Chapter 5

My mind went completely blank. The blood drained from my entire body.

There was only one thought left in my head: I had to get to my mother.

I bolted out of the room like a person possessed and threw myself in front of Mason's car just as it was pulling away.

"Mason, my mom's condition suddenly got worse. Please — please take me to the hospital."

Mason hesitated.

In all the time he'd known me, I had always been the strong one. The one who kept everything together and never let anyone see her fall apart.

Seeing me now — sobbing outside his window, begging — something tightened in his chest in a way he couldn't quite explain.

He was about to tell the driver to unlock the door.

Then Chris's voice cracked through the moment like a whip:

"Fiona, are you seriously doing this to me on purpose?!"

"Mason has spent five years with you. The least you can do is let him be completely mine today. Why do you have to take him from me right now?"

"If you want to ruin our plans, just say so. You don't have to make up some excuse."

With each word from Chris, the warmth drained from Mason's eyes.

What was left was cold and flat. "I already checked with her doctors. Your mom has been stable lately."

"Fiona, using something like this to try to keep me here just makes me tired of you."

He ignored my cries.

The car pulled away and disappeared into the dark.

In complete desperation, I bit through the pain and walked.

Three hours. It took me three full hours to reach the hospital on foot.

When I finally got there, I understood what Chris had meant by her "gift."

She had posted about me online — spreading the story that I was Mason's mistress. A headline was already trending:

[André Family and Carter Family Unite in Matrimony — Mistress Fiona Causes Scene at Wedding!]

My mother had seen it. The shock and distress sent her into a collapse.

By some miracle, the doctors had been able to stabilize her.

In the hospital room,

my mother stroked my hair gently, her voice thin and tired:

"Fiona, I believe you. I'm not falling for those rumors."

"But... did you and Mason actually break up? Did he do something to hurt you?"

I blinked back the tide rising behind my eyes and smiled for her.

"Those articles are all lies. The wedding is still happening."

"Everything's fine between us, Mom. I promise. So you need to focus on getting better."

She nodded with relief and, as though the effort had used up everything she had left, drifted back into sleep.

I walked out of her room and slid down the cold wall until I was sitting on the floor.

In the quiet of the hallway, the only sounds were my tears hitting the tile and the muffled sobs I pressed behind my hands.

The next morning, I sent Mason a message.

I asked him, for the sake of everything we had shared, to help me one last time.

I never got a reply from him. Instead, Chris showed up — furious and spoiling for a fight.

She stood outside my mother's hospital room, arms crossed, staring down at me with contempt.

"You pathetic little thing. I knew you'd go crawling back to Mason behind my back."

"Let me ask your mother how she managed to raise a daughter like you."

I threw myself in front of the door, but her bodyguards seized me before I could stop her.

My mother heard the commotion and forced herself up to open the door.

"Let go of her! You have no right to treat my daughter like this!"

Seeing me being held back, she rushed toward us with everything she had left.

But a single sentence from Chris stopped her cold.

"Your daughter broke up my marriage. Are you saying she doesn't deserve what she gets?"

My mother stumbled backward. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

Then she fell.

"No!" The scream tore out of me.

I wrenched free and threw myself to her side.

The medical team came running.

After everything they tried, the doctor turned to me and shook his head.

The strength went out of my legs. I crumpled to the ground.

Then the doctor's face went pale and he rushed toward me.

That was when I felt it — a crushing weight low in my abdomen, and the warmth of blood spreading beneath me.

That day, I lost the two most important people in my life at the same time.

My mother, who had loved me more than anyone.

And my baby — two months along.

I was lying in the recovery bed after surgery when Mason's message finally came through:

"Fiona, what is wrong with you? Chris told me she went out of her way to bring a specialist to see your mother today, and you wouldn't let her in — and then you hit her? You actually broke the skin on her hand."

"Look, she's pregnant and she doesn't need this kind of stress. I'm going to take her somewhere to decompress. I'll be at the wedding on Saturday as agreed."

I didn't reply. I blocked him on everything.

Before I left, I arranged a simple funeral for my mother.

Then I went home and packed.

I picked up my phone and dialed a number I hadn't touched in over a year.

The next day, I boarded a flight to England.

Toward the future I had once given up for him.

Mason — this is my choice.

We will not meet again.