I apologized to the coordinator and offered a suggestion:

"My wedding with him is definitely canceled. I won't ask for a refund on the fees. As for Harrison wanting the wedding back on, you can have him place a new order."

"He'll kill me for that!"

"He'll pay. Trust me."

Because he genuinely wanted to marry Claudia.

I hung up. It was already two in the morning.

I abandoned the idea of going home to say goodbye to my mother and took a cab to a hotel near the airport.

The coordinator texted me a thank-you, saying Harrison had been furious but did end up paying again.

I smiled faintly, set an alarm, and collapsed into bed.

But then Harrison started blowing up my phone.

I blocked his number, powered off my phone, and went back to sleep.

Until a violent pounding erupted at my door.

"Tilda Johnson! Open this door!"

The moment I heard Harrison's voice, I realized I'd forgotten to turn off our couples' location sharing.

His voice dripped with fury. The image of Claudia deliberately throwing herself onto the ground flashed unbidden through my mind.

Had she actually lost the baby?

Or was this about the shares I'd sold?

The next second, Harrison kicked the hotel door open.

He stormed in, eyes bloodshot, grabbed my arm, and dragged me toward the door.

"Claudia miscarried because you pushed her. They couldn't even save her uterus. And you're in here sleeping?"

I struggled, tried to explain.

"I didn't push her. She fell on purpose—"

Harrison shoved me into the car.

"That was the only child she'll ever have. Why would she do that to herself?"

He locked the doors and floored it all the way to the hospital.

Then he forced me to my knees in front of Claudia's hospital bed.

"Apologize to Claudia. And promise you'll carry a child for her as compensation."

My kneecaps hit the freezing tile floor. Pain and cold radiated through my entire body.

I tried to stand, but Harrison's hand clamped down on my shoulder, pinning me in place.

"Are you mute? Apologize to Claudia! Did you hear me?"

I swallowed the discomfort and spoke, word by word:

"I didn't push her. If you don't believe me, go back and get the security footage from the neighbor's doorbell camera."

The neighbor's camera would have captured every second of Claudia's little performance.

But he didn't believe me.

"Tilda, you are such a disappointment. Do you have any idea what you did? Claudia didn't just lose the baby—she lost her uterus!"