Chapter 3: The Sister He Never Knew

It was an intimate pose, like lovers, but her movements were stiff, her whole body full of resistance.

Only someone as clueless as Mason couldn’t see it.

He stroked her hair absentmindedly, whispering something I couldn’t hear. But Harper’s eyes found mine through the window—haunted, pleading.

Mason and I met at a charity gala. I can still remember the low hum of voices, the clink of glasses, the way the room seemed to glow under the lights.

It was one of those big downtown events—white tablecloths, champagne flutes, and a jazz band playing in the corner. When I gave a speech on behalf of my company, he fell for me at first sight and chased me for half a year before I finally agreed to be his girlfriend.

He sent flowers, wrote long emails, left little gifts at my office. His persistence was almost old-fashioned, the kind of thing you’d expect in a movie, not real life.

At our one-year anniversary party, he knelt on one knee, eyes full of affection as he held up a ring to me:

“Sierra, can I take care of you from now on?”

He said it in front of everyone, the restaurant quiet except for the soft clink of glasses. I remember the way his hands shook, the ring box trembling in his palm. For a second, I almost believed in fairy tales.

I was unlucky. As a child, I was separated from my family and only reunited with them ten years later.

Sometimes I still had nightmares about those lost years—the unfamiliar faces, the sense of being adrift. Growing up without love made me a little paranoid.

I cared too much about family. I wanted too much to have a home of my own. Was that so wrong? I wondered, not for the first time.

That longing was a hole inside me I could never quite fill. Until today, I never thought Mason would have a girl he could never forget—a white moonlight of his own.

I called Mason’s mom and invited her out for afternoon tea.

We met at a little café downtown, the kind with mismatched chairs and indie music playing overhead. After we met, I took a gift box from my bag and handed it to her.

I said, “I left in a hurry yesterday, so today I brought you a gift to apologize.”

Inside the box was a necklace—not super expensive, just a few thousand dollars—but for Mason’s family, it was definitely a luxury.

She gasped softly, her fingers trembling as she lifted the necklace from the box. For a moment, she just stared at it, breath caught. I walked behind her and personally put it on for her.

The diamond sparkled in the sunlight.

It caught the light just right, scattering little rainbows across the table. Mason’s mom warmly held my hand, her smile even more enthusiastic.

She’d already taken a liking to my family background, and now that I’d given her such a valuable gift, she almost treated me like her own daughter.

She squeezed my hand, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. I could feel her approval settling around me like a warm blanket.

When I asked about Harper, she frowned in disdain.

“That Harper Sloan… some kind of art student, a kid Mason’s dad sponsored for a while.”

Her lips curled, and she shook her head, like just saying Harper’s name left a bad taste in her mouth. I caught a flash of something ugly in her eyes, and it made my skin crawl.

“Her mind’s not right, always muttering strange things. Mason’s dad is too soft-hearted, even sent her to a psychiatric hospital to recover.”

She rolled her eyes, stirring her coffee with unnecessary force. I could sense a deep resentment beneath her words, something old and festering.

While she lowered her head to eat cake, I asked:

“Mrs. Keller, what happened with Mason’s last girlfriend?”

Her hand holding the fork suddenly trembled.

She froze, fork halfway to her mouth, and for a split second, the mask slipped. “Oh… that. Still as kind as ever,” she said. “That was over two years ago.”

“They were already engaged, but then she disappeared. We searched for years but couldn’t find her. Very strange.”

She forced a brittle laugh, but her eyes darted away. “That girl… plain looking, not much luck, bad fate.”

“Our family is kind, still gave the engagement gift as usual, a few thousand dollars.”

She said it like it was some great act of charity, but there was a coldness to her tone that made me shiver.

I quietly lowered my eyelids, as if listening intently.

I nodded, pretending to be interested, but inside, I was turning her words over and over, searching for cracks.

Mason’s mom was lying.

That girl was beautiful. She had long, wavy hair that tumbled over her shoulders, eyes that always seemed to smile—soft, gentle, inviting. I remembered the way she lit up a room, the way people naturally gravitated toward her. She grew up pampered in an ivory tower.

Just a little bit more, and she would have been the happiest girl in the world.

She was the kind of girl who made you believe in happy endings—until hers was stolen.

At that gala, people were whispering.

“Did you see the vice president of the Reed Group? He looks so ridiculous—even dressed in a suit, he doesn’t look like he belongs.”

“He was just a security guard before. Who knows how he landed Miss Reed, and then got her pregnant before marriage.”

“The Reed family must have bad luck. Mr. Reed died mysteriously, Miss Reed’s stuck in a wheelchair, almost completely pushed aside.”