Chapter 1

Hazel Hamilton had fallen for Freddy Hoffman, the aloof, ascetic man in Northbury. He was perfect in every way, except that he was her brother in name. One night, Hazel was accidentally drugged on the mountain. She fled in a panic and stumbled into a church. To her surprise, she found Freddy there, lighting candles in quiet devotion. The rosary beads on his wrist didn't move an inch. His gaze was distant and composed, like a saint untouched by the mortal world. The drug clouded Hazel's senses. Taking advantage of their relationship, she approached him and said, "If you won't help me, I'll find a random person to rid me of this poison." Freddy gritted his teeth and gave in. "Not here, somewhere else." But Hazel couldn't hear him anymore. She wrapped her arms around his neck and seduced him until he snapped and ripped her dress apart. Lost in the rising heat between them, she laughed exuberantly. "Fred, be gentle. The heavens are watching." Freddy's eyes were red with desire. He glanced at her indifferently, but his movements were rougher. The rosary beads that never used to sway clattered with his every movement through the night. By the time it ended, Hazel was broken and trembling. She was unable to say a single complete word. All that spilled from her lips were faint sobs and pleas for mercy. That night, they tried every position imaginable. When Hazel came to her senses, shame and regret flooded her. She avoided Freddy for three days. But to her shock, he came to her on his own. Instead of hating her, Freddy told her he would take responsibility. He even started a relationship with Hazel behind everyone's back. From that point on, the once cold and distant Freddy had changed. He became even colder toward everyone else except Hazel. He said he liked obedient girls. So, Hazel gave up her elegant dresses and spoiled temperament. She started cooking for him and caring for him. He said his rosary beads needed to be nourished with a woman's blood. Hazel agreed to have her blood drawn for him every week for two whole years. After his car accident, he said his kidneys were damaged. Pushing past her own fear and pain, Hazel gave him one of hers. But before she recovered, she walked into Freddy's private hospital and saw Macy Warren lying in a hospital bed. She watched Freddy gaze at Macy with a tenderness she had never seen before. He gently placed the blood-nurtured rosary beads onto Macy's wrist. … "The doctors said your kidneys are failing, but I've already found a match for you. I'm sorry I wasn't there in time when you needed me that night. Don't worry, I'll make the person responsible pay." At that moment, tears silently spilled from Hazel's eyes as the sudden realization struck her like lightning. Freddy had always loved Macy. That night, when she seduced him, Macy had been in a car accident that left her in a coma. Freddy blamed Hazel for it, and he used their relationship as revenge. Hazel tried to flee after learning the truth. When Freddy discovered her attempt, he took over the Hamilton Corporation and drove her parents to their deaths. He locked Hazel, who was now nothing more than a worthless sister, away in the Hoffman residence. He broke her legs, ending her dreams of dancing forever. As if to humiliate her further, he exposed the love letters she had written him. The famous heiress of Northbury became a shameless and immoral wreck who seduced her own brother. She tried to end her life more than once, but Freddy always stopped her. Then, one day, she bled out completely. In her final moments, regret and hatred twisted inside her like thorns. Perhaps her resentment had run too deep because, somehow, she was reborn after death. Now, the scene played out again. Standing before the altar, Freddy was staring at her with cold fury. Gritting her teeth against the drugs raging through her veins, Hazel abruptly released her grip on him. "I'm sorry, Fred. I thought you were someone else. I'm leaving now." She stumbled out the door, never noticing that his expression had instantly darkened. There was no hospital nearby. She had no choice but to stumble into the first hotel she found. Clinging to her last shred of sobriety, she sent a message to her father, George Hamilton. "I agree. He can marry into our family." She then threw herself into the freezing mountain spring. This time, she wouldn't dare provoke Freddy again.