Chapter 1
Sarah Andrews never imagined that her boyfriend’s poverty was all a lie. For five years, she gave up everything. She sold her belongings, left behind her old life, and moved into a rusting shipping container in a desolate vineyard. She worked twenty-hour days, barely scraping by, all to help him pay off his so-called debts. Then one day, dizzy from yet another plasma donation, she stumbled into a hospital corridor and saw something that shattered everything. Harvey Jameson. But he wasn’t alone. He was holding her foster sister, Zoey Stevens, like she was made of glass, guiding her gently into the obstetrics wing. Behind them trailed the vineyard manager and a pair of creditors, heads bowed like loyal knights. Then Sarah faintly heard Harvey say, “Your health comes first, Zoey. I’ll take care of things with Sarah. We’re down to the last prank. Just waiting for her to pay off the debt and get kicked out.” A hundred pranks. That was the promise. Not love. Not loyalty. Just a long, drawn-out con to destroy her. The illusion shattered in one clean, brutal moment. There had never been shared dreams. No sacrifice. No ‘us.’ Only betrayal. As a storm ripped through the vineyard that night, Sarah climbed to the hilltop, soaked and shaking, with lightning crashing overhead. She jumped. Sarah gave them what they craved. Her silence. Her disappearance. But behind her, the man she had once loved stood frozen in the rain, hands empty, grief etched across his face, raw and real, but far too late. Harvey had broken her. And when they met again, he couldn’t bring himself to let her go. … “Careful,” Harvey said gently. “You’re pregnant now, Zoey. You’ve got to be extra cautious.” Then he looked up at him with a sweet smile. “Still thinking about Sarah? Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. I promised you a hundred pranks, remember? I’m not backing out now.” Sitting just down the corridor, Sarah thought she must have misheard. Earlier that day, she had told Harvey she would be out late selling blood. He didn’t say anything in return. He had just smashed a plate and remained silent, as gloomy as ever. After Harvey’s failed investment left him with tens of millions in debt, he spiraled into depression. The doctors noted that he was unstable, withdrawn, and prone to sudden outbursts. She had believed them. Believed he was broken. So how could he now be sitting here, speaking so gently to someone else? Then she heard her name. And just like that, everything crumbled. She observed Harvey holding Zoey close as they entered the OB/GYN department, with the vineyard manager and a creditor following behind them. One of them carried their bags. The other held an umbrella to shield them from the sun. When Sarah finally got a clear look at Zoey’s face, she froze. Zoey was smiling, gently caressing her belly. “Sarah’s technically my sister, I guess. I never thought she’d hate me this much. She bullied me growing up. I put up with it. But I never imagined she’d steal my graduation project and delay my graduation. Honestly, Harvey, I don’t think I’d have made it if you hadn’t been there for me.” Harvey squeezed her hand. “Don’t say that. Someone like Sarah, I don’t even know how you still considered her family.” “Don’t worry,” he added with a calm tone in his voice. “I’ll make her pay.” Sarah sat there, stunned. Her chest tightened like something was sitting on it. She reached into her pocket without thinking and brushed her fingers against a folded slip of paper. It was the hundred dollars she’d gotten that morning for selling 2000cc of her blood. Five years… Five years of scraping by, living on bread and porridge. Five years of back-breaking work to chip away at Harvey’s debt. Five years of believing they were partners in pain. And to Harvey, it had all been a long-running prank. Sometimes, when betrayal cuts deep enough, the mind shuts down. It couldn’t process everything at once. Still listening to them, Sarah sat frozen as Harvey and Zoey walked into the examination room. Behind them, the vineyard manager, Joseph Merritt, chatted away like it was casual gossip. “Miss Zoey, don’t worry. Sir Harvey’s already given the orders. That woman, Sarah Andrews? She doesn’t have a clue. Doesn’t even realize Red Maple Vineyard belongs to Mr. Jameson now. She’s out there every day picking grapes like some stray mutt.” Joseph chuckled, clearly entertained. “Oh, and just last week, I laid a few snakes along her usual path down the vineyard hill. You should’ve seen her—screaming, crying, calling out for Sir Harvey like a lost little kid in a grocery store.” Then he laughed and continued mocking Sarah. “She had no idea the whole thing was a setup. Sir Harvey was watching it all on the surveillance feed.” Zoey stifled a laugh, covering her mouth. Across the hospital room, Sarah sat as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her. Her whole body went cold. She remembered that night. It was past 3 a.m., and she had been stumbling down the vineyard hill, utterly drained, barely able to keep her flashlight steady. Then she fell straight into a shallow pit crawling with snakes. Her hands trembled so hard she lost grip of the flashlight. It hit the ground and went dark. At that moment, panic swallowed her whole. She screamed Harvey’s name over and over, even though deep down, she already knew he wouldn’t come. But saying his name was the only thing keeping her anchored to reality, preventing her from falling apart completely. She never imagined it had all been planned. That her worst fear had been twisted into some sick joke. When things between them first started to unravel, she once told him about a childhood memory of how terrified she had been of snakes after her grandmother showed her a jar of snake wine. For days, she couldn’t sleep unless her grandmother stayed with her. She had shared that story with him. Her fear. Her vulnerability. And Harvey had used it against her. Now, finally seeing him for who he really was, Sarah let out a slow, unsteady breath. It was time to leave.