Chapter 2

The "cooling-off period" was anything but. It was a siege.

Hazel locked herself in her room, but Dominic was relentless. He camped outside her door for hours, his voice a low, pleading murmur.

"Hazel, please. Just talk to me."

He sent gifts. Bouquets of lilies, her favorite flower. Boxes of expensive chocolates she no longer had the stomach for. A first-edition book of poetry he knew she loved. Each gift was a carefully chosen memory, a weapon designed to soften her resolve.

On the third day, he slid a note under her door.

I know you' re angry. You have every right to be. But Julia... she' s fragile. Her mother died when she was young, and your father was always busy. I just felt like I had to look out for her. She' s like a sister to me. That' s all it is. I swear.

Hazel read the note and felt a cold knot of disgust in her stomach. Fragile Julia. The girl who had smiled as Hazel' s studio burned.

Remember when we were ten? another note read. You fell out of the big oak tree in your backyard and broke your arm. I carried you all the way home. I told you then I' d always protect you.

Yes, she remembered. It was a beautiful memory, one she had cherished. The feeling of his small, determined arms around her, his face streaked with dirt and tears as he promised to never let anything hurt her.

That memory was real. The boy who made that promise was real.

But he was gone. He had been replaced by the man who stood by and watched her die. The man who chose his affair over her life.

The past was a beautiful, poisoned well. Drinking from it now would only kill her again.

She knew something he didn' t. In her past life, just a few weeks after the fire, Julia had announced her pregnancy. The child was Dominic' s. The "fragile" stepsister had been carrying his heir while he was still engaged to Hazel.

The thought made her hands clench. The timeline was seared into her brain. Julia was pregnant right now.

"Hazel, I love you," he called through the door, his voice thick with emotion. "I swear on my life, it' s always been you. It will always be you. I' ll spend the rest of my life making this up to you."

His words were a hollow echo. She finally pulled the door open.

Dominic was standing there, his handsome face etched with exhaustion and hope. He held a single, perfect white rose. A symbol of purity. The irony was suffocating.

She didn' t take the rose. Instead, her eyes drifted to his collar.

"You' ve been with her," she stated, her voice flat.

He looked confused. "What? No, I' ve been right here."

"You smell of her," Hazel said, stepping closer. She didn' t need to. The cloying scent of Julia' s jasmine perfume was all over him. "And you have a lipstick stain on your collar. Her shade. 'Rose Petal Pink.' "

Dominic' s hand flew to his neck. He scrubbed at the faint pink mark, his face flushing with guilt and panic.

"It' s not... She was just upset, I was calming her down..."

Hazel just stared at him, her silence more damning than any accusation.

The next few days, the gifts became more extravagant. A diamond bracelet. A new car. Tickets to Paris. Hazel left them all untouched in the hallway outside her room, a monument to his desperate, clumsy attempts at bribery.

Finally, she let him in. He looked relieved, a hopeful smile touching his lips.

She sat on the edge of her bed, her hands folded in her lap. "You said you would spend the rest of your life making it up to me."

"Yes," he said eagerly, stepping towards her. "Anything, Hazel. I' ll do anything."

"Anything?" she repeated, her voice soft but laced with steel.

"I swear it."

She looked him directly in the eye. "Fine. I' ll consider staying engaged to you. On one condition."

He practically sagged with relief. "Name it. It' s yours."

"I want you to send Julia away," she said.

His smile vanished. "What?"

"Send her away," Hazel repeated, her voice hardening. "To another country. I want her gone. I never want to see her or hear her name again. I want you to cut off all contact with her. Block her number. Erase her from your life. Completely."

Dominic stared at her, his expression turning to one of distress. "Hazel, I can' t do that. She' s... she has no one. She' s so delicate. Where would she go?"

Hazel stood up. "I see. So your promise of 'anything' has its limits."

She walked towards the door. "Then we have nothing more to talk about."

"Wait!" he grabbed her arm, his grip tight with panic. "Okay! Okay, I' ll do it."

He looked into her eyes, his own wide and earnest. "I' ll send her away. I promise. I swear on my life, Hazel. I will get rid of her. For you."

He pulled her into his arms, but she remained stiff and cold. She didn' t believe him. Not for a second. But she had the promise she needed.