---- Chapter 10 Jeremy Camacho POV: The words hit me like a physical blow. "You don't deserve me." Haylie' s voice was calm, her eyes clear and cold. There was no anger, no heartbreak. Just a simple statement of fact. And it shattered me more than any screaming or crying ever could have. She turned her back on me, walking toward a line of pristine black cars | hadn't noticed before. The Meyers family crest was emblazoned on the doors "Haylie, wait!" | started after her, but Edmund' s bodyguards stepped in my way, their bodies forming an impassable wall. | grabbed Joselin' s arm, my fingers digging into her skin. "This is your fault," | hissed, dragging her back toward our car. "My fault?" she cried, trying to wrench her arm away. "You're the one who can't let her go!" | shoved her into the passenger seat and slammed the door. "She belongs with me!" | roared, though the words sounded hollow even to my own ears. As | sped away, | watched Haylie in the rearview mirror. She didn't look back. Not once. She simply got into the lead car, a ---- picture of serene grace, and was driven away, leaving me behind in a cloud of dust and regret. Goodbye, Haylie, a voice whispered in my mind. My Haylie. The next few days were a special kind of hell. | took Joselin shopping, buying her anything she pointed at-dresses, shoes, a diamond necklace that cost more than a house. | was trying to fill the gaping hole Haylie had left with expensive trinkets, trying to convince myself that this was what | wanted. That Joselin, with her easy affection and materialistic desires, was enough. "Oh, Jeremy, it' s beautiful," she cooed, admiring the necklace in a storefront window. "But... are you sure? After what happened with Haylie... will she be okay, marrying that man?" | flinched at the sound of Haylie' s name. "She' Il be fine," | said, my voice tighter than | intended. "It's a good match." "Of course it is," Joselin said, snuggling against my arm. "But you know... | never meant for any of this to happen. When your father found me that night, crying after you' d been drugged... | was so scared. | only did what he said because he promised he' d protect you." Drugged. The story we had concocted. The lie that had started this whole nightmare. | looked at her, at her wide, innocent eyes, and for a fleeting moment, | almost believed her. "It wasn't your fault," | said, the words automatic, rehearsed. ---- My gaze drifted past her, to a bridal shop across the street. A mannequin stood in the window, draped in a simple, elegant gown that was exactly Haylie' s style. An image flashed in my mind: Haylie, on our wedding day, her face radiant, her eyes full of a love so pure it was almost painful to remember. Then another image: Haylie, in my father' s hall, her face pale and still, telling me | didn't deserve her. An uneasy feeling began to crawl up my spine. Why had she been so calm? After all the pain, all the betrayal, she should have been furious, heartbroken. But she was... peaceful. It was the calm of someone who had already let go. "Jeremy?" Joselin' s voice broke through my thoughts. "Is everything alright?" "I'm fine," | lied, pulling out my phone. A message from my private investigator popped up. Target is en route to the Meyers estate. ETA 2 hours. Two hours. Two hours until she was officially gone, handed over to another man. A wave of panic, so intense it made me dizzy, washed over me. "We have to go," | said, grabbing Joselin' s hand and pulling her away from the jewelry store. "Go where?" she asked, stumbling to keep up. "Home," | snapped. ---- As we raced back, my mind was a whirlwind of confusion. It didn' t make sense. Haylie wouldn' t just give up. Not the Haylie | knew. She was a fighter. Unless... unless this was what she truly wanted. The thought was a shard of ice in my gut. "Jeremy, look!" Joselin suddenly shrieked, pointing out the window. My head whipped around. On the highway next to us was a convoy of black cars. The Meyers convoy. And in the back of the lead car, | could see her. Haylie. Her profile was silhouetted against the window, serene and beautiful. She was sitting next to a man. A primal, possessive rage surged through me. | slammed on the gas, the engine roaring as my car shot forward. | swerved into the next lane, cutting off a truck, my eyes fixed on that car. | had to get to her. | had to stop this. "What are you doing?" Joselin screamed, clutching the dashboard. "lm getting my wife back," | snarled. | floored it, weaving through traffic, the Meyers convoy just ahead. My heart pounded in my chest, a frantic drumbeat of desperation. | was losing her. | was really, permanently losing her. And suddenly, | knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that if | let her go now, | would never get her back.