Chapter 7

I stayed awake the entire night. Without my phone, I had no concept of time until the horizon began to bleed with faint gold light.

Just like the rising sun, my mind slowly cleared and settled.

As the sun fully emerged, flooding the sky with brilliant light, I felt a strange sense of rebirth.

Exhaling a long breath of cold air, I stood up and began my trek down the mountain.

Since Manuel had driven off with Hathaway, I had zero expectations of him returning for me.

The trail wasn't particularly steep, but perhaps due to my lack of sleep and sheer exhaustion, it didn't take long before I started feeling incredibly weak and lightheaded.

The paved road wound down in endless, dizzying loops. My steps grew heavier with each turn, and hot, angry tears finally started pouring down my face.

My family hadn't always been wealthy, but my mother had never let me suffer or feel neglected.

Manuel used to tell me he loved girls who were gentle, elegant, and composed.

From that day on, I changed everything—my style, my speech, my manners—just to fit his ideal of a "perfect, elegant lady."

Whenever he looked at me with approval, I thought we were building a beautiful life together.

But now I knew it was all a pathetic, one-sided delusion.

He had never loved me. The only person he truly cared about was Hathaway.

I didn't know how long I had been walking. Dehydrated and starved, my body felt like lead. Gasping for air, I leaned against a tree trunk and slowly collapsed onto the dirt road.

Just then, the low rumble of an engine caught my attention. A white SUV was driving up the winding road toward me.

Desperate, I forced myself to stand up to wave for help. But the moment I stood, the entire world spun violently, and my vision went black.