LOGIN“Where is she?” Wendy’s voice cut through the room, sharp enough to draw blood. Her calm mask cracked completely, her eyes darting wildly across the empty bed, the untouched pillows, the neatly folded blanket.Sarah was gone.The guard stiffened. “Madam… she was inside all night. I—”“Useless!” Wendy snapped, her voice rising. “You were guarding an empty room?”Footsteps thundered in the hallway as Arthur Vance rushed over, irritation already etched across his face. “What’s all this noise? Mr. Shawn is waiting—”He stopped when he saw Wendy’s expression.“What happened?”Wendy turned slowly, her face pale but her eyes blazing. “She’s gone.”For a moment, Arthur didn’t understand. Then the words sank in.“Gone?” he repeated, his voice dangerously low.He strode into the room, scanning it himself as if Sarah might suddenly appear from thin air. His jaw tightened. The air around him grew cold.“Search the house,” he barked. “Every room. Every corner. Check the gates. No one leaves this c
Sarah stood in front of Nathan’s door.Her fingers hovered in the air, frozen just inches from the doorbell.Cold crept into her limbs, sharp and sudden.What if he hadn’t meant it?What if that proposal—those words—had been nothing more than something blurted out in the heat of the moment? What if it was a joke? Or something he said on a whim?Her heart thudded unevenly as doubt flooded in.She lifted her hand, then dropped it again.But then her stepmother’s voice echoed in her head. Matilda’s sinister laughter. Her father’s cold indifference. The contract. He really planned to sell her to get her mother’s last will. Her own inheritance. Sarah’s jaw tightened.It didn’t matter.She had to get married.Nathan might be a familiar stranger, but he was still a better choice than the future they had planned for her. And if he refused… she would find someone else.Still, she hoped, desperately that he had been sincere.Before she could lose her nerve again, Sarah pressed the doorbell.T
What to do?… what to do?… Her phone buzzed softly, dragging her attention back. The battery icon blinked red. 15%. A sharp wave of panic washed over her. “Of course,” she muttered bitterly. “Of course.” She forced herself to breathe, slow and quiet, afraid even the sound of her own breath might betray her. The storeroom felt smaller now, the walls closing in as her thoughts raced wildly. Think, Sarah. Think. Her gaze dropped to the phone again—and then something sparked in her memory. The lounge. The apartment lounge. At her apartment complex, the front desk always called residents whenever there was a visitor, a delivery, anything at all. She had received calls from them countless times. Her fingers moved quickly as she dialed the lounge number from memory. The phone rang once but it was unreachable. She tried again and again but it was still not going through. Sarah inhaled and exhaled deeply before she tried again, her hands shaking now. But the number wasn’t going th
Sarah walked to the window with shaky legs. Her palms were slick with sweat as she pushed aside the thin curtain and leaned forward, peering down into the darkness below. The night air rushed in, cold against her flushed skin. From the second floor, the ground didn’t look impossibly far—but it wasn’t close either. Her stomach clenched tightly. It wasn’t too high, she told herself. But still, her heart pounded violently as she measured the height with her eyes again, trying to imagine the fall, the impact, the pain. One wrong move and she could break a leg. Or worse. She pulled back from the window and pressed her forehead against the cool glass, forcing herself to breathe. If she stayed, tomorrow would come. Staying here till tomorrow meant marrying Shawn Carter. Her chest tightened painfully as she clenched the curtain tightly. 'She absolutely wouldn't allow it' She turned around abruptly, her gaze sweeping the room until her eyes spotted what she was
“Let me go!” Sarah’s screamed out loud as two guards seized her arms, one on each side. Their hands were rough and unyielding, fingers digging into her flesh as if she were a criminal instead of a daughter being dragged through her own home. “Let me go!” she shouted again, twisting violently, her hair slipping loose from its tie and falling into her eyes. They did not loosen their grip. If anything, they tightened it. Her heels scraped harshly against the polished marble floor as they dragged her backward. The sound echoed—long, ugly, helpless. The familiar walls of the Vance family sitting room blurred as she was hauled toward the center, her breath coming out in short, burning gasps. Then she saw him. Her father. He stood up from his seat, his tall frame stiff with fury, his face dark and sharp as carved stone. He stepped forward until he was directly in front of her, blocking her path like a wall she could never climb over. His eyes burned into hers. “You good-for-
The Vance mansion had never felt like home, but tonight it seemed more like a courtroom. Her step mother and her father face without smiling. It was obvious she was about to be lectured. Jasper was there too, a white bandage cutting across his forehead where the bottle had shattered. He sat beside Matilda, who lounged at his side in triumphant ease, one gloved hand resting delicately on his knee. She wore black dress, as though her years of absence had been a solemn sacrifice rather than the farce Sarah knew it to be. The sight nearly made Sarah choke. Her father's voice broke the silence. “Sit, Sarah.” Sarah remained standing, though her knees trembled. “Why am I here?” “To answer for your behavior,” he replied coolly. “Your actions have disgraced not just Jasper but our entire family. Word of the… incident at the party has traveled farther than you can imagine. Our name is a laughingstock.” Sarah clenched her fists. “He hit me in front of everyone. And you call me a d







