Chapter 4

Reid's POV

They found Roman at the estate in the western suburbs in under half an hour.

That estate was private property belonging to Maren's mother. During my early years with Maren, I had been locked inside it more times than I could count, though Maren never knew about any of it.

Maren threw me into the basement. "Stay down here and think about what you did."

The storm outside was brutal that night, and the noise coming from upstairs, where Maren was comforting Roman, was just as loud. I sat there and listened for a long time, and at some point a fever started burning through me without my noticing.

Somewhere in the haze, a group of men were shoved into the room with me.

Maren stood on the other side of the door, looking at me through the bars. "I promised Roman that everything he went through today, I would make you pay for in kind.

"Don't worry, I won't think less of you for it. Seven days from now, I'm going to propose to you in front of the whole city."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I threw myself against the door and pounded on it with everything I had. "It was my fault. I'm sorry. I'll give up my place at your side and let Roman have it. Just please let me go."

Maren's brow knotted, and then something violent rolled through her eyes like a wave. She said through clenched teeth, "Reid, you beg for it when it suits you and toss it aside when it doesn't. Does being my husband mean that little to you?"

I was on my knees, eyes red, and I couldn't find a single word to say.

She let out a cold laugh. "You're really something, you know that."

She turned to the men. "Reid here needs to learn his lesson. Make sure he remembers this."

She had said it so casually, but it landed on me like a hammer. Every ounce of strength left my body, and all I could do was stare at the woman in front of me, someone who looked exactly like the woman I loved but was a complete stranger.

The men rushed in all at once, and through the chaos and the flickering light, I saw 25-year-old Maren standing by the doorway with tears pooling in her eyes. "Reid, stop loving her. Walk forward and don't look back."

It felt like a nightmare I would never wake up from, and then a phone ringing somewhere yanked me back to consciousness.

"Son, get here now. Your father's not going to make it. We're at Mercy General. Hurry!"

I slammed my fists against the door until the walls shook. Maren came downstairs in her bathrobe.

I dropped to my knees and reached through the iron bars to grab the hem of her robe. "My dad is dying. Please, will you take me to the hospital?"

Something flickered in her eyes when she saw the state I was in, something that almost looked like sympathy, but a single sentence from Roman wiped it off her face.

"Reid, your dad was perfectly fine this morning. He was lucid enough to call me a homewrecker. How could he suddenly be dying? Or is this just another scheme to get out and come after me again?"

Maren's gaze turned to ice. "Reid, you're really sinking to lies like this now? Even if your mother and father both dropped dead tonight, you are not leaving this basement."

That one sentence shattered the last shred of hope I had left. Maren padlocked the bars and left. I broke both of my arms forcing myself through a gap in the grating.

At 3:00 am, I ran through the empty streets like something already dead, leaving a winding trail of blood behind me. That was until a car horn beeped twice and a Maybach pulled up beside me.

"Reid, get in."

Three hours later, I staggered into the hospital room. Dad's body was already covered with a white sheet.

Mom had fainted twice from crying. I held her upright as we followed Dad's stretcher down a long, dark corridor, and by the end of it, everything he had been was reduced to a small box.

My phone buzzed with a message from Maren, a photo attached. "That country estate you always wanted? It's yours. Consider it a wedding gift for the proposal in seven days."

If she had scrolled even one page further, she would have seen the layoff list with my name on it. Her promises were as hollow as her love had always been, not worth the breath it took to make them.

I never replied. I just lifted my unconscious mother onto my back and got into Phoebe's car.

…

By the next day, all of Harborfield was buzzing with the news that the city's most infamous kept man had finally pressured his way into a proposal, and the Hale family heiress was going to marry him.

The proposal ceremony was lavish beyond anything the city had seen, and the crowds were packed shoulder to shoulder, every last one of them there to watch the spectacle.

But when the appointed hour came and went and I still hadn't shown up, Maren stood there clutching her bouquet as her expression darkened.

"Call Reid. Find out what the hell he thinks he's doing," she ordered her bodyguard.

"Mr. Harding's phone has been off this entire time," he replied.

A wave of panic hit Maren out of nowhere. She snatched the phone and called the hospital directly.

"Dr. Calloway, you tell Reid that if he's not at this ceremony in 30 minutes, I'm pulling his father's treatment at Mercy General. All of it."

Dr. Calloway paused on the other end, then answered almost reflexively. "Ms. Hale, Mr. Harding's father passed away several days ago. They had him cremated that same night. Did you not know?

"Before he left, Mr. Harding asked me to pass along a message. He said he was going home to get married, and that he wouldn't be able to make it to your engagement. He wished you and Mr. Callister a lifetime of happiness."