Chapter 3

Jaida's face went white.

"I refuse," Kirk said, his voice hard as steel.

Whack.

The grandfather's cane struck Kirk across the back. "You refuse? You made a promise! Five years ago, you promised this family you would marry Holly!"

The old man was breathing heavily. "Five years, Kirk! You've wasted five years of this girl's life! How much longer do you expect her to wait?"

I lowered my eyes. I remembered a time when those five years weren't a waste. A time when Kirk's world revolved around me.

He broke his lifelong rule of not dating anyone from the business world for me.

He, a man of science and logic, went to a temple to pray for my mother's health because I had mentioned it once.

He filled an entire room with my favorite flowers just to see me smile.

Of course, those romantic gestures were later plastered all over social media, but with Jaida's name attached. I was the ghostwriter of their love story.

Jaida's tears were his kryptonite. A single drop from her, and he would burn the world down.

"She is not worthy of marrying into the Knapp family," Kirk spat, his words a slap in the face.

He pulled Jaida to his side, holding her hand tightly. "The only woman I will ever marry is Jaida."

He looked at his grandfather. "You want me to have a fiancée for appearances? Fine. Holly can keep the title. But I will not marry her."

Then, he did something I never thought I'd see. Kirk Knapp, the proudest man I knew, knelt on the floor.

Jaida immediately knelt beside him, crying. "Please, Grandpa, please let us be together."

The old man was shaking with rage. "Get out! Both of you, get out of my sight!"

Kirk and Jaida, hands clasped together, walked defiantly towards the ancestral hall, a place of sacred importance in the Knapp family.

I watched them go, a strange sense of detachment washing over me. The whole scene felt absurd, like a badly written play.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a small, velvet box. Inside was a jade bracelet, a Knapp family heirloom.

The grandfather looked at me, confused. "Holly, what are you doing?"

I took two steps back and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Mr. Knapp, for your kindness over the last five years."

My voice was calm, resolute. "But I can't stay by Kirk's side any longer."

"Holly, don't be foolish," he pleaded, reaching for me.

But I had already made up my mind. I placed the bracelet on a nearby table and walked away without looking back.

As I passed the ancestral hall, I heard sounds from within. Heavy breathing, soft moans.

I glanced through the crack in the door. I saw Kirk and Jaida, their bodies tangled together on the floor, right in front of the memorial tablets of his ancestors. A final, profane declaration of their love.

I didn't stop. I walked out of the mansion and didn't look back.

First, I went to the bank. I transferred the five hundred thousand dollars from Kirk's black card, plus the fifty thousand from the drinking bet, into his account.

Next, I went to his company and submitted my resignation.

A friend called me as I walked out. "Holly! You're finally free! Congratulations!"

A massive weight lifted from my shoulders. I was free. I didn't owe him anything anymore.

That night, I went back to the villa one last time to collect my last few things.

A glass shattered at my feet the moment I walked in.

Shards flew, one of them slicing open my calf.

Kirk strode towards me, his face contorted in a terrifying rage. He grabbed me by the throat, slamming me against the wall.

"You tried to kill my grandfather," he hissed, his fingers tightening.

I gasped for air, my face turning red. "No... I didn't..."

A pitiful cry came from the top of the stairs. "Kirk... don't blame Holly. It was an accident. I saw her... she just stumbled into Grandpa..."

It was Jaida.

"Why, Holly?" Jaida's voice dripped with false sorrow. "Why would you hurt him? Just because he wanted Kirk to marry you?"

Kirk's grip tightened. He shook me like a rag doll. "You monster."

He threw me against the wall. I crumpled to the floor, coughing, my head spinning.

I looked up and saw the triumphant gleam in Jaida's eyes.

My blood ran cold. She pushed him. She pushed an old man down the stairs and framed me for it.

The phone rang, its shrill sound cutting through the tension. It was the butler. "Mr. Knapp! Sir! Your grandfather is hemorrhaging! The hospital needs blood, a lot of it! It's a rare blood type!"

Jaida's eyes lit up. "Kirk," she said, her voice laced with venom. "Doesn't Holly have the same rare blood type as Grandpa?"

A fear so profound it felt like ice in my veins washed over me.

Kirk dragged me out of the house and threw me into his car. At the hospital, he had me tied down in an emergency room.

"Take her blood," he ordered the terrified nurses. "Take all of it if you have to. I don't care if she lives or dies."

Thick ropes bit into my wrists and ankles. A cold, thick needle was jabbed into my arm.

My eyes, full of despair, met his. "I'll give him my blood, Kirk. But I didn't push him. You have to believe me."

He laughed, a cold, humorless sound. "Believe you? You're a liar, Holly. A poisonous, scheming liar."

Anger, grief, pain, and a bottomless despair churned in my chest.

I felt my blood draining away, my body growing cold. I was dying.

I thought of my mother, of the pain she must have felt in her final moments.

A strange, hysterical laugh escaped my lips. In my delirium, I thought I heard my mother calling my name.

"Mom," I cried out, as the darkness closed in. "I'm coming."