“Hahaha, Selena Sinclair actually stayed there all by herself.
What a bootlicker…”
“That idiot.
She actually believed Sylas would give her his mother’s heirloom.
How ridiculous.”
The other end of the line was filled with unrestrained noise, and jeering laughter, thick with malice, drifted wantonly on the night wind.
Selena Sinclair’s face was pale.
The men’s shameless mockery was like a sharp blade, stabbing deep into her heart.
“Sylas is the one with the real skills.
Back in the day, Selena Sinclair was the thorny rose of our circle that no one could handle.
But now?
Isn’t she just like a little puppy you can’t even shoo away, always trailing after you…”
The crude, grating words drilled relentlessly into her ears.
Sylas Vaughn didn’t say a word, but he let her hear all of it.
Selena Sinclair was silent for a long time.
Only when the laughter on the other end gradually died down did she speak, her voice cold.
“Sylas Vaughn, you still haven’t hung up.”
The other end of the line fell instantly silent.
Selena ignored it and hung up.
The mountaintop was pitch-black in the night, and the trees rustled in the wind.
Selena Sinclair rubbed her arm, which was faintly aching from the scratches of the bushes.
That morning, Sylas Vaughn had said he was taking her to see the ocean, so she had worn a beautiful long dress for the occasion.
But because of a single sentence from Hannah Hayes, the trip turned into a mountain hike.
Just as she was about to leave, Sylas Vaughn told her that the bracelet he had prepared for her had been left behind on the summit.
It was an heirloom from his late mother, so she hadn’t wanted to upset him.
And so, she had spent the entire evening searching the summit.
If not for that phone call he had forgotten to end, she would still be oblivious to the fact that she was nothing more than a plaything for his amusement.
‘Using his mother’s heirloom to play a prank…
was it all just to make a fool of me?’
Selena Sinclair stood frozen on the summit, staring up at the boundless darkness.
It felt as if a great chasm had opened in her heart, letting the cold wind rush in.
After a long while, she finally started walking down the mountain.
Her phone’s battery was critically low, and she could only use the faint light from its screen to illuminate the path ahead.
Suddenly, her foot landed on a loose rock, and her entire body slid down the slope.
THUD!
A large tree abruptly stopped her fall.
Selena Sinclair lay sprawled on the ground.
Every breath sent a sharp pain through her insides.
It took all her strength just to get back up.
She had taken off her high heels long ago, and her ankle had swollen into a large lump.
According to the signs, the path down the mountain from here was easier.
Selena Sinclair found a branch to use as a walking stick and slowly, painfully made her way down the mountain.
By the time she reached the foot of the mountain, three or four hours had passed.
She looked around.
The area was deserted.
The bodyguards and the car Sylas Vaughn said would be waiting for her were nowhere to be seen.
Whether out of habit or complete despair, Selena Sinclair opened her phone again.
Sylas Vaughn hadn’t sent a single message since their call.
Hannah Hayes, on the other hand, had posted on her social media feed half an hour ago.
A distinctly slender, bony hand was gently holding up her wrist, on which sat a jade-green bracelet.
The caption read: “A mother’s heirloom is the deepest expression of his love for me.”
Selena Sinclair stared at the post.
The man’s hand was still wearing the watch she had bought him a month ago.
The precious gift that was supposedly lost on the mountaintop, the one meant for her, had turned out to be nothing more than the subject of a bet between Sylas Vaughn and his friends—a joke at her expense, now easily worn on another woman’s wrist.
PLINK!
A teardrop splashed onto the phone screen.
Every breath she took was filled with bitterness and pain.
Selena Sinclair didn’t know how long she had been standing there, rooted to the spot.
Only when her body grew weaker and the pain intensified did she take a deep breath and start toward the side of the road.
She had sustained multiple injuries from the fall, the most obvious being the swelling on her ankle and the trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
“COUGH, COUGH…”
With every cough, pain shot through her chest and ribs.
Selena Sinclair staggered forward, step by step, the distant streetlights growing blurrier and blurrier.
THUD!
The world finally went black for Selena Sinclair as she collapsed to the ground.
An unknown amount of time passed before a pair of headlights appeared in the distance, slowly approaching and illuminating Selena Sinclair’s body.
After the car came to a stop, a man got out and, under the cover of night, gently lifted her from the ground and carried her into the vehicle.
Selena Sinclair lay on the spacious back seat, her neck, arms, and legs covered in scrapes of all sizes.
The car entered the city and headed straight for the hospital.
A long, cool finger gently traced the contours of Selena Sinclair’s face.
“Selena Sinclair…”
In the private hospital room, a gentle breeze drifted in through the slightly open window.
Selena Sinclair was propped up in bed.
With a broken rib and several internal contusions, her face was gaunt and pale.
Sylas Vaughn’s displeased voice blared from the phone’s speaker.
“Where did you go last night?
Why didn’t you come home?
Hannah was even planning to go up the mountain to find you…”
“Find me for what?
Isn’t the bracelet in her hands?”
Selena Sinclair cut him off, her voice slightly hoarse.
The other end of the line went silent for a moment before he said nonchalantly, “You know they love to play those kinds of jokes.
Don’t be so petty.”
‘Don’t be so petty.’
Those words alone made tears well up in Selena Sinclair’s eyes again.
Sylas Vaughn seemed to sense her displeasure.
He sighed, his tone softening.
“Where are you now?
Do you need me to come pick you up?”
‘Here we go again.’
Selena Sinclair gripped her phone tightly.
‘Sylas Vaughn was always like this.’
Before they were married, he knew exactly how she felt but would neither accept nor reject her, content to simply keep her close.
Only after the wedding did he confess that he didn’t love her and had only agreed to the marriage because of family pressure, making their union one in name only.
He would use Hannah Hayes to humiliate her, only to offer her a small scrap of affection whenever she was about to leave.
“Why aren’t you talking?” A hint of impatience crept into Sylas Vaughn’s voice.
“Sylas Vaughn, do you have any idea how I got down from the mountain?” Selena Sinclair ignored his question and continued speaking, as if to herself.
“I was on that pitch-black, freezing mountaintop, searching through the bushes with the dying light of my phone, getting covered in scratches from thorns.
And when I finally called you, all I heard were your friends saying I was like a dog.”
Selena Sinclair’s voice suddenly cracked with tears, and she choked out, “I even…
I rolled straight down the mountain!
Did you know that?!”
She roared through her sobs, tears splashing onto the phone screen.
The man on the other end of the line seemed taken aback; even his breathing paused for a second.
He then asked urgently,
“Where are you now?
I’ll come get you.
I didn’t know about any of this…”
“Don’t bother.”
Selena Sinclair said nothing more and hung up the phone.
The only sound left in the hospital room was her heartbroken sobs.
‘All she did was fall in love with someone.
Why did she have to go through all this?’
Selena Sinclair curled up on the bed and cried her heart out, as if trying to release all the grievances she had suffered over the years.
Meanwhile, just outside the half-open door to her room, a man stood listening.