Chapter 4

After that incident, Ivy managed to move into Joshua’s house without much resistance.

I’d anticipated her next move—I knew her too well.

But what I hadn’t expected was for Joshua to actually agree to it.

I thought my heart had already gone numb, but the pain of it hit me harder than I imagined.

What surprised me even more was the night of Mr. Carter’s birthday celebration.

Joshua brought Ivy to the party.

I was sitting in the living room chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Carter when the room suddenly fell silent.

Following everyone’s gaze, I turned and saw Joshua walking in, arm in arm with Ivy.

It wasn’t just me. Mr. and Mrs. Carter’s faces also darkened in shock.

Especially Mrs. Carter—she shot up from her seat, her eyes blazing with fury as she glared at Ivy.

“What are you doing here?! Get out!”

Ivy immediately hid behind Joshua, feigning fear.

Joshua frowned. “Mom, I brought Ivy here. How can you treat her like that?”

Mr. Carter, unable to stay seated any longer, stood and pointed an accusing finger at Joshua. “You ungrateful brat! Have you even thought about how Harper feels?!”

Out of respect for my feelings, my parents and the Carters had never mentioned Ivy in front of me, nor had they spoken to Joshua about her.

They had watched as Joshua, after losing his memory, became less and less like the person he once was. But none of them could have imagined he’d go so far as to bring Ivy into his life—and now into their home.

Joshua, seemingly dismissive of the gravity of Ivy’s past, furrowed his brow and said, “Ivy’s already explained everything to me. She was just young and reckless back then. Why does everyone have to be so aggressive?”

“Aggressive?!” Mr. Carter’s voice was shaking with anger. “If she has so much to explain, it’s Harper she should be apologizing to—not you!”

Furious, he shouted for security.

“Get this woman out of my house!”

Joshua immediately stepped forward to block them. “All this over some petty incident? Do you really have to treat Ivy this way?”

A sharp pang shot through my chest.

So to Joshua now, everything Ivy had done to me was just some petty incident.

Suddenly, Joshua whipped his head around and glared at me, his eyes filled with hostility.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

“You’re disgusting. Spreading lies about Ivy to my parents? How pathetic can you get?”

Mrs. Carter, trembling with rage, slapped him hard across the face.

“You—!” she shouted, unable to finish her sentence as her voice broke with fury.

Ivy gasped, her face full of tears, looking like a helpless victim. “Joshua, don’t fight with your family because of me. It’s all my fault—I’ll leave, okay?”

She turned and ran toward the door, sobbing. Joshua immediately chased after her.

I grabbed his wrist before he could leave, my voice shaking as I asked, “Do you love her?”

He looked at me with nothing but contempt, his voice dripping with venom.

“Yes. I love her.”

With that, he wrenched his wrist free and ran after Ivy without looking back.