Chapter 2: Framed

Regina’s POV

I woke up to sterile white light and the faint scent of antiseptic.

My head throbbed like something had caved it in. I blinked slowly, the ceiling spinning above me. The sheets were stiff, the room foreign. It was all too clean, too quiet. My mouth was dry. I turned my head for some water and saw a glossy brochure on the nightstand.

Serenity Wellness Center: Your Path to Renewal.

The words blurred. And then it hit me.

Maxwell.

He did this.

He didn’t ask. Didn’t listen. He just threw me in here like I was some addict he was finally sick of pretending to love. My chest tightened until I could barely breathe. I pushed myself up, staggered to the door, and twisted the handle.

Locked.

“Help!” I pounded my fists. “Let me out! I’m not supposed to be here!”

A nurse opened the door, clipboard in hand, face unreadable. “Time for your urine test.”

I stared at her, trembling. “You don’t understand. I’ve never done any sort of drug. I’ve been set up. My husband-”

She raised a brow. “Save it. I’ve heard every excuse.”

“He didn’t even ask if it was me,” I whispered, more to myself. “He just looked at me like I was dirt.”

The nurse crossed her arms. “Take the cup. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Maxwell’s face flashed in my mind. How cold his eyes were, how easily he’d said you disgust me.

He believed it.

After everything, after every lie I swallowed for him, he believed that video. That woman. The shame of it burned like acid in my throat.

I snatched the cup with shaking hands. “Fine,” I told her. The results would prove my innocence anyway. Why should I be scared of this?

The door to my room opened again.

I looked up, hope flickering in my chest, until it choked me. Maxwell stood in the doorway, expression like stone. Beside him, Morgana, dressed in soft beige and crocodile tears, held his arm like some supportive wife stand-in. My blood ran cold.

“Maxwell,” I rushed to him, heart pounding. “Please... just hear me out.”

He didn’t move.

My voice trembled. “Yes, I was sick. Years ago.I was prescribed medication during treatment, but I never stockpiled anything, never misused it. And the company money? I never touched a cent. I swear. And that white powder? I don’t even know what it is, let alone where it came from!”

Maxwell’s eyes narrowed, unreadable.

“She told me,” Morgana said softly, stepping forward. “Back in college, Regina used to say her symptoms were unmanageable. That doctors didn’t understand her. She wanted something stronger. I tried to help. But maybe... maybe the illness was just an excuse.”

I turned to her, stunned. “Are you serious?”

Morgana blinked, feigning innocence. “I’m only saying this because I care. You were my friend once. But denial won’t help you get better.”

My knees buckled. Morgana. The only person I ever confided in about my episodes, the panic, the exhaustion, the medication that actually worked. And now she was twisting it like I was some manipulative junkie? In front of him?

At that moment, the nurse returned, holding a paper.

“Results are back,” she said flatly.

I snatched the page before she could even hand it over. My eyes flew to the bottom line.

Positive.

My heart dropped like it had been yanked through my spine. “No... No, that’s not possible.”

My mind went back to everything that happened before I fainted. Every action, every word.

Pregnancy. Birthday. Drink. Juice.

It was that glass of juice!

I pointed at Morgana, my voice cracking. “It was her! That juice! She gave me something. She spiked it!”

Morgana gasped theatrically. “Regina!”

But Maxwell didn’t even look at her. His fury was aimed squarely at me. “Enough.”

He shoved my hand aside. I staggered backward.

“You’re still going to sit there and accuse her? Your friend? When the evidence is right here?” He held up the paper like it was a death sentence. “Have those drugs rotted your brain? Or are you just this good of a liar?”

“Max-”

“Don’t,” he growled.

Something inside me shattered. He didn’t see the fear in my eyes, didn’t remember the woman who curled against him in the dark when she couldn’t breathe. He only saw what Morgana showed him.

And Morgana?

She looked at me with a satisfied little smile just beneath the pity she wore like perfume.

They had me caged.

I stared at Maxwell, searching his face for something, anything, that said he still knew me. That he remembered who I was beneath all this noise. But there was nothing. Just disappointment. Just disgust.

“You have to stop,” he said coldly. “This blame game... it’s pathetic. You need to take responsibility for what you’ve done.”

My mouth opened, but no words came out. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. “You really think I did this?” I whispered.

He didn’t flinch. “The evidence says enough. You tested positive. The company’s finances don’t lie. And now you’re trying to drag Morgana into it?” He shook his head like I was some stranger on the street. “You’ve lost yourself, Regina.”

“She framed me,” I said, barely holding my voice steady. “That juice-”

“Enough.” He cut me off, sharp as a blade. “You’ll pay the price for this, Regina. You’re not well. You don’t look well. Have you looked at yourself lately? Take a good look, Regina, and until you’re ready to admit that, you’re staying here. Sit with it. Get the help you need. But don’t think for a second that I’ll let you twist things anymore.”

Manipulate? The word hit like a slap. I stepped back, breath catching in my throat.

Morgana stood just behind him, lowering her gaze with a small, mournful sigh that was so perfectly timed, it could’ve won an award.

“I loved you,” I said, almost to myself. “And you don’t even see me anymore.”

He didn’t answer.

And Morgana just stood there, smiling.