Chapter 1

Prologue:

I loved Julian Sterling for seven years. I humbled myself to the bone for him.

Three days ago, hitmen ambushed our car on a winding mountain road. Julian took a blow to the head and fell unconscious.

To keep him alive, I pulled on his jacket, jumped into the driver's seat, and lured every single killer away from him.

They dragged me into a dark basement and tortured me for three days and three nights. They shattered the bones in my right hand.

On the third day, my captors shoved a phone in my bloody face.

On the screen was a live stream of Julian's lavish engagement party.

He was slipping a massive pink diamond onto Chloe Montgomery's finger. Then, turning toward the flashing cameras, he said with breathtaking tenderness:

"That day, Chloe put on my coat and drove my car to lead the attackers away. Without her bravery, I would be dead."

Lying in a puddle of filthy water, I swallowed the metallic taste of blood pooling in my throat.

In that instant, my mind cleared.

He had never loved me. Not even for a second.

My eyes stayed glued to the screen. A drop of blood fell from my battered brow, smearing the diamond ring on the glass display.

Three days ago, our sedan smashed into a pine tree. Julian was knocked out cold.

When the hitmen closed in with blades drawn, I sobbed in terror. But I still wrapped his black coat around my shoulders, restarted the engine, and sped toward a dead-end ravine to draw them off.

I foolishly thought risking my life would finally earn a shred of his affection.

Instead, I spent seventy-two hours chained to an iron chair while thugs crushed my fingers with steel pipes. Julian’s phone must have been flooded with emergency distress pings from my tracker.

He hadn’t checked it once.

He simply woke up, saw the woman smiling at his bedside, and crowned Chloe his savior.

One of the kidnappers pointed at the screen and howled with laughter.

"Look at that! You took the beating of your life, and he thinks the other chick saved him! He even told his people you were just throwing another jealous tantrum!"

I pressed my face against the cold concrete. My tears had run completely dry.

Seven years ago, my father gave his life to save Julian. On his deathbed, he trusted Julian to take care of me.

For seven long years, I shadowed Julian everywhere. I endured his cold sneers and cutting remarks with a gentle smile, convincing myself it was love.

Now, my father’s debt was paid in full.

And that pathetic, humiliating love? I threw it away.

Heavy iron handcuffs bit into my swollen wrists.

Setting my jaw, I yanked my broken, mangled right hand through the narrow iron ring with all my might.

Flesh tore. Blood poured out. I didn’t utter a single whimper.

I squeezed through an air vent and dragged myself out into the pouring rain.

Limbering through the storm, I climbed the gravel road back to Julian's hilltop estate. By the time I reached the front gates, dawn was breaking.

A warm golden light poured from the French doors. Inside, Chloe’s delicate, honeyed laughter drifted out.

I pounded on the door with my left fist.

It swung open.

Julian stood there in a crisp silk shirt.

The moment his eyes landed on me, his smile vanished, replaced by an icy scowl.

"What kind of scene are you making now, Summer?"

My throat was so shredded I couldn’t speak above a whisper.

To him, whatever I did was just "making a scene."

I lifted my dripping, shattered right hand toward him. "Julian... I was taken. Kidnapped..."

Chloe stepped into view behind him. At the sight of my blood-caked face, she gasped theatrically and shrank into Julian’s embrace like a frightened doe.

Julian frowned deeper.

He didn't look at my hand. Instead, he instinctively shifted his body, shielding Chloe from the sight of me.

He looked at the dirt and blood covering my clothes, his gaze completely devoid of concern—only deep, exhausted irritation.

"Can't you grow up for once?"

He stood bathed in the mansion's radiant warmth, his tone cutting like broken glass.

"You vanish for three days and show up covered in stage blood. Is this your idea of congratulating Chloe and me on our engagement?"

I froze on the marble steps. Freezing rainwater streamed down my neck.

He wouldn't even touch me. Stepping back, he gestured toward the security guard standing in the courtyard.

"Take Miss Miller to an urgent care clinic. Today is an important day for Chloe and me. Don't let her cause a spectacle."

Before the guard could answer, Julian reached out and softly clicked the heavy oak door shut in my face.

My brother was right. You can't make someone love you, even if you bleed dry for them.

Suddenly, tires screeched across the wet driveway. A black SUV slammed on its brakes, and my brother, Daniel, threw open the door. He sprinted through the rain without an umbrella, shedding his trench coat to wrap me in his arms.

His eyes were burning red. "Summer! Oh God, Summer! I'm taking you home!"

Resting my forehead against Daniel’s chest, I stared at that firmly closed front door. My voice was eerily hollow.

"Daniel... is it too late to join that overseas design fellowship you mentioned?"

Daniel shuddered, clutching me tighter. "It's not too late. The flight to Seattle leaves in five days."

"Okay," I whispered, closing my heavy eyelids. "In five days, we leave Chicago. And we never come back."

Then, the world went black.