1 When I was at my lowest, I took in Sebastian Blackwood, the destitute illegitimate son of the city’s wealthiest family. After using him for four years, I discarded him without a second thought. The next time we met, he was head of the Blackwood empire. My half-sister Lila hung on his arm, sneering at my wretched state. “Sienna, did you ever think this would happen when you dumped Sebastian for money?” For revenge, Sebastian bought every hospital in Crestfall City and raised my mother’s life-saving medication price a hundredfold. He forced me into a month as his secret lover in exchange for the millions needed for her treatment. With three days left, he pushed me until I blacked out on the bed. Drifting in and out, I heard him on the balcony: “...Campus beauty? She’s just a vain, gold-digging tramp.” Another voice warned: “Don’t let that innocent act fool you again. Remember the plan—get even for Lila, then leave her.” I heard a cigarette being crushed. “Don’t worry,” Sebastian replied, cold and flat. “I stopped feeling anything for her long ago.” When I woke, he was gone. All that was left was a familiar bottle of pills on the nightstand. The conversation replayed in my mind as I dry-swallowed a tablet. The bitter pill scraped my throat, and a metallic tang of blood rose in my mouth, just like the wound Sebastian had just carved into my heart. I knew he could be cruel, but I never imagined this. He knew. He knew that if I didn’t have the money in three days, my mother couldn’t have her surgery. And without that surgery, I would lose the only person in the world who truly loved me. And he still left. Tears fell, hot and silent. I forced myself up, got dressed, and checked out of the hotel. The moment I stepped outside, Lila’s call came through. Her voice was a needle, sharp and triumphant, piercing my ear. “I heard you were begging Sebastian for money for your mother’s surgery.” A cruel laugh. “Too bad he’ll never give it to you. You’re not worthy.” “He’d rather spend five million on a mausoleum for my dead puppy than waste a single cent on you. Got it?” Five million. The exact amount my mother needed. In Sebastian’s eyes, was my mother’s life now worth less than Lila’s dead dog? The world went dark at the edges, and my knees buckled. It took several long minutes before I could hail a cab to the Crawford estate. The last time I was here, I’d run into Sebastian, three years after our breakup. He had watched, his eyes cold and distant, as Lila and my stepmother, Veronica, the cuckoos who had stolen my nest, humiliated me. I should have known then. He was playing with me from the very start. He was never going to help me. My timing was terrible. It was dinnertime. The happy little family of three sat at the dining table, their laughter echoing in the grand hall, leaving me to stand by the door like a stray. Once, this had been my life, too. Lila pointed at me with her fork, a smirk on her face. “Wow, you didn’t waste any time. Calling you wasn’t enough? My dad and your mom have been divorced for ages. Don’t you have any shame, still coming here for money?” The man who was once my loving father didn’t even look at me. Veronica, no longer the fawning woman who used to flatter my mother, radiated the smugness of new money. She patted her daughter’s hand in a mock chiding. “Now, now, Lila. How can you speak that way? Sienna is your sister.” “I don’t have a sister that shameless!” Lila snapped, turning away in disgust. Years ago, those words would have shattered me. But I had endured too much pain since then. Hearing them now didn’t bring the same crushing despair I felt when I first saw my father in bed with Veronica. All that was left was a heart already broken into dust. A cold wind whipped through the open doorway, and my legs, weak from a day of kneeling—metaphorically and literally—began to tremble. I took a step forward, about to plead my case one more time, when Lila shot up from her chair, her eyes sparkling with delight. “Sebastian! I thought you said you couldn’t make it!” The sharp click of expensive leather shoes on the marble floor and a man’s mocking voice sounded behind me at the same time. “You said there was a good show.” Lila hooked her arm through Sebastian’s and sauntered over to me. She pointed, her voice dripping with scorn. “The show is right here!” she announced. “I told you she’d be back, begging for more!” “Sienna, you must be kicking yourself, right? To think you dumped Sebastian for money, and now look at him. But hey, thanks for throwing him away. It gave me my chance.” Lila prattled on, and Sebastian’s gaze on me grew colder and colder, as if we were trapped in the memory of that day five years ago. But that wasn’t how it happened. Not at all. I never abandoned Sebastian. He was the one who abandoned me. 2 Seven years ago, to make a place for Veronica and Lila in our home, my father used every dirty trick he could think of. He not only forced my mother and me out with nothing but also orchestrated the ruin of her music academy. Her reputation was destroyed, and she was saddled with millions in debt. And right then, she got sick. To pay off the debts as fast as possible, I dropped out of college. I worked from dawn till dusk, a chaotic blur of jobs. I went from the pampered Crawford heiress whose hands had never known a day of work to a girl juggling eight part-time gigs. That’s when I met Sebastian. I found him on the streets, another soul cast out, and took him in. He was the Blackwoods’ illegitimate son, despised by everyone. People humiliated him just to curry favor with his legitimate older brother. Two miserable souls, we found each other. One desperate for money for medicine, the other desperate for respect. During the day, he delivered food, and I worked my jobs. At night, we’d huddle together in our cramped 200-square-foot apartment, pooling the cash we’d earned. Sebastian gave every penny to me. His dreams could wait, he’d said. My mother’s health was what mattered most. On my twenty-third birthday, he bought me a teddy bear cake I’d been eyeing for months. As I made a wish, he slipped a ring onto my finger. He promised he would marry me before my next birthday. I waited, my heart full of joy, to become his bride. Instead, it was his biological father who showed up. He offered me a check to leave Sebastian. I refused. So he sent thugs to trash my mother’s hospital room and threatened the staff into discharging her. Seeing my mother lying in a hallway, writhing in pain, I finally broke. I was terrified. I called Sebastian, but he didn’t answer. When I finally found him, he was having a candlelit dinner with Lila. He knew exactly who she was. He knew she was the daughter of the woman who had destroyed my family. And still, he personally fed her a piece of steak. Under the soft, romantic glow, they looked like a perfect couple. Later, I took the check. I packed my things and left the little apartment we had called home for four years. I left him only a single note. Get out. I’m done with you. I thought that was the end of our story. Until now, when we were face to face once more. He stroked Lila’s hair, his eyes full of a tenderness that was once reserved for me. Seeing it now, I no longer felt the thousand daggers piercing my heart. I was numb. I curled my lips into a hollow smile, my words sharp and precise. “In that case, I wish Miss Crawford and Mr. Blackwood a swift marriage and a lifetime of happiness.” Lila preened. “About time you showed some sense. Sebastian and I are getting engaged soon. Don’t forget to come.” She stepped aside, took out her wallet, and pulled out a few hundred-dollar bills. Just as she was about to throw them at me, Sebastian stopped her hand. His eyes were simmering with a cold anger. “Lila, darling,” he purred, “money isn’t that easy to earn. One has to give something in return, don’t you think?” My fists clenched, my nails digging into my palms. Lila, catching his meaning, put the money away. Instead, she had someone bring down her violin. “Why don’t you perform for us? I’ve always wanted to hear what a city-level champion sounds like.” She pulled Sebastian back to the table. The four of them sat there, chatting idly about the upcoming engagement party as if I were a hired performer. I thought of my mother. If she knew I was using the skill she so lovingly taught me to entertain Veronica and Lila, she would be devastated. But what did it matter? All I wanted was for her to be safe. She was the only family I had left. I would do anything for her. Anything. Taking a deep breath, I swallowed the lump in my throat. I picked up the expensive instrument and settled it on my shoulder. 3 I hadn’t touched a violin in five years. My technique was rusty, clumsy. But Lila was determined to humiliate me; she didn’t care how well I played. An hour later, my vision swam with black spots, and my knees nearly gave out. Lila finally, mercifully, called a stop. “And that’s supposed to be city-level talent?” she sneered. “I heard your mother taught you herself. How disappointing. You’re an insult to my ears.” She threw the cash at my face. The bills fluttered down as she turned to whine to Veronica about something. I pressed my lips together into a thin line and slowly knelt to pick up the scattered money. In the distance, I could hear my father laughing at something Lila said. A cold sweat dripped down my forehead. Suddenly, a polished leather shoe appeared in my vision, pressing down hard on the last hundred-dollar bill. Sebastian’s voice, laced with contempt, rained down on me. “Sienna. Have you no shame?” I looked up, my voice low enough for only him to hear. “And you have shame, Mr. Blackwood? A man who fools around with his fiancée’s sister?” I yanked the bill out from under his shoe. Wobbling to my feet, I clutched the money and walked out of that house. A light rain was falling outside. I ignored the cold sting of the drops on my skin and quickened my pace. My phone rang. It was Mom. The moment I answered, her gentle voice washed away some of the chill in my soul. “Sienna, darling. Was it a busy day? You didn’t come by the hospital.” My eyes burned. I fought to keep the tremor out of my voice. “Yes, I had to work late.” I forced a brightness I didn’t feel. “Mom, I have the money for your hospital bills.” She was silent for a moment. “Sienna… maybe we should just… stop the treatments? I don’t want to be a burden to you anymore…” “Don’t say that!” I cut her off, my voice finally breaking. “Mom, don’t you ever say that. You are not a burden to me.” “You have to live a long, long life. You have to be there on my wedding day, you hear me?” I could hear her start to cry on the other end. “Okay… okay, my love…” she sobbed. “Mommy will live to see her Sienna get married and have children!” Just then, a black sedan with a license plate of all eights screeched to a halt right in front of me. I stumbled back, and my phone clattered into a puddle. The window rolled down. Sebastian’s eyes raked over my drenched form, and a cruel smirk twisted his lips. “Thinking about getting married?” He dragged me into the car and told the driver to park directly in front of the Crawford estate’s main gate. Through the window, I could see Lila swinging on a hammock on her second-floor balcony. I couldn’t even imagine what would happen if she saw this, if she told Veronica. What would they do to me? I didn’t care about my own fate. But my mother… what would happen to my mother? The blood drained from my face. I hissed, my voice low and furious. “Sebastian, are you insane?!” He shoved my head down, his voice calm with a terrifying, wild edge. “Didn’t you just say I had no shame? Good. Let me show you what shameless really looks like.”
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