---- Chapter 5 Haylie Camacho POV: "Joselin," Jeremy's voice was strained, a desperate edge to it. "The locket. Haylie' s mother' s locket. Where is it?" Joselin looked from his panicked face to mine, a slow, malicious smile spreading across her lips. She feigned innocence, tapping a perfectly polished nail against her chin "Oh, that little gold thing?" she said, her voice light and airy. "It was so pretty. | thought Tiberius might like it." Tiberius. The Glass family' s notoriously vicious Doberman, a beast Edmund kept for protection and intimidation. "What did you do?" | whispered, my voice trembling. "| just put it on his collar," she said with a shrug. "You know, to dress him up a little. He' s out in the kennel in the back garden." | didn' t wait for another word. | turned and ran, ignoring Jeremy's shouts behind me. | burst through the French doors into the manicured gardens, my heart hammering against my ribs. There, at the far end of the lawn, was a large, chain-link enclosure. And inside, a sleek, black shadow paced back and forth, a low growl rumbling in its chest. ---- Tiberius. My mother' s locket, the only thing | had left of her, was glinting in the moonlight, hanging from the thick leather collar around the dog' s neck. It was a desecration. A final, soul- crushing violation. "| have to get it," | said, my hands gripping the cold metal of the fence. Jeremy came up behind me, panting. "Haylie, no. You can't go in there. He' Il tear you apart." "| don't care," | said, turning to face him, tears streaming down my face. "It was my mother's. It' s all | have." He looked at me, at the raw agony on my face, and for the first time, | saw a flicker of the man | used to love. A flicker of genuine remorse. "Wait," he said, his voice firm. "I' Il get it for you." He called over one of the groundskeepers, a large, burly man named Gus. "Open the gate. We need to get that locket off his collar." Gus' s eyes widened. "Sir, the dog hasn' t been fed. He' s agitated." "Just do it," Jeremy commanded. He took off his suit jacket, rolling up his sleeves. He looked at me, his eyes full of a desperate need for redemption. "I' Il get it back for you, Haylie. ---- | promise." Gus unlocked the gate and Jeremy stepped inside, moving slowly, cautiously. Tiberius stopped pacing, his body tensing, a deep, menacing growl erupting from his throat. Jeremy and Gus managed to corner the dog, and after a tense struggle, Jeremy' s hand darted out, fumbling with the clasp on the collar. He managed to unhook the locket. He backed away slowly, holding it up for me to see, a triumphant, relieved smile on his face. "| got it, Haylie! | got it!" In that split second of his distraction, | saw Joselin, who had been standing silently by the doors, catch Gus' s eye. She gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod. Gus' s grip on the dog' s collar loosened for just a moment. It was all it took. With a ferocious roar, Tiberius lunged. Not at Jeremy. Not at Gus. At me. "Haylie!" Jeremy screamed. Everything slowed down. | saw the dog' s eyes, burning with primal rage. | saw its teeth, bared and sharp. My body, still weak from a year of atrophy, refused to move. | was a statue, waiting for the impact. ---- Jeremy was closer to Joselin. He could have easily pulled her behind him, shielded her. Instead, he made a choice. In that split second of life or death, he hesitated, his body torn between me and her. And then, he lunged toward Joselin, wrapping his arms around her, turning his back on me. He chose her. Gus was an instant too late. The dog' s jaws clamped down on my leg. The pain was searing, white-hot, and absolute. | crumpled to the ground, a scream tearing from my throat as the world dissolved into a vortex of agony. The last thing | saw before | blacked out was Jeremy holding a screaming Joselin, his face a mask of horror. And beyond him, | saw Joselin' s face, unobscured, her lips curved into a small, triumphant smile. My blood was soaking into the perfect green grass of the Glass family estate, the locket, now smeared with my own blood, still clutched in my hand. | woke up to a sharp, stabbing pain in my leg. The wound, stitched and bandaged, was throbbing angrily. | slowly, painfully pushed myself up, my muscles screaming in protest. Every step was a fresh wave of agony. | limped out of the guest room and down the hall. The door to Edmund' s study was ajar. | heard voices. Jeremy' s, sharp and angry. Joselin' s, sobbing pitifully. | pushed the door open. ---- Joselin and the groundskeeper, Gus, were kneeling on the floor before a furious Jeremy. "It was an accident!" Joselin was crying. "Gus' s hand slipped! It wasn' t my fault!" Jeremy was pacing, his face contorted with rage. "An accident? Haylie could have been killed! And you," he rounded on Gus, "you are fired!" Then Joselin saw me. Her tears instantly redoubled. "Oh, Haylie! I' m so, so sorry! It' s all my fault! Punish me, Jeremy, not Gus! It was me!" | just stared at her, my expression unreadable. "You put my mother' s locket on a vicious dog, Joselin. Why?" Jeremy turned to me, his anger melting into that familiar, suffocating concern. He tried to guide me to a chair. "Haylie, you shouldn't be standing. Your leg..." | shrugged his hand off. "Answer me, Joselin." "It was just a silly joke!" she wailed. "I didn' t think..." "You didn' t think?" Jeremy roared, his fury returning. "Or you didn' t care?" He looked at me, his eyes pleading. "Haylie, it ' s not worth getting upset over. It' s just a piece of jewelry." Just a piece of jewelry. The words echoed in the silent room. He had no idea. He had ---- no idea what that locket meant. | let out a cold, humorless laugh. "You' re right. It' s not worth it." My eyes met his, and | saw him flinch from the ice in my gaze. "| want out, Jeremy. | want a divorce." "No," he said, shaking his head frantically. "No, we can fix this. | love you, Haylie. | only love you." "You have a funny way of showing it," | said. "When that dog came at me, you chose her. You saved her and you let me get mauled." "| panicked!" he yelled, his voice cracking. "She was screaming, | just... | reacted!" As he spoke, | saw it again in my mind' s eye. Joselin' s smug, satisfied smile as | went down. It was no accident. It was a setup. And Jeremy, in his weakness and his guilt, had let it happen. He had chosen his new wife over the woman who gave him her own flesh and blood to save his life.