After feeding Grandma Nora's body into the cremation furnace with her own hands, Hilda Summers declined Jasper Fairmont's ninety-ninth call and blocked his number.
She found her supervisor and withdrew her resignation, but asked to be transferred to a branch in another city.
Most people steered clear of the funeral industry, and Hilda was sharp and capable. When she'd first handed in her notice to get married, her supervisor had been genuinely sorry to see her go. Now, he agreed without hesitation.
When Hilda stood there in silence for a long moment, the supervisor spoke gently.
"Jasper's a good young man. Once you two are married and settled, your grandmother can rest easy. If I remember right, the wedding's supposed to be any day now. Are you pushing it back?"
Hilda opened her mouth. Her voice came out raw. "There's not going to be a wedding."
"A man like that, born into money and privilege, was never going to end up with a woman who works in a funeral home."
The supervisor froze, staring at the ashen pallor of her face. He didn't dare ask more.
Hilda swallowed the blood she'd bitten from the inside of her cheek and offered no further explanation. She tucked Grandma Nora's death certificate into her bag and walked out on unsteady legs.
Grandma had been getting on in years. Her one wish before she died was to see Hilda settled somewhere safe.
But on the eve of the wedding, Hilda had stumbled onto a conversation between Jasper and a friend.
"You two have been together seven years. What are you doing getting engaged to another woman?"
Hilda held her breath. Jasper's voice carried through the door, every word razor-sharp and clear.
"How am I supposed to marry her? You know the gap between our families. You have to marry within your class. And on top of that, she works at a funeral home. Can you imagine how embarrassing that is for the Fairmonts? I can't exactly offend my parents just to make her grandmother happy."
Even his friend sounded uneasy. "So you're engaged now. What about Hilda? Your wedding with her is in a few days."
Hilda's knees buckled. She nearly crashed into the vase by the study door.
Jasper heard the noise. His eyes went cold, and he started toward the door.
...
He sighed, his tone casual. "It's fine. I was never going to register the marriage with Hilda anyway. She won't find out. We'll just go ahead with the ceremony as planned."
"Keep your mouth shut about this, understand? If Hilda finds out, you know how she is. She'll cry and throw a fit and demand we break up. We've been together too long. I don't want any trouble."
His friend agreed without hesitation.
Hilda felt as though she'd plunged into an ice bath. In the last seconds before Jasper opened the door, some shred of survival instinct sent her stumbling back to the bedroom, where she locked herself in the bathroom.
She gripped the edge of the sink. Matching towels and toothbrushes sat on the counter. That very morning, she'd been leaning against Jasper right here, playfully swiping at him with his razor while he laughed.
Hilda stared at her reflection. Then she raised her hand and slapped herself across the face.
It hurt. God, it hurt.
She looked in the mirror, and the tears broke free all at once.
It wasn't a dream.
Why wasn't it a dream?
Seven years together. When they first met, Jasper Fairmont had been the golden boy gone wild, his name a permanent fixture on the school's disciplinary board for cutting class, fighting, smoking, and drinking.
Then Hilda transferred in, and everything changed. He quit smoking, quit drinking, gave up street racing. He became almost docile, reining in his temper, content to follow at her heels.
Everyone joked that the untamable Jasper Fairmont had been brought to heel by a quiet, well-behaved girl like Hilda.
And Hilda had believed it. She'd believed she was truly different to him.
She'd poured herself into planning their future together. Knowing her line of work would put him in an awkward position, she'd been ready to walk away from a career she'd built from the ground up.
She knew the Fairmont family looked down on her, so she'd hired an etiquette coach and painstakingly learned how to be a proper society wife.
The cuts on her fingers from flower-arranging lessons hadn't even healed. Under the running water they turned white and puckered, stinging so badly that tears streamed down her face.
Jasper knocked on the door. He said something had come up at the office and he needed to leave. He wanted a goodbye kiss.
He waited outside for a long time, hearing nothing but the rush of water. A prickle of unease made him reach for the door handle, but then Vivienne Blake's call came through.
"Jasper, you promised to come help me try on wedding dresses today. When are you getting here?"
Jasper glanced one more time at the sealed bathroom door, then lowered his voice. "I know, sweetheart. On my way."
He left in a hurry.
Hilda slid down the door until she was sitting on the cold tile floor, her back pressed against it. Only after his footsteps faded to nothing did the last thread holding her together snap, and a wail tore from her throat.
Grandma was lying in a hospital bed, still asking about the wedding. Hilda's jaw trembled the entire time she lied.
Over and over she said, I'm fine. Jasper's wonderful. Everything's fine.
But Grandma didn't believe her. Fighting through her illness, she went to Jasper's company behind Hilda's back and ran into Vivienne Blake at the front desk.
"This is Fairmont Group, ma'am. Are you confused? Why would your granddaughter's husband be here?"
Grandma thought the young woman looked kind. With shaking hands, she dug out a photo of Hilda and Jasper together and held it out to Vivienne, hoping she might help.
Vivienne took the photo and smiled sweetly.
"I think you've made a mistake. The man in this picture is my fiancé."
She held the photo up high for everyone in the lobby to see. "Take a look, everyone. That's my fiancé, isn't it? I have no idea who the woman next to him is. Ma'am, are you sure you have the right person?"
A crushing pain seized Grandma's chest. She kept repeating that it wasn't possible.
She shuffled forward and clutched Vivienne's hand. "Young lady, please don't say such things. You must have it wrong. How can you be the one marrying him?"
"Who else would it be?"
Vivienne arched one perfect brow, tossed the photo to the floor, and let out a derisive laugh. "Surely you don't think your homewrecking granddaughter is the one marrying into the Fairmont family?"
Chapter 2Vivienne recoiled, disgust written across her face as she shook off Grandma Nora's hand. She pulled out a wet wipe and scrubbed each finger like she was removing contamination.
Before marrying Jasper, Vivienne had dug up everything there was to know about the people around him. She knew all about Hilda.
A silent sneer curled behind her lips.
Hilda really ought to take a good look in the mirror before playing the childhood-sweethearts card with Jasper.
Grandma Nora stared at the scattered photos on the floor. Her vision blurred, darkening at the edges, and her legs nearly gave out beneath her.
Then, without warning, Vivienne's voice shifted to something soft and coy.
"Jasper, you're finally here! This woman barged in out of nowhere, throwing her age around and making a scene. She keeps insisting you're her granddaughter's husband."
Grandma Nora forced her clouded eyes open as wide as they would go. She shifted her stiff body, and the moment she saw Jasper, she reached for him on instinct.
"Jasper, dear."
But this man who had once sat at a hospital bedside holding Hilda's hand and promising to love her granddaughter for the rest of his life now stood frowning at the old woman. "What are security doing? How did they let someone like this in?"
He stepped on the photo beneath his shoe.
"Get her out. My wedding is in a few days. I won't have some stranger ruining Vivienne's mood."
He turned to leave. Behind him, something hit the ground with a heavy thud, followed by a chorus of screams.
Jasper's pupils contracted. He whipped around.
He moved toward her on instinct, but Vivienne caught his arm.
"Careful, Jasper. What if she's faking it to shake us down for money?"
A few employees wandered over to check. Vivienne tugged at Jasper's sleeve, her voice a playful whine. "Come on, just let them call 911. That's enough."
"Unless you're really staying behind for Hilda's sake and leaving me here alone?"
Jasper shook his head immediately. "Of course not."
He took Vivienne's hand and smiled. "Let's go. It's the birthday girl's day. The sky could fall and I wouldn't leave your side."
That day, Hilda had been like a lost child. She didn't know where Grandma had gone or what had happened. She didn't understand how the old woman who was supposed to be discharged that morning was dead by afternoon.
All Hilda remembered was how bright the hospital lights were, so bright the hallway blurred. She ran after the stretcher, legs burning, the taste of blood rising in her throat.
She collapsed to her knees outside the operating room, desperate for a shoulder to lean on for the first time in her life.
By the time she realized what she was doing, the call to Jasper had already gone through.
A few rings, then a woman's voice picked up. "Who is this?"
Behind the voice: the rush of a shower running.
Hilda opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
She curled in on herself, inch by inch, until she was doubled over, making a sound somewhere between laughing and sobbing, a raw, airless rasp that could have been either.
The woman on the other end let out a scoff and hung up.
Just before Hilda blacked out, a searing cramp tore through her lower abdomen. Then she felt warmth, thick and steady, spreading down her inner thighs.
When she opened her eyes again, a doctor was telling her she had lost her first child.
After leaving the funeral home, Hilda went straight home.
She had been shattered, one blow after another. Her body, still wrecked from the miscarriage, hadn't even begun to heal. She should have been resting.
But she couldn't wait another second. Everything connected to Jasper was an invisible hand around her throat, squeezing the air out of her lungs.
She needed to get out. Now.
She hadn't expected Jasper to come back.
His eyes went red the instant he saw the ransacked apartment. He grabbed the suitcase from her hands, his voice cracking. "Where are you going?"
Hilda's voice was hoarse, scraped raw. "Jasper, let's break up."
"No. No, no, baby, why would you suddenly want to break up?"
Tears flooded Jasper's eyes. He seized her hands, gripping them so hard his knuckles went white.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Work's had me tied up these past few days and I neglected you. Don't hold it against me, please?"
"Hit me if you want. Scream at me. I'll get on my knees right now. Just don't break up with me, okay?"
He pulled her into his arms, rambling about how terrified he'd been when her phone wouldn't go through.
"Jasper." Her voice cut through his noise. "Have you ever actually thought about marrying me?"
He froze. Something panicked flashed through his eyes before he could hide it.
"How could I not want to marry you? Our wedding is a week away!"
He pressed her hand flat against his chest. "Hilda, did someone feed you lies? Is that what this is about?"
Hilda looked at the man in front of her, his face arranged into perfect, tender devotion, and felt nothing but revulsion and absurdity crashing together.
She wrenched her hand free. Her nails raked across the back of his hand, leaving a thin line of blood.
"You're already a married man, Jasper. Does this act of yours really seem appropriate?"
Every muscle in his body locked. The flawless mask cracked, fracture by fracture.
Hilda grabbed her suitcase and headed for the door, but Jasper yanked her back so hard she nearly fell.
"That's not it, Hilda. You've got it wrong. Just let me explain."
"I never wanted to marry her. I swear. My parents forced me. I had no choice!"
He swiped at his tears. "I love you. I only love you. Please believe me."
Hilda stared at him, her gaze ice-cold. Then, without a word, she reached out and tore open the buttons of his shirt.
A sprawl of red marks covered his skin, unmistakable.
"Jasper, I don't dare believe you anymore."
Chapter 3Jasper's expression shifted. He scrambled to cover his neck with his hand, panic written across his face.
Hilda's look of pure disgust cut through him. He clutched his collar and snarled, "Do you really have to do this, Hilda?"
"I really am in a difficult position. Why won't you believe me?"
"It was just this once, I swear. It was an accident. It'll never happen again."
"I know you hate me, but you still have your grandma. Think about her, will you? I've been paying every cent of her medical bills. If we break up, what happens to her?"
"And I've wanted to bring you home to meet my family, I really have. But Hilda, people have hang-ups about death. How am I supposed to explain what you do for a living?"
"I'm under a lot of pressure too, but I've never once asked you to sacrifice anything for me, have I? Can't you at least try to understand?"
Half confession, half excuse. But Hilda could no longer tell the difference.
His voice sliced through her skull like a serrated blade, and the pain blurred her vision.
Jasper lost patience. He lunged forward and snatched her suitcase.
The sudden yank sent Hilda stumbling. Her vision went black, and her legs gave out beneath her.
She dreamed.
She dreamed of Jasper holding her hand as they skipped class to watch the sunset over the ocean, swearing in the perfect silence that he would love her for the rest of his life.
She dreamed of Jasper stepping in to fight off some thugs for her, getting hurt in the process, wincing through the pain while still telling her not to cry.
She dreamed of the Fairmonts discovering their relationship and dragging him home, locking him away. Jasper jumping from the fourth floor, shattering his leg, forcing his parents to relent.
And then she dreamed of Grandma Nora. The tiny old woman took her hand and said, Sweetheart, all I want is for you to be happy.
A shrill ringtone dragged her back.
An IV drip was taped to the back of her hand. Jasper was gone. A note on the nightstand said something had come up at the office.
She might have believed it, if not for the photo that had just arrived from an unknown number on her phone. A photo of a kiss.
When she answered the call, the other end stayed silent for a long time. Just as her patience was about to snap, a man's hoarse voice broke through.
"Is this Hilda Summers?"
His voice trembled, the words tumbling over each other.
"Hilda, hello. I saw your file at the doctor's office. I'm sorry for the intrusion, but there's something I need to confirm."
"Would you be willing to come in and take a paternity test with me?"
Even the expedited results would take at least two days.
The middle-aged man carried himself with an unmistakable air of wealth, yet he stood off to the side, fidgeting, opening his mouth and closing it again. Finally, all he managed was her name. "Hilda," he said, eyes rimming red. "That's a beautiful name."
With shaking hands, he reached into his breast pocket and produced a photograph. In it was a child, five or six years old.
He said the child had been wearing a small gold locket engraved with the family name when she went missing.
Hilda stared at the photograph for a long time, her thoughts tangling into knots.
Of course she'd seen that locket.
Grandma Nora had treasured it. It had paid for nearly half her schooling.
"This is insane," Hilda told her friend. "It feels like the first twenty-some years of my life were a lie, and now everything's been turned upside down."
They were sitting at a banquet. Hilda had tagged along on her friend's business trip, planning to check into a hospital to recover before dealing with everything else.
Her friend suggested, "Why don't you just ask your grandma what's going on?"
Hilda's hands went still.
Some things, once spoken aloud, had to be remembered all over again. And every time they were remembered, the grief came flooding back. Her fists clenched until her nails bit into her palms. She couldn't speak.
Her friend, oblivious, kept going. "I keep forgetting to ask. How's your grandma doing?"
"I heard she collapsed at Jasper's company that day. Is she okay?"
Hilda whipped around. "What did you just say?"
Her friend blinked. "You didn't know?"
"I was at Fairmont Group that day for a meeting. Your grandma was stopped at the front desk by some woman. The woman was pretty hostile, throwing around words like homewrecker. Then Jasper showed up."
"Their relationship..." Her friend studied Hilda's face carefully before continuing. "It seemed a little too close for comfort. Did Jasper ever mention her to you?"
"After I left, I heard your grandma had fainted. I went back to check but couldn't find her. Jasper was there, though, so I figured she was taken care of."
Her friend trailed off, startled by the look on Hilda's face.
"Hilda? Hilda, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Did something happen?"
Hilda shook her head. She bit down hard on her lip and pressed both hands over her face.
So Grandma had gone to see Jasper that day. She'd known everything.
How angry must she have been when she left? How heartbroken?
Hilda forced a smile at her friend, but in the next instant, a wave of grief so heavy it seemed to drag every feature of her face downward swallowed it whole.
She didn't even bother making an excuse. She stumbled to her feet and left the table, barely holding herself together.
Chapter 4Hilda's phone screen lit up, dimmed, lit up again. She stayed on Jasper's chat window, unable to scroll away.
There was so much she wanted to ask him.
Then, for no particular reason, her gaze drifted up, and she spotted Vivienne across the room.
Something compelled her to follow.
Vivienne wound through corridor after corridor until she emerged onto a terrace, where a man stood waiting with his back turned.
Hilda's breath caught.
"Jasper."
He swirled his wine glass and turned with a smile, meeting Vivienne's lips in a kiss.
Vivienne was all fire, coiling around him like a serpent, her body pressed so close that the heat between them was unmistakable.
The rustle of fabric, a woman's breathy whimpers, heavy breathing—all of it threaded into Hilda's ears.
"Between me and Hilda, who makes you feel better?"
"You. Obviously," Jasper murmured, his voice thick with want. "She's uptight and boring. She couldn't compare to you if she tried."
He kissed Vivienne's cheek, his tone dripping with intimacy. "You like that? Wife?"
The only answer was a pleased moan.
Hilda stood in the shadows, watching it all. Her face betrayed nothing.
Her eyes burned and throbbed. She drew one long breath, then dialed his number.
On the terrace, the two of them were tangled together, mouths locked, when the shrill ring cut through the air.
Neither looked pleased. When Jasper saw the caller ID, a flicker of panic crossed his face.
He glanced at Vivienne, then answered.
Hilda's voice came through low and even, stripped of any readable emotion. "Jasper, I forgive you. When are you coming home? I miss you."
Jasper froze. Instinctively, his eyes darted to Vivienne.
Vivienne pressed herself tighter against him on purpose. He let out a stifled groan and tightened his arm around her waist.
"Hilda, I'm busy right now. Let me call you back later and we'll talk properly, okay?"
"Are you with Vivienne?"
"Hilda." His voice dropped, firm and warning. "Stop overthinking. I'll be home tomorrow."
He hung up before she could respond, then scrambled to soothe Vivienne, who was already losing patience.
Hilda watched the scene from the dark and laughed—a short, hollow sound aimed at herself. She turned and walked away.
When she really thought about it, she didn't even have the standing to call this catching him in the act. Vivienne was Jasper's lawful wife.
Seven years she'd given him. And she was nothing.
Her head felt heavy, her steps aimless. Without realizing it, she'd climbed to the rooftop. Cold wind cut across her face as she tipped her head back and stared into the pitch-black sky for a long, long time.
It wasn't until the gala ended and the noise of departing guests drifted up that she snapped out of it. She turned around and found Vivienne standing behind her. She had no idea how long the woman had been there.
"Hello, Hilda." Vivienne strolled toward her, unhurried. "You know who I am, right? I'm Jasper's wife."
"This is the first time we've met face to face. I'm hoping it's also the last."
"What do you want?" Hilda's voice was ice.
Vivienne folded her arms and let out a light laugh. "Is it really that hard to figure out? I want you gone from Jasper's life. Completely. Stop clinging to him."
"You've got it backwards," Hilda said. "You'd be better off warning Jasper. He's the one who's married. Tell him to stop clinging to me."
Vivienne's eyes went wide, her voice turning shrill. "That's a lie!"
"I noticed you a while ago, actually. You were at the terrace too, weren't you? You saw exactly what Jasper and I were doing. Did you not understand?"
"That phone call you made was just you trying to win him back, wasn't it?"
Her gaze dropped to the necklace at Hilda's throat. It looked expensive. She assumed Jasper had given it to her. Her hand shot out, clawing toward Hilda's neck.
Hilda flinched, clutching the pendant. "What are you doing?!"
This necklace was a wedding gift Grandma had saved her entire life to buy. One for Hilda, one for Jasper. It was the only thing Grandma had left behind.
"Let me give you some advice, Hilda. What isn't yours will never be yours."
Vivienne lunged for the necklace without another word. In the struggle, Hilda was shoved toward the edge of the stairwell.
She teetered on the lip in her heels, barely holding on.
At the last possible second, Vivienne spotted a figure approaching. She swapped positions with Hilda in a flash, throwing herself backward.
The necklace was clenched in her fist. The chain bit into Hilda's throat, slicing a thin line of blood across her skin.
The necklace snapped apart and scattered across the floor in pieces.
A heavy thud. Hilda tumbled down the stairs. Vivienne, meanwhile, fell neatly into the arms of Jasper, who had appeared just in time. Not a scratch on her.
"Are you all right? What are you doing up here?"
Jasper's voice was all concern. He looked Vivienne over head to toe, and only when he confirmed she was unharmed did he exhale.
Then he turned on the figure crumpled at the bottom of the stairs, his tone sharp with contempt. "What's wrong with you? Can't you watch where you're going? Are you blind?"
Hilda lay where she'd landed, vision blackening, unable to move. Her hair was tangled across her face, hiding her features.
Jasper, irritated at being ignored, strode down the steps and planted his foot on her palm, grinding down. She curled inward instantly, trembling with pain.
"Are you deaf or mute? Can't speak?"
Vivienne hurried over and tugged at his arm.
"That's enough, Jasper. It was partly my fault. Don't make a fuss over her, please?"
She looked down at Hilda's shaking body, and a wave of satisfaction surged through her.
"I just thought the necklace on this young lady's neck was pretty and leaned in for a closer look. I must have startled her, and we bumped into each other. I'm so sorry."
"Jasper, let's just pay her for the necklace."
The shattered chain lay on the floor not far from their feet.
Jasper glanced at it and frowned. Something about it looked familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"It's worthless junk. She got in your way—she's the one who owes you an apology. The gala's wrapping up. Let's go."
Vivienne nodded with a demure little smile, and the two of them walked off together, chatting and laughing as they went.
Hilda lay on the cold floor, eyes hollow, still as a corpse.
Chapter 5It took her a long time to come back to herself. Slowly, she crawled forward and closed her fingers around the necklace.
The broken shards bit into her palm, blood welling between her fingers, but she didn't seem to feel it. She only squeezed tighter.
Hilda's mind had never been so clear.
Grief drove into her heart like a thousand needles, puncturing it full of holes, and pain seeped out in place of blood.
Her left hand, the one Jasper had stepped on, throbbed and swelled. The slightest twitch of her fingers sent agony shooting up her arm.
She stayed there for a long time before she managed to get to her feet. Then she limped toward the exit.
Taxi after taxi slowed down, took one look at her, and pulled away. No one would take her. So Hilda walked, one unsteady step at a time, still in her heels.
"Hilda, it really is you!"
A car screeched to a halt beside her. Jasper scrambled out, panic written across his face.
The necklace had been circling his mind for a while. The instant he placed it, cold sweat broke over his skin. He'd abandoned Vivienne on the spot and bolted.
Now his face was contorted with anguish as he cradled Hilda's swollen hand with excruciating care.
"I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was you."
"Does it still hurt? You're hurt this badly. Let me take you to the hospital, okay?"
His tears fell onto the battered skin of her palm.
"Why were you at tonight's gala? You should have told me. If you had, I never would've—"
"Never would've what?"
Hilda wrenched her hand free. "Don't touch me. You make me sick."
Jasper's breathing turned ragged. His expression crumbled, inch by inch.
"Families like mine, this is how it works. You know I don't have a choice. But no matter what happens, you're the only one I've ever loved!"
"Marriage is just a title. Everything with anyone else is fake. You're the only thing that's real."
As he spoke, he pulled a necklace from his pocket, identical to hers. "See? I carry it with me everywhere."
"Grandma wanted us to be happy together. Hilda, please don't be angry anymore."
Hilda held out her hand to him.
Joy surged through Jasper. He thought she'd softened. But the next second, the smile froze on his face.
"Jasper, give me back the necklace my grandmother gave you."
"It was something she left for me and the person I love. Seeing it in your hands now just makes me sick."
Jasper fought against it, clinging to her as he sank to his knees on the pavement, stripped of every shred of pride.
"Hilda, you're just saying that because you're angry, right? Hilda, you promised me. You promised you'd never break up with me."
"Please, I'm begging you, don't leave me."
But Hilda didn't flinch. A flash of revulsion crossed her face, and it cut through Jasper like a blade.
He'd been born with a silver spoon. He'd never wanted for anything his entire life. Women lined up at the crook of his finger. What Hilda had, countless others would kill for. Why couldn't she just let this go?
He shot to his feet, his voice dropping, edged with fury.
"Hilda, why can't you try to understand me?"
"You keep saying you want a wedding. Of course I want to give you one, but I can't! I have parents too. I have responsibilities!"
"I've already promised you that you're the only woman I'll ever love. Why won't you just believe me?"
Hilda didn't hear a word. Her voice was flat, mechanical. "Give it back."
Jasper's jaw clenched so tight the muscle twitched. He let out a cold laugh, then hurled the necklace into the busy road.
"No!"
Hilda screamed and lunged toward the traffic. Jasper yanked her back hard.
"Hilda, I'll say it again. I love you. I can give you everything except the title. If you won't think about yourself, at least think about your grandmother."
"I'll be waiting for your answer. Just say yes, and the wedding goes ahead next week as planned."
Then he got in his car and drove off without looking back.
Hilda was stubborn. She never backed down. He'd have to find another way to make her bend.
Jasper dialed his secretary.
"Cut off the medical funding. Transfer her grandmother to a standard ward. Don't do anything else unless I say so."
The secretary listened, confused. He'd been called away by a phone call from Vivienne the day the ambulance arrived and had no idea what had actually happened to Hilda's grandmother.
After a moment's thought, he picked up the phone and called the hospital.
Chapter 6The necklace had landed in the planter in the middle of the road. Hilda kept her eyes locked on it, heart in her throat, waiting until the traffic thinned before darting across to dig through the bushes.
She crawled through the landscaping for what felt like an eternity, mud caking every inch of her, until at last the recovered necklace was clutched tight in her palm. She looked up, and a pair of headlights barreled straight toward her.
She squinted against the blinding glare.
The next second, pain shattered through her like every bone in her body had been pulverized at once. The impact hurled her into the air. The last thing she registered was the shriek of a car horn.
When she opened her eyes again, a month had passed.
She'd been rushed to the ICU three times. Dozens of fractures across her body. Internal bleeding. Recovery would take a long while.
A middle-aged man sat vigil at her bedside.
"My child. My sweet girl. You've suffered so much. I'm your father, Hilda. I'm your real father."
The moment the paternity results had come back, he'd been overjoyed. The moment he learned what had happened to her, he'd dropped everything overseas and flown back.
"I got here too late. This is my fault."
He held her hand and wept, his shoulders shaking. Hilda noticed the white hairs on the crown of his head.
They hadn't been there the last time she saw him.
Her heart clenched. She couldn't open her mouth to speak. A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
Calvin insisted on bringing her home that very day, hiring a private medical team to tend to her recovery.
Another month slipped by.
When two or three days passed without Hilda reaching out, Jasper was already getting restless.
By all logic, her grandmother's condition couldn't hold out this long. The fact that Hilda could endure the silence until now meant he must have truly broken her heart.
He was still turning this over in his mind when his secretary's call came through.
The tension visibly drained from Jasper's body. A faint smile even tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Well? Did Hilda contact you?"
Whatever was said on the other end made Jasper shoot straight up from his chair. "What kind of joke is that?"
"It's true, Mr. Fairmont." The secretary's voice hitched before continuing. "I've already confirmed with the hospital. Hilda's grandmother passed away after resuscitation failed."
"I also reached out to the funeral home. The deceased has already been cremated and buried. The day it happened was the same day as your engagement banquet with Miss Blake."
"That's insane!"
Jasper panicked. He floored the accelerator and tore across town to the funeral home where Hilda worked, only to learn she had resigned long ago.
The manager's gaze was far from friendly as he looked Jasper up and down.
"A while back she put in her notice, said she was getting married. Then she came back and said the wedding was off, asked to transfer somewhere else. Next thing we heard, she'd been in a car accident on the bridge. Sounds like she'll be recovering for quite some time."
A car accident on the bridge.
The same bridge where he'd fought with Hilda and left her behind.
No. No, that's not possible.
Jasper's mind went blank. His legs buckled beneath him as he staggered toward the exit.
This had to be a stunt. Hilda must have put someone up to this to get a reaction out of him.
Her grandmother's death had to be a lie. Hilda was just trying to make him panic, so she'd hidden the old woman away.
Jasper kept telling himself that, but his heart wouldn't listen. It hammered faster and faster.
He pulled every string he had, turned every hospital in the city inside out. But Hilda had vanished. As if she'd never existed.
One dead end after another. He locked himself in his study, staring at Hilda's photograph day and night, tears streaming down his face. In the end, his bodyguards seized him by the arms and dragged him out, and Patricia Fairmont slapped him across the face. Again. And again.
"Jasper Fairmont, that cheap little tramp has rotted your brain! You've completely lost your mind!"
"Look at yourself these past six months! Is this what the heir to Fairmont Group looks like? Do you have any idea how much you've humiliated this family?"
Jasper's cheeks were swollen. He hung his head in silence, limp as a corpse, letting them do whatever they wanted with him.
Vivienne stood behind Patricia, tears rolling down her face in fat, heavy drops. She caught a glimpse of the photo Jasper still clutched in his hand, the one of him and Hilda together, and a flash of hatred cut through her eyes.
"If that woman is all you can think about, then get out of this house! I'll adopt Vivienne as my goddaughter and be done with it!"
Vivienne spoke up, her voice urgent. "Mrs. Fairmont, you can't do that. I made up my mind when I was a little girl. Jasper is the only man I'll ever marry."
She knelt beside him, weeping prettily, and at a glance the two of them made quite the picture of star-crossed lovers.
Patricia sighed.
"Jasper. Pull yourself together. You and Vivienne are attending a welcome gala at the Summers estate today. The man's in his fifties, and against all odds he actually found his daughter. Show some respect."
"Same surname, different fate. Remember who you are. And remember what Hilda did for a living. Dead or alive, she was never in your league."
A long silence. Jasper's lips parted. His throat was raw and burning, and it took an age before any sound scraped out. "Understood, Mother."
The Summers family empire already sat at the very top of the old-money hierarchy. The chairman's first wife had passed young, leaving behind a daughter who'd gone missing as a small child. Now that she'd been found, naturally she would be cherished like a treasure.
When Jasper arrived, the reactions around the room were varied. After all, everyone had spent the past six months hearing the gossip about how the Fairmont heir had nearly destroyed himself over some woman.
Amid the clinking glasses and flowing champagne, Chairman Summers stepped forward. He clasped his hands in gratitude for the well-wishes, then took the microphone and began telling the room about his daughter.
From the moment Jasper walked into the banquet hall, his heart had been beating wrong. Erratic. Restless. He rubbed his thumb along the rim of his glass, wanting nothing more than to leave.
Vivienne noticed the shift in him immediately.
"Do you have any idea what kind of event this is, Jasper? You're going to abandon me here in front of all these people?"
Jasper didn't hear a word. Because he had spotted a figure across the room.
That silhouette was too familiar. The one that haunted his every waking thought, every sleepless night. He could never mistake it.
His heart slammed so hard it nearly lodged in his throat.
Hilda felt the weight of a gaze and turned her head.
Their eyes met.
Chapter 7Hilda startled, quickly averting her gaze.
She'd long since steeled herself for the inevitable reunion with Jasper. She just hadn't expected it to come so soon.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught him trying to move toward her.
Her chest tightened. She stepped back instinctively, and at that exact moment, her father appeared at her side and took her hand.
"Hildie." His eyes crinkled with barely contained joy. "Come on, sweetheart. Let me introduce you to a few of my old friends."
Hilda exhaled in relief and fell into step beside him.
Vivienne followed the direction of Jasper's stare, glancing left and right, utterly baffled by what could have made him look like his soul had left his body.
"Jasper! What's wrong with you? Get a grip!"
She clamped down on his wrist, refusing to let him leave her side.
Jasper was frantic. He pried her off and snapped under his breath, "Let go."
Vivienne stumbled, unprepared, her hip slamming into the corner of the table hard enough to drain the color from her face.
A champagne tower shattered on impact. Glass and liquid sprayed across the floor, and every head in the vicinity turned.
Jasper's gaze swept the crowd. Hilda was already gone.
"Jasper."
Vivienne's forearm was pressed into the broken glass, blood streaming down her skin. She reached for him and grasped nothing but air. The amused, pitying stares from the guests around her burned like needles in her back.
"Jasper!"
He didn't look back. He plunged into the crowd, chasing the direction where Hilda had disappeared.
After meeting her father's friends, Hilda made an excuse and slipped back to her room.
The noise from the grand hall drifted up in waves. She turned over the dazzling array of jewelry her father had laid out for her, and a hollow ache settled in her chest without warning.
The alley where she'd grown up was in an old village on the outskirts of the city. There had been no shortage of girls her age among the neighbors, but most of them had been married off young, their futures decided by their parents.
Only Hilda had made it through the doors of a high school, carried there on the pennies her grandmother scraped together, one recycled bottle and one flattened cardboard box at a time.
She could count on one hand the number of times she'd seen Grandma Nora cry in her entire life. The only time was when Hilda had gotten into a top high school but started talking about dropping out because of the staggering cost of tuition and textbooks. Her grandmother had slapped her across the face, tears streaming down her own cheeks.
Then she'd pulled Hilda into her arms and sobbed. That night, Grandma Nora had gone deep into the back of the old cabinet and brought out a tin box. Inside was a small gold locket engraved with the character for "Summers."
That was the first time Hilda had ever touched the secret of her own origins.
But reality didn't leave room for dwelling on it. The little locket became numbers in a bank account, carrying her through high school and then through college.
She didn't know when her father had come in. He picked up the photograph of her and Grandma Nora from the table and studied it for a long time.
"I searched for you for over twenty years."
His eyes were rimmed with red. "After your mother passed, I was a wreck for a long time. I neglected you, and that's how they got the chance to take you."
Hilda looked at the silver threading through his hair. After a long silence, she asked, "How come you never remarried?"
This enormous house was so empty. The housekeeper only came on Sundays. Every other day, her father lived here alone.
He blinked, then smiled. "I was waiting for you."
"I was afraid a stepmother wouldn't treat you right, so I stayed single. And then after you went missing, I had even less heart for it. All I could think about was finding you and bringing you home."
Hilda's nose stung.
After Grandma Nora's death, after the man she loved betrayed her, after the car accident left her lying on the operating table, she had genuinely wanted to die.
It was her father who had kept her alive. He'd flown in equipment from overseas, tracked down the best surgeons from every corner of the country, and fought with everything he had to pull her back.
She owed it to him to live well from now on.
Calvin wiped his eyes, then said suddenly, "That young man from the Fairmont family came looking for me just now."
"He seemed like he knew you pretty well. Kept asking if he could see you. Do you two know each other?"
Hilda's chest seized. The color drained from her face.
Calvin caught the shift in her expression and sensed something was off. He was about to go back downstairs and turn the young man away himself when Hilda stood up.
"We've met in passing, that's all. I'll go see what he wants."
Chapter 8The gala had ended and the last of the guests had gone. Only Jasper remained, waiting alone.
He sat hunched forward, shoulders slumped, and the instant his ears caught the sound of footsteps behind him, he shot to his feet and lunged toward them.
"Hilda!"
The chair legs scraped across the floor with a piercing shriek.
"It really is you. It's really you. I knew I wasn't seeing things. It's really you."
Hilda stepped aside, dodging the hand he reached toward her.
"My father doesn't know about you and me. Don't come looking for me again."
Jasper's pupils trembled. His lips went white. "Hilda, you can't do this."
"You have no idea how long I've been searching for you. When I found out what happened, I nearly lost my mind. You can't even imagine what people have been saying about me behind my back. Hilda, look at me."
"I'm begging you. Look at me."
Hilda didn't so much as flinch. The fear that rose inside Jasper was unlike anything he'd ever felt, and his voice shook with it.
"Hilda, I know you resent me. And yes, it was my fault. But I'll make it up to you. All of it."
"Whatever you want, I can give it to you. I'll start planning the wedding right now, okay? We can go back to the way things were. We can just—"
Hilda cut him off. She couldn't stand another word.
"Jasper. Why?"
He blinked. "What?"
Every syllable fell like a stone. "Why do you assume that an apology entitles you to my forgiveness? Why do you take it for granted that I still want to marry you? Why, after you destroyed everything, do you have the nerve to stand in front of me?"
"So tell me, Jasper. Why?"
His mouth opened. Nothing came out.
Hilda turned and walked away, but for reasons she couldn't fathom, Jasper followed, trailing her like a shadow that refused to detach.
"I never realized the great Jasper Fairmont was this shameless. Or maybe I wasn't clear enough. Which word didn't you understand?"
His voice was raw with grief. "Hilda, please don't talk to me like that."
"I'm begging you. Don't speak to me this way. I can't take it."
In every memory he had of her, Hilda had always spoken to him softly, gently. In all their years together, she had been the one to back down after every argument. He simply could not absorb the distance between who she'd been and who stood before him now.
He wanted to keep trying, but his phone buzzed in his pocket.
He had no choice but to stop. He looked at Hilda with an expression that was equal parts desperate and pleading.
"I'll make this right. I mean it, Hilda. Wait for me."
Hilda didn't turn around.
She had far too much to do, too much to learn. But the person who came looking for her before Jasper could try again wasn't who she expected.
It was Vivienne.
"Hilda?"
Hilda turned. Vivienne stood three paces away.
She wore an all-white suit today, her makeup immaculate, but no amount of concealer could hide the bruised shadows beneath her eyes.
"It really is you, Hilda. You're actually—you're actually her!"
Her jaw clenched. Her entire body trembled with fury. "You're the daughter the Summers family found!"
"No wonder Jasper looked like someone had ripped his soul out at the gala. You're back."
Hilda offered a thin, indifferent smile. "It's been a while, Vivienne."
Vivienne's voice shot up an octave. "Hilda! You knew about your real family all along, didn't you? You hid it on purpose! You wanted Jasper to go crazy over you! You showed up at the welcome gala deliberately. This is revenge. You're punishing him. You're punishing both of us!"
"You must be so pleased with yourself. After you vanished, Jasper tore this city apart looking for you like a man possessed. He even risked offending my parents just to postpone the wedding!" Her voice cracked, sharp and jagged. "You ruined my entire life!"
Chapter 9Hilda stared at the woman in front of her, baffled by the sheer absurdity of it all.
"Vivienne," she said, "six months ago I was lying in the ICU waiting to die. I wasn't nearly as busy as you seem to think."
Vivienne froze.
Hilda held her gaze, reading the hostility burning there, and almost laughed at how ridiculous it was.
"You know what I kept thinking back then? If I died, who would even care?"
"Not Jasper. He was too busy playing house with you. My grandmother was already gone. My friends had no idea where I was. It seemed like there wasn't a single person on this earth who'd shed one tear for me."
"But now?"
"Now I have a father. He has money. He has connections. And if he wanted to, he could make life very, very difficult for the Fairmonts and the Blakes. Maybe not bring them to their knees, but enough to cause a world of trouble."
The color drained from Vivienne's face.
Hilda shrugged. "Do I need to spell it out for you, Miss Blake?"
She looked Vivienne dead in the eye.
"My father knows nothing about what happened between Jasper and me. And I have zero interest in telling him."
"Because I already died once. You and Jasper are nothing more than insignificant remnants of a life that's already dead and buried."
Vivienne's face flushed an ugly, mottled red.
"You—"
The driver pulled the car over to the curb. Hilda pushed the door open and left Vivienne with one final remark.
"I hope that after today, things go exactly the way you once told me they would."
"This is the last time we see each other, Vivienne. Keep yourself in check. And keep Jasper in check."
Jasper refused to give up. He cycled through phone number after phone number trying to get Hilda to meet him, and when nothing worked, he played his last card: Grandma Nora.
Hilda sat in the café, frowning at the man across from her. He'd dressed himself up to the nines, practically preening. She cut straight to the point. "Where's the necklace?"
Hurt flickered across Jasper's face. He pressed his lips together, then slowly, almost reluctantly, reached into his pocket and placed something on the table with painstaking care.
It was the necklace. The one he'd thrown off the bridge. The one that had caused her accident.
"Hildie." His eyes rimmed red. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so reckless. I searched that bridge for days and nights, and these were the only beads I could find. This was the best I could get it repaired."
Hilda drew a long breath, picked up the necklace, and said, "Fine. I'm leaving."
Jasper choked. His hand shot out and caught her arm.
"Hilda, let me make it up to you. I'll buy you another one. Something nicer, something more expensive."
Hilda tilted her head and looked at him. A bitter smile crossed her lips. "Jasper, there's no need to trample all over my grandmother's love like that."
His expression changed.
"She had those two necklaces made with every penny she'd saved over her entire life, while she was already sick. Her wish was for you and me to live happily ever after." Hilda's voice was steady and merciless. "You lost the right to wear that necklace a long time ago."
Jasper's lips trembled, but not a single word came out.
"I still remember you asking me why I couldn't understand you."
Hilda ran her thumb along the fracture lines in the beads, and a strange, hollow smile surfaced on her face. "So tell me, did you ever once try to understand me?"
"I gave you seven years. I knew the pressure from your parents was enormous, so I gave up my career. Gave up my future. I learned flower arranging. I learned etiquette. I learned how to become the kind of high-society wife who'd be worthy of standing next to you."
"My hands were torn up by thorns. My feet bled through my heels. I swallowed every whisper from colleagues, every pitying look from friends, and I told myself you loved me. That you were just in a difficult position."
"And what did you do?"
"You got engaged to Vivienne behind my back. You let her destroy my reputation in front of my grandmother. You left my grandmother standing outside your company while she was humiliated, and even though you knew she was sick, even after she collapsed, you couldn't be bothered to spare her a single glance."
"When Grandma died, I called you, Jasper. Do you remember where you were? You were in bed with Vivienne."
Something cold slid down Hilda's cheek. She didn't know when the tears had started.
She lifted her hand, wiped them away, and kept going.
"Our baby died that same day, Jasper. Are you satisfied now?"