Chapter 2

Christian's voice turned sharp. "If this has nothing to do with us, then get out. We are not going the same way from here."

Jessica handed me an umbrella at just the right moment with a faint smile.

I said nothing. I opened the door and stepped out.

By the time I grabbed my luggage, the car was already gone. It sped off, splashing roadside water all over me. Meanwhile, the umbrella was broken. I struggled with it for a long time, but it would not open. Within minutes, I was soaked through.

The rain fell too hard to catch a cab. I finally found a spot with a little cover, then called my best friend, Rachel Tanner, and asked her to pick me up.

While I waited, I checked my phone and saw a voice message from my husband, Virgil Carrington. He had sent it an hour earlier.

I tapped it open, and my daughter's voice came through at once.

"Mommy, Daddy said my visa should be ready soon. Just 10 more days, and I can come back to Imperius with Daddy to find Mommy!"

Her soft voice brought a smile to my face before I realized it.

It was already late at night in Goldridge. Virgil and Anna were probably asleep, so I did not start a video call. I sent back a gentle voice reply instead.

After I closed my chat with Virgil, I saw a new post from Jessica.

[My sister's back in the country. It should be a happy thing, but for some reason, I feel a little sad.]

The attached photo showed my side profile as I slept in the car.

The comments had already exploded.

[Oh my God, Juliana is back? She actually got this skinny? Why did she come back now? Is she trying to steal the groom?]

[She can try all she wants. Chris has moved on. It doesn't matter how much she changed. She came back too late.]

[Sending hugs, Jessie. You treated Juliana like a sister, and she comes back just to steal your man. Shameless.]

At the very bottom was Christian's reply.

[Don't be upset. Only you will ever be my Mrs. Fairmont.]

Jessica replied with a heart.

My temple throbbed. I locked my phone and put it away. It was better not to look.

Before long, Rachel arrived and picked me up.

She had obviously seen Jessica's post, because she spent the entire drive complaining on my behalf. "I seriously don't know if Jessica ever gets tired of putting on that act. 'Your sister is back and I am so happy'? Did she forget that she and her mother drove you out of the Winslow family and stole your engagement?"

She rolled her eyes so hard I almost laughed. "Good thing the Carringtons weren't blind. The second they found out your father had swapped the engagement to Jessica, they annulled it outright. But Christian really is blind. I thought after living in a church for five years, he must have been deeply devoted to you. Who knew he would end up engaged to Jessica of all people."

I smiled faintly. "Christian was never devoted to me. The one he always wanted to marry was Jessica."

Rachel's eyes flew open. "How is that possible? He treated you so well back then."

Did he? The answer stirred inside me and brought back the old pain, sharp enough to scorch my lungs.

I was 13 when my mother found out my father was cheating.

She could not accept it. She walked into the sea and killed herself. Not even a body was recovered.

From that day on, my life felt like a nightmare I couldn't escape.

After my mother's funeral, my father brought Jessica and her mother home.

They took my room, sold my mother's belongings whenever they pleased, and framed me more than once. In the end, they pushed my father into throwing me out of the house.

I had no choice but to move into Nazerm, the old district, into damp rooms that smelled of mildew. Not long after, a doctor diagnosed me with severe psychological issues. The medication caused my weight to climb until I reached 200 pounds.

My father found me embarrassing, so he stopped caring about what happened to me.

Then Christian appeared and pulled me out of that nightmare. He was the heir to the Fairmont family, the untouchable prize no one could reach.

Yet he moved into the old district just to live next door to me. When people mocked my size, he stood in front of me and shut them down. He accompanied me to see my psychiatrist.

When he learned that part of my illness came from growing up without love, he opened his arms without hesitation. "Juliana, be with me. I will love you."

That was the only warmth I touched in the seven years after my mother died. I fell for Christian so completely that I never tried to resist.

When my father demanded that I give up my engagement to the Carrington heir and hand it to Jessica, I agreed without hesitation.

It did not matter. As long as I had Christian, I thought I had enough.

That day, I returned to the old district feeling lighter than I had in years, only to find Christian dead drunk.

He caught my hand, pulled a ring from his pocket, and slurred, "Juliana, marry me."

Sweetness flooded my chest. I didn't even answer before he passed out.

I tried to help him back to his room, but then his phone lit up.

A message from his friend, Jason Moore, appeared on the screen.

Jason: [Chris, are you seriously proposing to Pigliana? Even if you can't marry Jessica, you don't need to ruin the rest of your life on her.]

I froze. A second later, I realized Pigliana meant me. My whole body went rigid. My hands shook as I picked up his phone and scrolled through his earlier messages with Jason.

Christian: [Jessie thinks being an illegitimate daughter makes her too tainted for me. She thinks she is beneath me. So I will find a woman even more beneath her and prove I don't care about any of that.]

Christian: [I found one. Her name is Juliana. She is fat and poor. She is low enough. Jessie is 10,000 times better than her.]

Christian: [I might have overdone the act. That fatty is so in love with me now I'm honestly worried she will cling to me when I dump her.]

Christian: [Turns out Juliana is Jessie's sister. She has been bullying Jessie for years, and she even shoved the engagement she didn't want onto Jessie.]

Christian: [I want to tear Juliana apart, but Jessie doesn't want me to hurt her. She says that is still her sister, so she asked me to treat her well.]

Christian: [Treat her well? Fine. I might as well marry her. That way, even if I can't marry Jessie, Jessie and I will still end up as family.]

I felt as if I had been dropped into an ice pit.

That was the truth. Christian had never loved me, not once. Every bit of tenderness, every moment he protected me, every soft word he had given me had been false.

I was a tool he used to prove a point. A backup choice he reached for in his own despair.

The image of my mother walking into the sea after learning she had been betrayed flashed before my eyes. I clutched my aching chest as tears streamed down my face.

That same night, I booked a flight out of the country and changed my name.

From that moment on, Christian and I had nothing to do with each other.