The Quinn house erupted with happiness at breakfast. Savannah heard her father’s booming voice before she even entered the dining room.
"Did you see it? Did you see it?" Richard Quinn was waving his phone like a trophy. "It’s on the front page of the business section!
Quinn Family’s Lucky Daughter to Wed Locke Heir!
They’re already calling Celeste the future Mrs. Locke!"
Savannah walked in and looked at her family. Her mother was smiling over her tea. Cooper was scrolling through his own phone, smirking and Celeste was blushing.
She looked shy and embarrassed. Her one hand was resting on the jade pendant hidden beneath her top as she shook her head.
"I don’t know how the press found out!" she whispered.
"These things get out no matter how much you try to hide them," Diane said warmly.
Savannah sat down and reached for her toast.
Victor Locke’s PR leaked it. Just like last time.
"It’s almost official now," Richard beamed. "My daughter is getting married into the Locke family. I always knew you were meant for the best."
Savannah didn’t say anything and buttered her toast. No one asked about her morning or what she was thinking, or whether she had read the headline. Her opinion never mattered to them.
Celebrate all you want! I can’t wait to watch your faces when Ansel doesn’t show up at the lunch! Let’s see how your lucky daughter saves your day then!
She remembered that in her last life, Ansel had never showed up, humiliating the Quinn family. But Victor has cleaned up the mess by planting fake stories. And eventually the scandal had died down.
She smiled and took a bite of her toast when her phone buzzed. It was a message from Ethan.
Hey. Don’t forget our date today! I have something important to tell you!
Savannah stared at the message with mixed feelings.
She had met Ethan in law school. He had promised her forever and meant it, before Celeste decided to take him too. The man who had betrayed her and cheated on her with her sister.
She had been avoiding thinking about him. It was easier to focus on Celeste, her parents and Ansel Locke than it was to think about Ethan. Because Ethan had actually loved her once and losing him had broken her completely.
But that was the old Savannah and she had died in the rain.
"Who’s that?" Diane asked.
"Ethan. We have a date."
"Then go," Richard said. "We’re going to the Locke estate for the lunch anyway. You don’t need to come."
You don’t need to come.
Hearing those words still hurt but she didn’t want to dwell on them anymore. She stood up immediately.
"Savannah." Celeste said. "Are you sure you’re okay? You seem... different."
"Different? How??"
"I don’t know." Celeste replied. "Quieter."
Savannah smiled at her response.
"I’m fine," she said. "I’ll see you at dinner."
Then she walked out before anyone could say anything else.
She reached the cafe and saw Ethan already waiting for her. It wasn’t her first time here. She and Ethan had first come here on their third date. He had ordered her a lavender latte because he had read somewhere that it helped with anxiety, and he had remembered she had a presentation that week.
Ethan stood up when he saw her. He was tall and handsome, and was smiling at her. It was the same smile that had once made her heart skip. But now...she didn’t feel anything.
He was wearing the blue jacket she had given him on his last birthday. Savannah’s gaze dropped to a small velvet box lying on the table in front of him.
In her last life, Ethan had proposed to her in this very day, she had said yes.
"Hey," Ethan said, a little shy.
"Hey!"
He pulled out her chair and they both sat. Then slowly, he reached across the table and took her hand.
"I’ve been trying to do this for weeks," he began. "But with everything going on with your family, and the Locke business... I couldn’t wait anymore."
He opened the box and took out a small and simple diamond ring. It was exactly the kind of ring Savannah had once dreamed about. But Savannah no longer dreamed.
"Savannah Quinn, will you marry me?"
She looked at his hands holding the ring, and remembered these same hands would one day touch her sister in her own bed.
"No," she replied.
"What?"
"No." Savannah pulled her hand back, and folded her hands in her lap. "I don’t want to marry you."
His smile faltered.
"Savannah..."
"You’re a good man, Ethan," she cut him off. "But I don’t love you anymore."
Ethan laughed in disbelief.
"That’s not true. You love me. I know you love me. We’ve been together for two years..."
"Two years is a long time to be wrong."
"Wrong about what?" he asked, panicking. "Savannah, tell me what did I do? Tell me what I did wrong, and I’ll fix it. Whatever it is..."
Nothing. You haven’t done anything wrong yet.
"You didn’t do anything," she said softly. "This isn’t about you. It’s about me."
"That’s what people say when they’re lying."
"Then believe whatever you want." Savannah stood up. "We are done."
"Savannah...wait..."
She walked out before her eyes could betray her.
If she had stayed one more second, she would have cried. And this time she was done crying.
She had only walked half a block when Margaret Moore, Ethan’s mother, caught up to her.
"You!"
Savannah turned. Margaret was breathless and angry. She remembered when she had said yes to Ethan in previous life, Maragret had rushed into the cafe to congratulate them. She had been waiting outside the whole time.
But this time...she must have seen her son’s tears and chased after Savannah.
"Mrs. Moore..."
"Don’t you dare." Margaret’s voice was loud enough to make people look at them. "Don’t stand there acting innocent after what you just did to my son."
"I ended things with him respectfully..."
"You humiliated him!" Margaret jabbed a finger at her. "You strung him along for two years and then you threw him away the second a richer man appeared."
Savannah frowned.
"That’s not..."
"Don’t lie to me." Margaret’s voice became louder. "I don’t care what the news says. Because I know it was you who met with Ansel Locke yesterday. You dumped my son for Locke money."
Suddenly, camera flashes went off in her face. People around them were recording now.
"Say something!" Margaret screamed. "Say something, you gold digger!"
"Goodbye, Mrs. Moore," Savannah said and walked away, not wanting to be part of the drama.
Minutes later, Leo Grant held up his phone and showed it to Ansel sitting in the back of the car.
"Sir."
Ansel looked up from his tablet and glanced at the phone screen.
"This video is trending all over social media," Leo said.
Ansel watched the video in silence.
"It was posted twenty minutes ago," Leo said. "And has already two million views. The comments are..."
"I can guess," Ansel said and waved his hand dismissively.
Leo immediately lowered the phone.
"She refused me. Even slapped me in my own study for her boyfriend. And now she dumped him?"
"Yes, sir."
"Who is she hunting now?"
"I don’t know, sir."
Ansel narrowed his eyes.
"Leo?"
"Yes, sir."
"If she shows up at the estate again...make sure the press sees it."
"Sir?" Leo sounded surprised.
"You heard me."
"But sir...that could damage her reputation considerably..."
"Then perhaps she should have thought about that before making a scene."
When Savannah returned home, she saw her suitcase at the front door. The door was open.
Her father was standing in the doorway, his face red with anger.
"You have embarrassed this family enough!"
"Dad..."
"Don’t you dare call me that," he shouted. "Do you have any idea what you’ve done?"
"I just broke up with my boyfriend."
"You humiliated the Moore family in public. The whole city is calling you a gold digger. And it is happening right when your sister is about to marry into the Locke family! No wonder Ansel didn’t show up at the lunch."
"That’s not my..."
"I don’t care whose fault it is!" Richard pointed at the suitcase. "You’ve been a problem since the day you were born. Your sister has done nothing but bring this family luck and you...you’ve brought us nothing but shame."
"But..."
"Apologize to Margaret Moore," Richard ordered. "Get on your knees if you have to or don’t come back."
Savannah looked at the suitcase and then at the house. It was the house she had grown up in. But now, it didn’t feel like home anymore. Home is where people who love each other live happily. But no one here loved her. It had taken her a lifetime to understand that it hadn’t been her home for a long time now.
Savannah bent down and picked up the suitcase.
"I’m not going to apologize," she said.
"Then get out."
She smiled.
"Goodbye, Dad," she said and walked out of the gate.