
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