- After I left, my crazy husband
- begged for forgiveness on his
- knees.
- Chapter 1
- I’d just been recognized by the wealthy Hayes
- family when I was forced to become a stand-
- in bride for the real heiress, Sarah.
- Her fiancé, Peter Knight, had been in a car
- accident on their wedding day, leaving him
- blind and quadriplegic.
- The doctors gave him a slim chance of
- recovery.
- Two years later, Peter made a full recovery.
- Then Sarah reappeared, sobbing that I’d
- somehow schemed to steal her wedding.
- <
- Peter believed her, vowing revenge.
- He claimed his eyes hadn’t fully healed and
- pressured me to donate a cornea.
- After the surgery, while my vision was still
- blurry, he dragged me to a flashing, throbbing
- nightclub.
- He was thrilled when I started crying tears of
- blood from the sensory overload.
- Friends urged me to leave, but I stayed.
- Until he ignored my three–month pregnancy
- and took me bungee jumping.
- I miscarried. Peter complained about the
- smell of blood.
- <
- After I was discharged, I took a legal
- document to Peter’s uncle, Patrick: “The three
- years are up. Please honor our agreement
- and let me go.”
- Patrick took the agreement, tossed it aside,
- and kept reading his own papers: “Sign for
- another three years. I’ll add another three
- hundred thousand to your foster mom’s
- medical fund. That way, if she needs a kidney
- transplant, you won’t be so stressed.”
- Patrick, head of the Knight family, was a
- businessman through and through.
- I needed money, but I needed out more.
- “No. The deal was three years with him and
- く
- “No. The deal was three years with him, and
- then I’m free.”
- My voice was firm. Patrick finally looked up.
- “Peter’s been giving you a hard time again,
- hasn’t he? He lost his parents, then the
- accident… it changed him. He’s better these
- past three years. Don’t be too hard on him.”
- He picked up the phone and called his
- assistant.
- The assistant appeared with a signed check.
- “If you stay, fill in any number you want.”
- The slip of paper felt heavy in my hand.
- I thought of my foster mom in the hospital. I
- <
- Then my phone auto–answered. Peter’s cruel
- voice filled the room.
- “Summer, where the hell are you? Skipping
- out on your hospital room? Guess I haven’t
- taught you your lesson yet.”
- “Actually, I found a new bungee spot. We’ll
- have to try it sometime.”
- Sarah giggled in the background. “Peter,
- you’re so awful! She was pregnant with your
- baby! Oh, wait, she lost it…”
- “You complained about the smell, remember?
- You didn’t see how ugly she looked crying. I’d
- have killed myself if I were her, not just hang
- around being an eyesore.”
- <
- More laughter erupted from the phone.
- “Summer, you’re so good at taking it, why
- don’t you come down to the club and play
- clown for my friends? Give everyone a laugh.”
- My hands clenched. The check crumpled in
- my fist.
- I fumbled to end the call, meeting Patrick’s
- sharp gaze.
- “I don’t want the money. I just want to leave.”
- Patrick took off his glasses and pinched the
- bridge of his nose. “Peter’s gone too far. I’ll
- talk to him. Think it over.”
- Before I could refuse, the hospital called.
- <
- I rushed there. My foster mom was in surgery.
- I collapsed onto a chair in the hallway, staring
- at the red light above the operating room.
- door, feeling utterly alone.
- Why was the world so cruel? I’d never hurt
- anyone. Was I going to lose the only person.
- who loved me?
- The elevator dinged.
- Medics rushed a pregnant woman toward the
- OR.
- Moments later, the doctor came out. Stillbirth.
- The family’s wails tore through me. They cried
- for the doctors to save the mother.
- く
- I touched my stomach, grief welling up.
- There had been a life there, connected to me.
- Even if his father was a monster, I’d wanted
- him.
- I’d even started to accept a life with Peter, for
- O
- the baby’s sake.
- But the accident had broken more than his
- body.
- Peter believed Sarah. He saw me as a gold digger.
- So he took me to the bungee platform, as
- revenge.
- His men held me down. He strapped me into
- the harness himself.
- He saw my tears, heard my pleas. It just
- fueled his excitement.
- He didn’t push me right away. He poked my shoulder, relishing my screams.
- Despair washed over me. I felt like I was
- losing my mind.
- I begged him. “There’s a baby! Please don’t
- do this!”
- His eyes flashed. He shoved me off the
- platform.
- The world dropped away. Pain ripped through.
- my abdomen.
- く
- They pulled me up after the blood started
- flowing down my legs.
- I was white as a sheet, numb with shock.
- Peter waved his hand in front of his face. My blood was offending his delicate sensibilities.
- Sarah leaned against him, snapping pictures. “Smile for the camera, sis!”
- I passed out.
- As I slipped away, I saw flashes of my past.
- Five years old, my mom took me to the
- carnival. I was snatched away, sold for a
- thousand bucks.
- Eight years old, I ran away, ended up in an orphanage, finally had a full meal.
- Ten years old, my foster mom adopted me.
- She couldn’t have kids of her own and treated me like I was hers. I finally had a home.
- Fifteen years old, my birth parents found me, paid my foster mom, and took me back.
- I knew my foster mom was sick, needed the money. I didn’t complain.
