It was June 6, 2018, the day Juniper Beaumont turned eighteen.
She didn't celebrate with her family. Instead, she spent the night at her boyfriend Magnus Blackwood's place, lost in love.
"Magnus, will we be together forever?" Juniper asked, her face flushed with emotion as she curled up in his embrace, her eyes shining with unspoken affection.
"Always," he replied with unwavering certainty, his deep gaze burning into her beautiful face as he pulled her closer.
Then he slowly pounded on the gate of her heart.
Pain!
Juniper's spine shivered, her fingertips digging into the taut muscles of his arm.
Despite the pain, she tilted her head up and smiled sweetly at Magnus. "Magnus Blackwood, I love you."
He kissed the tears from her eyes tenderly but held her firmly, his voice authoritative in her ear. "Juniper, you're mine... always."
Juniper clung to his neck, her happiness indescribable, like a mermaid tasting love for the first time.
But she was soon to learn that their idea of 'forever' was just a passionate description of the present.
And that "I love you" would eventually lose to "I hate you."
Three months later.
In the stern silence of the courtroom.
"Miss Juniper Beaumont, on the night of June 6th, were you with the defendant, Magnus Blackwood, the entire time?"
"Yes."
Juniper lifted her eyes slowly to Magnus, who stood in the dock wearing a drab prison jumpsuit. Despite his tired features and red-rimmed eyes, his gaze softened when he looked at her.
Detained for a week, he looked both thinner and disheveled. Yet his striking presence made it hard for Juniper to look away.
Magnus Blackwood, a double major in Finance and Law at Imperial Capital University, was a brilliant mind from a modest background with a promising future. His professors had said that a genius like him came once in a century. With a natural flair for law and a sharp eye for the stock market and venture capital, he was meant for great things. But now...
Oh God, why must she make such a dreadful choice!
"Witness Juniper Beaumont, on the night of June 6th at around 10 PM, are you certain you saw the defendant driving a black Mercedes with the license plate ADC326 that struck and killed the plaintiff, James?" the prosecutor inquired, addressing the courtroom.
A hush fell over the room.
One minute passed...
Two minutes...
Three minutes...
With a sharp rap of the gavel, the judge broke the silence.
Frowning, the judge repeated the question, "Witness Juniper Beaumont, please answer the question!"
That fateful night on June 6th, Juniper's half-brother, Dashiell Beaumont, was behind the wheel of that black Mercedes with the ADC326 plate, on a rural road outside of the city limits. But it was him who had hit and killed a person before fleeing the scene.
Their father, Alexander Beaumont, in order to protect his only son, had the chauffeur's son take the fall and serve time in prison.
Magnus Blackwood, after being arrested, refused to confess. Alexander Beaumont threatened Juniper with her mother's life to get her to be a witness.
No more than six months after Alexander's first wife, Lyra Callahan, fell down the stairs and became comatose, he shamelessly brought home his mistress, Isolde Whitaker, and her son.
Isolde's son, Dashiell Beaumont, was just a year younger than Juniper.
Isolde, holding a knife to Lyra Callahan's throat, coerced Juniper into falsely identifying Magnus Blackwood as the perpetrator.
As the governor of the city, a status just below that of the metropolis, Alexander Beaumont wielded enough power to manipulate the courts into incarcerating Magnus Blackwood.
Ruthless was Alexander Beaumont; Juniper knew the fate of her mother and Magnus would be dire if she disobeyed.
She felt cornered, with no way out...
Taking a deep breath, Juniper Beaumont locked eyes with the judge and with unwavering clarity stated, "Yes, on the evening of June 6th around 10 o'clock, I was in the passenger seat next to Magnus Blackwood, and I witnessed him hit and kill a man with his car."
Magnus Blackwood, standing at the defendant's table, stiffened, the light in his eyes flickering out in an instant.
"Defendant Magnus Blackwood, do you have anything else to say?" the judge asked.
In the depths of his eyes, there lay a deep and chilling frost, much like the cold sweep of a wintry gust. He glared at Juniper Beaumont with bloodshot eyes, letting out a despairing yet scornful chuckle.
"I... have nothing to say," he enunciated every word with a heavy finality.
The girl he once adored and cherished, who should have stood by his side, was now his accuser, relentlessly branding him a murderer.
How could the whole world turn against Magnus Blackwood, and of all people, why did it have to be her, Juniper Beaumont?
The gavel struck again.
"Defendant Magnus Blackwood, in accordance with Penal Code Section 192 causing the death of the plaintiff James, this court hereby sentences the defendant to three years imprisonment with a fine of two million dollars."
The trial ended, and the guards led Magnus away in his prison garb.
He glanced back, giving her a deep, resentful look. His eyes blazed with uncontrollable anger.
Juniper Beaumont knew, he utterly despised her now.
She had essentially ruined Magnus Blackwood, a man destined for greatness, brimming with vitality and promise.
Her slender fingers dug into her palm, the force of her grip betraying her inner turmoil...
Three days later.
Juniper Beaumont had secured visitation rights for Magnus Blackwood.
Through the glass, they faced each other and spoke on the phone.
"Magnus, I'll get someone to bail you out as fast as I can!"
His response came with a bitter, mocking laugh. "Juniper Beaumont, it's over between us. There's no need for your pretense. From now on, live your life as the esteemed Miss Beaumont, while I rot here as a prisoner!"
"I'm sorry, Magnus..."
Tears streamed down her face, the pain so acute she could barely breathe.
"This isn't a place for Miss Beaumont," he said coldly.
Magnus took a small sketchbook he had been allowed to keep and waved it in front of her. It was filled with portraits she once secretly drew for him. Page after page—every one depicted his likeness, treasured like a prized possession.
With a ruthless sneer and his long fingers, he tore the sketchbook into pieces and scattered them in the air.
"Juniper Beaumont, between us, there's no longer a chance—thanks to you!"
His decisiveness was terrifying.
Each syllable rang out like a dagger, stabbing relentlessly into Juniper Beaumont's heart.
Visiting hours were over.
The prison guard escorted Magnus Blackwood away.
As Magnus rose, his every step crumpled the torn letters beneath his feet, shattered her heart.
"Magnus Blackwood...!" she cried out his name, tears streaming down her face.
But the man never looked back.
Covering her mouth to muffle her sobs, Juniper Beaumont whimpered, "I'm pregnant... Magnus Blackwood... We're going to have a baby."
Overcome with emotion, Juniper felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Instinctively, she placed her hand there and looked down to see a stark, ghastly stain of blood on her white pants...