Chapter 3

Her eyes softened. She reached out and gently patted my head.

"I only want you to be happy. You've had a hard life, haven't you?"

In that moment, Daisy Gilbert was a beam of pure light piercing the darkness I had lived in for decades.

She pulled me out of the abyss.

Then her tone shifted, becoming playful.

"I don't lack money. I just lack a handsome husband."

My face turned crimson.

The next day, I sold my guitar, bought the rings, and proposed. When she nodded, I swore an oath to the universe: I would love her for a lifetime.

After the wedding, Daisy made me quit the odd jobs. She funded my return to university.

"My husband is brilliant," she'd say, eyes shining. "He's going to achieve great things."

I studied directing and screenwriting with a hunger I'd never felt before. Soon, I gathered a team. My first two films were critical darlings. The third, based on our love story, catapulted me to fame.

My career was soaring. My marriage was perfect.

Five years in, Daisy got pregnant. I was ecstatic, already planning the nursery, dreaming of our future.

And then James Delgado returned.

His appearance was a sledgehammer that shattered the dream.

The sky above the cemetery grew dark.

I checked my watch. 7:30 PM. Another four and a half hours of kneeling before I was allowed to leave.

Since James died, Daisy forced me to kneel here for twenty-four hours every year on his death anniversary.

For three years, I had never missed a minute.

*"Tyler Harding, you caused James's death. You owe him your life."*

Her words echoed in my skull.

And God help me, I couldn't refute them.

My knees were numb, devoid of sensation. I stared blankly ahead.

Suddenly, chaotic footsteps broke the silence of the cemetery.

The sharp click-clack of high heels stopped directly in front of me. I began to lift my head—

*Smack!*

A palm connected hard with my face, snapping my head to the side.

"Tyler Harding!" Daisy screamed, her voice trembling with rage. "It wasn't enough that you killed James? Now you want to kill Luke too?"

I blinked, dazed. "What?"

"Don't play dumb!" Her chest heaved. "How did I not see how filthy and vile you are? Yesterday, Luke said a few things about you, and today you had someone run him off the road!"

She turned to the bodyguards, her face twisted. "Drag him to the hospital. He's going to apologize to Luke right now!"

Before I could protest, the bodyguards swarmed me, hauling me up and shoving me into the car.

At the hospital, Luke Swanson lay in bed, his arm in a cast. When he saw me, his eyes flickered with guilt before he masked it.

I gritted my teeth. "I didn't touch you. Why are you framing me?"

Daisy let out a cold, mocking laugh.

"If it wasn't you, are you saying Luke crashed his own car just to frame you? Tyler, not everyone is as scheming as you. Apologize. Now."

I stiffened my neck. Refused to speak.

Seeing Daisy firmly in his corner, Luke's confidence surged. His eyes shifted with malicious intent.

"Daisy, if Director Harding doesn't want to apologize, let it go." He played the martyr, his voice soft. "But... I heard he signed an organ donation agreement."

He paused. A cruel smile touched his lips.

"My mother has end-stage uremia. She needs a kidney urgently. Since he won't apologize, how about he gets tested? If he's a match..."

Luke leaned back against the pillows, eyes glittering.

"Donating a kidney could count as his atonement."