“If the Windsors don’t care whether someone lives or dies, why are you so worried?”

“That’s exactly why I have to worry,” Micah shot back. “Ivy’s already sick – what if something else happens to her?” The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became, mumbling to himself, “No, I have to find her. Dead or alive, there needs to be some news.”

“Hold it!” Jamison barked, stopping him in his tracks.

“Come on, Uncle, my mom’s got you looking after her. I’m just –“

Micah’s face scrunched up, thinking Jamison wouldn’t let him leave, but before he could finish, Jamison cut him off: “Ivy’s fine. You don’t need to go looking.”

“What?” Micah’s eyes widened in shock. “Uncle, how do you know that?”

“She was in a car accident a few days ago. I happened to be at the hospital when they brought her in.”

“A car accident? Why didn’t you tell me?” Micah’s voice shot up, full of indignation. Jamison’s face was icy, his gaze sharp. “Why should I? What does she have to do with you?”

“She – she’s Emma’s sister. That makes her family, doesn’t it?” Micah stammered, grasping for excuses to justify his concern.

Jamison looked at his nephew, exasperation simmering. “Micah, I know exactly what’s going on in that head of yours. Don’t make me knock some sense into you.” With that, Jamison turned and headed into the exam room to check on his sister.

Left standing in the hallway, Micah paced anxiously before pulling out his phone to call Ivy again. Still no answer.

After a while, Jamison reemerged, his tone firm. “Go inside and stay with your mother. Stop worrying about things that aren’t your business.” He didn’t even glance at Micah as he strode away.

“Uncle, wait!” Micah hurried after him, face twisted with worry. “Um… How bad are Ivy’s injuries? Is she seriously hurt?”

“It’s pretty serious.”

“Is she still in the hospital? Which department?”

Jamison paused, turning to fix his nephew with a glare that was beyond severe.

Micah quickly added, “I’m not asking for myself. The Windsors are looking for her – her friends even showed up at the house today.”

Jamison’s brow quirked, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. “She has friends?”

“She does! Katrina – you probably don’t know her… Anyway, the Windsors are trying to find her, and now we finally have some news.”

Jamison stayed silent, but inwardly, he couldn’t help a cold, ironic smile. He remembered Ivy’s friend was indeed named Katrina. They were always together. Interesting.

“Uncle, you still haven’t told me where is Ivy-”

“She didn’t stay at the hospital. They stitched her up, and she left the same day.” Jamison turned on his heel and strode off, not even slowing down.

Micah trailed behind, refusing to give up. “She left? But you said she was seriously hurt! Where did she go? If she didn’t go home to recover, and now no one can reach her, something must have happened!”

Jamison listened to his nephew’s worried rambling, already aware that Ivy was still at Golden Maple Estate and hadn’t returned to the Windsor house. Yet she’d sent her friend to go looking for her there, making a show of her disappearance.

What game is she playing now?

But Jamison was never one to gossip – or to play the hero. He replied blandly, “If she doesn’t want to go back to the Windsors, I’m sure she has her reasons. You’re more anxious about her than her own family – still want to claim she means nothing to you?”

“No, I just –“

Jamison suddenly spun around, his face taut with authority. “Micah, I’m warning you one last time – if you’re going to marry Emma, then do it properly. Stop getting involved in other people’s business. Ivy’s life has nothing to do with you. She’s an adult, not a helpless child. She can go wherever she wants. What difference does it make if she goes back to the Windsors? Would anyone there actually care for her? Or are you planning to play caretaker every day? Right in front of Emma?”

His words hit like a slap, leaving Micah frozen in place, speechless.

Jamison shot him a final glare. “Go take care of your mother.” Then he walked away.

Katrina returned to Golden Maple Estate, filling Ivy in on what had happened that morning as she stirred a pot of soup on the stove.

“Ivy, I think you’re right. There’s a ninety-nine percent chance Emma was behind the brake failure.” She turned, frowning, and looked at her friend leaning in the doorway. “But she’s pregnant, and she doesn’t know the first thing about cars. How could she pull that off? Did she pay someone?”

Ivy nodded. “It’s not impossible. Back when she arranged for me to be kidnapped, she didn’t do it herself either.”

Emma had always been ruthless, and they’d all underestimated her before.

Katrina’s anger simmered. “She’s absolutely cold-blooded – determined to get rid of you.”

First, Emma had orchestrated a kidnapping, and Ivy had barely survived. Now she’d bribed someone to sabotage the brakes. Katrina’s voice trembled with fury. “If we’d been even a little less lucky that day, we could have been killed – or worse, taken others with us in a crash. The consequences don’t bear thinking about. Thank God you kept your head and handled it – otherwise, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

Ivy, in contrast, was calm. “Guess fate’s not done with me yet,” she said, her lips curling into a wry smile. “Since I managed to survive, I’d better make the most of it.”

Katrina glanced back. “So what are you planning to do?”

“Her birthday’s in a few days,” Ivy replied, her smile sharpening. “I’m going to give her a present she’ll never forget.”