At ten at night, in the middle of a heavy downpour, a girl stepped out of South City’s First Prison.
Without makeup, pale as ever, the rain-soaked figure looked especially fragile.
"Still got that charm, huh? South City’s top beauty didn’t lose her glow even after three years behind bars." The man's voice was deep, with a mocking tilt to it.
The girl lifted her head slowly.
A bright red Ferrari was parked just ahead, and a man leaned casually against it under a sleek black umbrella, every inch of him clean and polished as if the storm hadn't touched him. In the passenger seat sat a striking young woman—none other than her half-sister, Isabella Harper.
Serena Harper froze. Why were Isabella and Wolfgang Leigh together?
"What’s wrong? Not happy to see me, Serena? Or... were you hoping it’d be Nicholas Bishop instead?" Wolfgang smirked.
"Come on, don’t tease her," Isabella chimed in, hopping out of the car and slipping effortlessly into Wolfgang’s arms. "Sis used to say you were the one she loved most. She only married Nicholas because she had to—it broke her heart, remember? She probably hates him more than anything now. Right, Serena?"
Just hearing Nicholas’s name was like a punch to the chest. Serena’s hands curled slightly, face going ghost-white.
"Wolfgang Leigh."
Her voice was cold as she stared at the two of them. "What did I ever do to you? Why go this hard just to ruin me?"
Wolfgang chuckled, low and slow. "Three years locked up and you still don’t get it? It's all because of Nicholas. That guy loved you."
Serena’s pupils shrank, a flicker of pain shooting through her eyes. She laughed bitterly. "He was never in love with me. It was Aurora Hayes—"
"I was in love with Aurora!" Wolfgang exploded, face twisting with rage.
Serena flinched, looking up at him in shock.
"Nicholas lashed out at me for you, drove Aurora to her end—I lost everything! So I figured, why not let him feel that too? And look at that, even after everything, he still couldn’t forget you. Pathetic, huh? His whole family’s gone to hell, and he’s still clinging to you."
Serena’s expression dropped. "What… what happened to the Bishop family?"
"You seriously have the nerve to ask?" Isabella sneered. "If it weren’t for you, they wouldn't have gone down like that!"
"Shut your damn mouth!" Serena snapped.“Cut the rich-girl act already! You think you’re still the Serena Harper from back then? Don’t kid yourself. Even if Nicholas Bishop is dead, it’s your fault!”
Smack!
The sharp ringing in Isabella Harper’s ear lasted a beat before she swung her head around in disbelief. “You hit me?!”
“Shut up!”
“You bitch! You actually hit me—”
Another slap landed, even harder.
“You're right. I’m not who I was. I’ve got nothing to lose now. Try me again, I swear I’ll end you.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
Serena gave a cold chuckle. “Three years behind bars... you’d be surprised what I’d dare.”
For a split second, Isabella was stunned, even a little shaken—but the unwillingness to back down burned stronger.
“What, did I hit a nerve? Can’t handle the truth? Back when you got arrested, bet you waited day and night for Nicholas Bishop to come save you. But he never showed, did he? Must’ve killed you inside, huh? No wonder every time he came to visit, you refused to see him. And if you had to? Total meltdown.”
Serena’s eyes darkened. “Funny how you know all this.”
“Oh, honey, that’s not even half of it. He didn’t ghost you because he believed you sold the Bishops out. He got into a car accident. By the time he woke up, it was already too late—you were locked up. He couldn’t change a thing. And thanks to you, his whole family crashed and burned. Mr. Bishop got framed, his grandma had a heart attack and passed, and Nicholas... yeah, he survived, but not his legs.”
“What did you just say?!”
“Oh Serena, you really are hopeless, aren’t you? Three years. Every single visit—you never noticed he was in a wheelchair?”
Serena’s knees gave out. She stumbled back, heart racing.
“He tried so hard just to see you. You nailed it, though—refused to meet him every single time. And remember how he made you break up with Wolfgang Leigh? That always drove him nuts. Add to that the twisted stories me and Wolfgang fed him over the years, about how much you regretted marrying him... congrats, you broke the guy completely.”
Her voice trembled, vision spinning. “What are you trying to say...?”
Wolfgang sneered, glancing at her. “You really think they just let you out early for no reason? Life sentence, and just three years in? You should be worried.”
Serena’s stomach sank—something was seriously off.
