The night before my wedding, I left my favorite cardigan at my future mother-in-law Eleanor’s condo. It wasn’t just any sweater — my late mother had sewn two tiny flowers into the collar. One represented peace. The other protection. I couldn’t leave it behind.

I returned to the building and reached the twenty-second floor. The front door wasn’t completely closed. I heard my name. Eleanor and her daughter Chloe were talking.
At first, they laughed about how easy I was to impress. Then the conversation became much darker. They started discussing my condo — the home I had bought with years of hard work and my mother’s small inheritance. Eleanor said Julian could convince me to add his name to the property after the wedding. She called my kindness a weakness. She even described my grief as something that could be used against me.
Then Chloe asked the question I never expected to hear. “Does Julian actually love her?” Eleanor answered without hesitation. “He loves what Harper can do for him.”