CHAPTER ONE

Life is so cruel, Sharon thought to herself as she stared at her fathers coffin being lowered into the ground. She has heard it happen to other people, but she never knew she would lose her father. It was just yesterday that he was joking around with her and her mother, but now he was dead, and there was no way to bring him back.

After he was buried, the guest moved to the ranch for refreshments before ending the funeral. She didn't know now how many people she had talked to today and how many condolences she had received. Her mind was numb and wanted this wake to just end so she could go and cry herself to sleep.

"Mama, how are you doing?" Sharon asked as she walked up to her mother, who was sitting on the couch alone, looking lost in thought 

"I'm good dear, I just miss him," Kylie, Sharon’s mother said as she pulled Sharon In for a hug

"I miss him too, Mama. How are we going to do it, Mama? We can't run this farm on our own," Sharon said, her pain evident in her tone 

"We will honey, your father will be watching us from heaven" Kylie said as Sharon hugged her mother and from that day on she swore to protect the farm and make sure she made her father proud.

After comforting her mother, Sharon went in search of her fiancée Max because he was just with her at the funeral, she couldn't find him anywhere until she came across a man that looked like him with Allie, the niece of one of papas clients but she must have seen wrong so she walked away. Mother knowing that her life was about to take a drastic change.

A month later….

“Shar, it was not—" Max said as he tried to reach out for Sharon, but she pulled away, staring at him with so much hate in her eyes 

How could he do this to her? How could he betray her so painfully? He was one of the only people she had left who cared about her, but he chose to destroy that and break her already broken heart.

“Don’t…” Her voice broke, the last bit coming out in a whisper. “Just go away, i don't even want to look at you, you make me sick”

“Shar, listen to me,” he stubbornly continued. “You know I’m doing this for you.”

“Wh…What?” she said, shocked by the sheer audacity of the asshole in front of her 

“I was trying to help out, Shar,” he hurried on, “we have a lot to do here, and we desperately need some cash. I was trying to get Allie to talk to her uncle into investing in the farm.”

“By sleeping with her?”

His eyes sparked with anger but he held himself back “C’mon Shar,” he continued in a placating tone, “the only other way would have been to reach out to him ourselves, which you know we can’t since we literally have nothing to offer.”

While the truth stung, it remained an undeniable reality of the life they were living. After fumbling around the dimly lit office for several days, they reluctantly resorted to hiring a professional to assess the situation of the farm's account. 

Providing a grim assessment of the account's status, he revealed that we were in the red and alone a miracle could save the farm. Upon confirmation from Mamma that Papa started using the family funds for urgent repairs, we also found out we didn't have money in the bank and were officially broke. 

Given the dire state of affairs on the farm, attracting investors seemed futile because who would want to invest in a sinking ship? However, it would have been considerate for him to allow me to propose a solution before seeking out help from Allie, Sharon thought to herself as she glared at Max.

“And why didn’t you tell me? Why did you hide it from me if it was just an innocent  relationship? "she asked.

“I didn’t want to make you worry more, Shar,” he slowly closed the few inches between them, “what with your father’s death and all, I just wanted to offer you the deal already done.” He finished as he placed his hand on her cheek, but a picture of him flashed in her head of him doing the same thing to Allie the rich blondie, which caused her to flinch away from his touch. 

"Take your hands off me, you lying cheat," Sharon yelled, "I will not fall for your lies." her statement caused anger to flash on Max's eyes as he stared at her

“Fuck, Shar,” he raised his voice, “Can’t you see I did it for you? For us? I abandoned that job I’d just gotten _ 60k a month! _ to follow you down here when you said your dad just got some investors and needed a manager. Now, we have nothing, no job, no investors. I can’t remember the last time I drove a car without it stopping for a repair. I’m tired, Shar.”

"If you're tired then leave, I won't be with a lying cheat" Sharon said when Max was done with his tirade, her eyes were tearing up, she was done with him, he can go jump of a bridge for all she cared

"You're angry you need time to think, I will give you some space" Max said but Sharon shook her head

"I don't want space, I want you gone Max. I'm sleeping in the stall tonight, so you can have time to pack, I don't want to see you by the time I get back or i will release the dogs on you" 

"Don't worry, I'm leaving tonight, you will come running back to me, when everything blows up in your face" 

"Do what you want" Sharon said as she walked out of the room, she heard some things being thrown which meant he was packing around and mumbling about how ungrateful she was

After a few minutes she heard the main door slamming shut, Sharon never wanted to feel that way again so she decided to never give her heart to any man again 

Sharon left in her own thought; “How could he even think for once that I'm an ingrate? Wasn't it enough that he took me for a fool? I offered him genuine love and look what I have got in return. Dad, I wish you were here with me. I wish you didn't have to go so soon, and as for Max, maybe it wasn't just meant to be.