Chapter 1

Victor's brow creased. "No. Ask me for something else."

I stared out the car window and said nothing.

When I didn't answer, he tried another angle. "Come on, let the past be the past. I promise I'll do my best not to contact Sophia anymore. Okay?"

He was making an effort, just not much of one.

Three years inside, and the rival family's plant had worked me over until I lost the baby. In his mouth, all of that was just "the past."

I was about to speak when his phone started playing that song, the one I'd come to hate more than anything. My Heart Will Go On.

Three years, and he still hadn't changed her ringtone. What "not to contact" was he talking about?

He hesitated for just a second, then answered.

When he hung up, he turned to me with urgency in his eyes. "Delora, Sophia slashed her wrists. She's lost a lot of blood. The hospital's out of RH-negative stock, and I remember... that's your blood type."

I looked straight at him. "Victor. Are you actually asking me to donate blood for her? This is what 'not to contact' looks like?"

Victor took a long breath, pressing down whatever was rising in him.

"Delora, it's a human life. You've always been the reasonable one—"

"Victor." I cut him off. "What if I say no?"

He stared at me for a long time. Then, slowly, like a man reduced to prayer, he said: "Please. I'm begging you."

Something hit me hard in the chest.

Victor had once had a gun pressed to his head by my father and still wouldn't soften for me. Not once. And here he was, begging. For her.

I felt something sad wash through me, not just for him, but for myself.

"Fine." I pressed my nails into my palm. "But I have one condition."

"Name it," he said quickly. "Anything."

"Give me the ring."

His voice shot up, raw with anger he couldn't hold back. "I told you no! I'm not giving it back! Why can't you just drop this!"

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and looked at him calmly.

"Either you give me the ring and I donate the blood, or I walk and Sophia's on her own. Your call."

Victor's jaw was tight, his eyes hard with something close to hate.

"Fine. Take it."

He wrenched the ring off his finger and threw it at me. It hit the floor, bounced twice, and finally went still, having struggled longer than his feelings for me ever had.

The car flew down the road fast enough to turn my stomach.

At the hospital, Victor dragged me into the treatment room with a grip so hard my arm went numb. He didn't relax until he saw my blood flowing into the collection bag.

"Delora, I know you only wanted the ring back to spite me. And actually, we should get new ones anyway, to symbolize a fresh start. I'll get you something better, more expensive. We can place the custom order today. It won’t take more than a month."

I was too drained from blood loss to argue.

"...Good, you're not angry anymore. Let me go check on Sophia real quick. I'll come find you after."

Once he was gone, I reached into my pocket for the ring I'd quietly picked up off the floor. I looked at it one last time. I'd designed it myself, with our initials inscribed inside the band and the word "Forever" between them.

I laughed at myself, then dropped it in the trash.

Victor, everything you were doing for me right now was nothing but guilt. And I didn't need your guilt. I didn't need you anymore.