Chapter 3

Holly couldn't bear to watch Vincent take another blow. She rushed forward and raised her hand to stop Stanley's whip.

"Stanley, please stop. Beating him isn't going to solve anything."

Seeing Holly only made Stanley feel more guilty, and his anger at Vincent grew.

"I failed to raise him right! After the way he's treated you, he deserves to be taught a lesson!"

"This is between Vincent and me. Please, let us work it out ourselves, okay?"

Her plea gave Stanley a reason to back down. Still breathing hard, he finally lowered the whip.

Sylvia stepped forward and took Holly by the wrist, tears in her eyes. "Don't worry, Holly. You're the only one we want as our daughter-in-law."

Holly looked at Stanley and Sylvia's aging faces, her heart sinking.

They hadn't approved of her at first. She didn't come from money, and they'd looked down on her for working as a sales associate. But that had changed a year ago, when Holly got pregnant.

The Murdochs were traditional, and they'd finally accepted her. Even after she lost the baby, Stanley and Sylvia had insisted that Vincent take responsibility and treat her right.

They were good people, and she'd let them down. She'd been lying to them from the very beginning.

Holly gave Sylvia a reassuring smile. "Vincent and I will talk things through. Why don't you and Stanley go get some rest?"

Stanley and Sylvia reluctantly went inside, still worried.

Holly helped Vincent over to a bench in the courtyard gazebo, then asked one of the household staff to bring a first-aid kit.

She reached out to tend to his wounds, but he frowned.

"I'll do it myself."

Her hand hovered in the air for a moment before she slowly pulled it back. She gave a bitter smile.

Tiffany wasn't even there, but Vincent still wouldn't let Holly take care of him.

When Vincent fell for someone, he gave them his whole heart. Holly knew what it was like to be loved that way. She'd just never imagined what it would feel like to lose it.

Vincent deftly cut open his shirt, revealing his muscular build, then cleaned and dressed his wounds himself.

When he noticed Holly staring at him, lost in thought, he scoffed.

"Don't think just because you've won my parents over, things can go back to the way they were. I'm tired of you."

Holly snapped out of her thoughts and gave him a faint smile. "I know."

Her calm response caught Vincent off guard. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Holly continued, "But you know you've damaged my reputation. The least you can do is make it up to me, Mr. Murdoch."

He glanced sideways at her, his expression cold. "How much?"

Holly met his gaze without flinching. "Five million dollars and an invitation to the Vesper Gala."

Every December, Lachlan hosted the exclusive Vesper Gala at Bauman Manor, attracting some of the biggest names in high society.

Vincent received an invitation every year, but he never went.

Holly suspected the missing women and the actresses who'd been murdered were somehow connected to the gala. She needed to get inside.

Vincent's frown deepened. "Why do you want to go to the gala?"

Holly shrugged. "To find myself another rich guy, obviously. You're tired of me, so I might as well find someone else, right?"

Vincent looked taken aback, then his expression hardened. "Holly, I never knew you were so shallow."

Holly met his gaze calmly. "Well, we can't all be as sweet and innocent as Ms. Neale. But you promised to make it up to me, Mr. Murdoch. You're not going back on your word, are you?"

Vincent's eyes grew red as he spoke through clenched teeth. "I'll give you the invitation when it arrives at the end of the month. Go if you want, but if you get into trouble, don't come crawling back to me."

Holly met his gaze with a faint smile. "Don't worry. I'd rather die than come begging you for help."

She knew there was a chance she wouldn't make it out alive. For a moment, she worried her words might actually come true.

But she quickly pushed the thought aside. She'd spent years working on this case, and no matter how dangerous things got, she was determined to uncover the truth.

Vincent stared at Holly's resigned smile, a vein pulsing at his temple. "Holly, you never really loved me, did you?"

The question caught Holly off guard. "Why would you ask that?"

"I just broke up with you. If you really loved me, why are you already looking for someone else?"

"If that's what you want to believe, fine."

She turned and walked out of Murdoch Manor without looking back. She couldn't stay another second. If she did, Vincent might see her tears.

She'd never loved him? Of course she had.

A year ago, they'd gone on a trip to the mountains. Vincent had come down with the flu, and his fever had gotten so bad that his life was in danger.

Days of heavy rain had caused a landslide, blocking the mountain road. No ambulance could get through.

Vincent was barely conscious, so Holly gritted her teeth and supported his weight as they struggled down the muddy, slippery road.

She lost track of how long they'd been walking before they finally reached the rescuers and got Vincent into an ambulance.

Only then did Holly collapse from exhaustion, blood staining the hem of her skirt.

She was just three months pregnant and had already been at risk of miscarriage. In the end, she lost the baby.

Holly couldn't bear the thought of Vincent blaming himself, so she'd told him the prenatal tests had shown something wrong and she'd decided to end the pregnancy.

If she hadn't loved him, how else could she have found the strength to get him down that treacherous mountain road? And why would she have lied just to spare him the guilt?

But none of that mattered anymore.

Their relationship had been a mistake from the very beginning. They were never going to last.