Chapter 8

Callum didn't speak for a long time. When he finally did, the word barely carried. "Alright." Harper smiled right away. She harbored no resentment or sorrow. Instead, it was more like she had finally made peace with everything. The moment brought clarity to her. Her heart had shattered so completely that even the ache had abandoned her. After getting the medicine, she discreetly asked the doctor to write up proof that her uterus was gone. When Callum found her and told her she didn't need to ask for Sienna's blessing, she even put on a touching expression. Over the next few days, Harper kept pulling Callum along to decorate their bedroom and cover the walls with photos of their happiest moments. They spent time together, but their hearts had already drifted apart. Meanwhile, Sienna hadn't made a single move. Things were so calm that Harper almost forgot Sienna was out to get her. On the night before the wedding, Harper received a message from Callum right after he left the villa. "I want to see you. Come in your wedding dress." She had a feeling that this was probably one of Sienna's traps, but she still went along with it. Instead of leaving right away, she took her time and wrote him a love letter. It spoke of her love, her gratitude, her regret over the mess her name had become, and her decision to stop being a burden to him. Then, she set the love letter down alongside the gilded marriage contract, the diagnosis about her lost uterus, and the scraps of baby clothes Sienna had cut to pieces. Harper planned to leave everything behind for Callum, so he would never forget the price she paid and the guilt he would have to carry. The staff from the agency that specialized in faking deaths thoughtfully handed her a metal box. "You can put whatever you want to leave behind in here, Ms. Vaughn. It'll survive the fire just fine." She nodded. "The villa is empty now. Everyone is on leave. All you need to do is set the fire at the right time and leave the body you have prepared inside." After they agreed, she added, "I'll throw in more money if you send a bodyguard to escort me somewhere." Harper wanted to find out what dirty scheme Sienna had come up with this time and where Callum fit into it all. Right before she left, she brought the silk wedding dress with her, even though she had no idea why. She went to the location as instructed. Just as she expected, there was no sign of Callum. Instead, only a group of street thugs was waiting there. Their eyes lit up the moment they saw Harper. "She's gorgeous. We're going to have some fun tonight. Just think about her showing up to the wedding tomorrow after what we do to her tonight turns me on." They closed in on her with sleazy grins, but before they could even reach her, her bodyguards had them on the ground. "What do you want us to do with them, Ms. Vaughn?" Her expression was stone-cold. After hearing what the thugs had said, she figured out exactly what they were planning. They would force themselves on her and make her go through the wedding like everything was fine. They might go so far as to air the footage during the wedding, then twist the story and accuse her of being promiscuous. If the thugs pulled that off, Sienna would have Harper under her thumb forever. On top of that, she would have no place left in Strathaven. How could Callum agree to something this twisted? Harper's voice was as cold and sharp as steel. "Deal with them however you want. Just don't go easy on them." Just then, her phone lit up with a message from Callum. "Turn back, Harper. Just go home." She ignored the text and signaled the rest of the bodyguards to take her to the airport. He called moments later, but she didn't pick up. Instead, she just watched the phone ring until it stopped. They had just hit the road when one of the bodyguards answered a call. His expression turned grim. "Our men at the villa said Mr. Colter suddenly sent a bunch of people back, Ms. Vaughn. I'm afraid we can't proceed with our plan to set the place on fire." Harper's heart immediately sank. Before she could say a word, she saw Callum's car through the window, driving toward the place they had just left. She felt unsettled. "Have you taken care of the thugs already?" The bodyguard nodded. "The plan to fake your death in the fire at the villa won't work anymore. We told our boss about the situation. He got the team to quickly come up with some new ways to fake your death. Which one do you want?" She absentmindedly fidgeted with her fingers. When she was about to say yes, she caught a glimpse of the silk wedding dress in the car. An idea hit her, and her face lit up. "Forget it. We're heading to the beach. "I'll pay ten times the price. Find me a female dead body that looks like me with lash marks on her back. It has to show signs of being assaulted before death. Make it quick." It had been a chaotic night. Right before dawn, Harper finally got the body she had been waiting for at the beach. She powered her phone back on. Harper's mouth twitched when she saw 999 missed calls from Callum. She called him back. He picked it up right away, his voice tinged with urgency. "Where are you, Harper? Are you alright? I'll come pick you up." She paused for a moment and pretended to sob. "Do you love me, Callum?" "Of course." "That's all I needed." "What are you talking about, Harper? Where are you?" Callum was shaken and panicking. Harper ignored that and carried on. "I wore the silk wedding dress for you that day and asked for Sienna's blessing. Take that as our wedding. I just want you to remember me as I was at my best. Don't come looking for me. I'm already tainted." With that, she ended the call, ignoring his shouting. Meanwhile, the corpse had already been dressed in the silk wedding gown and sent into the sea. She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thanks for all your hard work tonight, but I still need one more favor. Make sure Callum doesn't find the body until three days later." After wrapping up the last bit, she used her forged documents to book the earliest flight out of the country. As the plane took off, the sun rose over the horizon. She murmured to herself, "Goodbye forever, Callum. But I hope you'll never forget that I died because of you."