Chapter 1

Darkness.

It surrounded me like a million claws as I fought against the anxiety rising up my throat. I curled on the cold floor, my limbs shivering as I recalled the cold words of my dear husband.

“You'll rot in here for your wickedness, Avery. You tried to kill your own sister because of your jealousy!”

I screamed out loud when the image of him dragging me across the hard floor to the basement burnt into my head. 

I begged and begged. I even promised not to meddle in their affairs or stop him from marrying her. But it all went to deaf ears.

I pressed my hand against my ear, as I laid on the cold concrete floor, my thighs folded underneath me, shielding my slightly swollen belly, like just that could protect the baby growing inside me. Hours_or maybe even days since I've been locked here and I've only been fed stale bread and watery soup.

There was no window, no clock, just the single bulb hanging from the ceiling, unable to provide any amount of light but buzzing like it was mocking me.

“Please, please don't take him too. Not this one. Not my baby boy," I croaked as I shivered against the floor, my hands massaging my belly.

But my words just echoed back at me, swallowed by the dark.

Just then, the door to the basement opened and then my husband walked in. His hands were dipped inside his black trousers but his eyes glared at me with so much hatred I doubted for a second if this was the same Drake who couldn't stand to see a hair go missing on my head.

“Drake," I called, my voice sounding hoarse from the way I had been crying. “Please get me out of here. You know I can't stay in the dark like this. Please…” I looked up at him, my vision slightly blurry.

But there was no remorse or pity in his eyes. It was just cold. The kind of cold that made you want to run far, far away. But I could not. I could hardly move my leg, how would I be able to fight off the guard standing outside the door?

" I know you have a fear of darkness. You've always been pathetic like that, Avery. That's why I brought you here,” he said with no emotion. 

A tear ran down my cheek as I forced myself to sit up. I had gotten extremely weak and could already feel my body shutting down. 

“I_i didn't push Bianca. She's making everything up. You have to believe me. I'm having your ch__" I tried to say but he cut me off with a dark chuckle. 

" So you're still not ready to confess or apologize. I always knew you were very stubborn, but I never thought you were this gullible. Look at you…you can barely hold yourself up, but you won't surrender to your wrong doings, Avery.”

I dragged myself forward, my knees scraping on the rough floor, until I reached him. I clutched his leg, sobbing. “Drake, please, you know I wouldn’t hurt her. Bianca lied — she’s been lying to you this whole time! She isn’t even pregnant, I can prove it!”

He crouched, his expensive cologne making me sick to my stomach. His face was expressionless, his dark eyes sharp enough to cut.

“You think I’d believe a word from your mouth after what you did?” His voice was calm, too calm.

“I didn’t push her!” I screamed, my throat tearing with the force. “She fell on purpose to frame me! Drake, please, I’m carrying your baby—our baby—don’t do this to us!”

For a split second, something flickered in his eyes — pain, maybe? Doubt?

But then it was gone.

“The doctor said you wouldn't be able to conceive a child. Stop the lie. You’ll stay here until you confess,” he said coldly. “Tomorrow’s punishment will surely make you talk.”

And just like that a burst of anger rushed in me. " She's lying! The bitch is lying. She tripped herself down the stairs when I threatened to tell you about her fake pregnancy. Can't you even see it? How are you so bl__” a loud sound rang around the room, followed by a sharp sting on my cheek. 

Drake slapped me.

“Maybe you haven't felt pain yet. You seem to think this is a joke. But I'll show you how ruthless I can be to those who don't have compassion for family. You'll pay for every tear Bianca, your stepsister has shed. And I'll make sure you feel every bit of her pain the day you had decided you wanted to end her life.”

Those were the last words he uttered before he left me alone in the dark. I just sat there, my eyes wide opened, and hand clutching my reddened cheek.

Drake wasn't always like this.

Drake was once every woman's dream. Loving, kind and protective. I was the apple of his eyes.

Until the day I had my third miscarriage.

How did we get here?

Six years earlier…

Drake Hayes had once looked at me like I was the only woman in the world. His world.

He had been my first love, my first kiss…my first everything. There was no way I could ever imagine a life without Drake in it. My life revolved around him. And he knew it.

Drake wasn't just handsome, he was filthy rich. His billionaire father had left a great fortune for him, and with Drake's intelligence, he had no problem finding his way in the business world.

And then, there was me, the unwanted child of the Black's family. I was adopted by a very rich couple when I was just six. Not just me. Bianca too. 

Bianca was my best friend from when we grew up together in the orphanage home and luckily for us, we were adopted by the same person. It was the happiest day of my life. But I should've known I wouldn't be able to survive with Bianca's blinding beauty.

Immediately, the Hemsworth couples had taken a deep liking to Bianca and ignored my existence along the way. I had turned invisible to them. 

She became the sole heir to their fortune and I was left with nothing but an old Toyota car. 

But it didn't faze me. I never really cared about the big things. I just wanted to be loved. And that's when Drake came in.

Even after seeing my sister, he chose me. Something that had never happened before.

Our marriage had been everything I dreamed of. Candlelit dinners. Weekend getaways. Lazy Sunday mornings where he wouldn’t let me leave the bed.

But love wasn’t enough.

The first time I lost a pregnancy, I thought my heart had been ripped out. It had been a girl. We were both ecstatic even though Drake had hoped it was a boy at first. But he assured me he didn't mind. All genders were a blessing. 

But then I lost it six months into the pregnancy. He had held me all night, whispering that we would try again.

The second time, he kissed me softly and told me it wasn’t my fault.

The third time, he didn’t touch me at all.

I could still remember sitting in the doctor’s office, his hand stiffly in mine as the doctor gently said, *“Mrs. Hayes, you may never be able to carry a child to term. And forget about having a male child too. You have a rare chromosomal abnormality that makes it almost impossible for you to bear a male child.”*

Drake’s hand had gone cold.

He didn’t yell, didn’t cry — just pulled away from me, his jaw tight, his eyes so dark I couldn’t read them.

That night he didn’t come to bed.

And the next morning, Bianca showed up.

She was my sister and best friend, flawless and elegant, with her red lipstick and fake sympathy. She said she just wanted to “support me through my hard time.”

But I wasn’t stupid.

I saw the way Drake’s eyes lingered on her a little too long. I saw how her hand “accidentally” brushed his every time she passed him a glass of wine. I saw how she started wearing dresses that looked eerily like mine, only shorter..

And one night, I woke up to find Drake wasn’t in bed.

I padded downstairs and stopped cold when I saw him sitting in the living room with Bianca, laughing quietly at something she said. 

His smile — the smile that used to belong only to me — was hers now.

But that wasn't what broke my heart completely. It was the view of their naked body tangled up in the soft wooly blanket I crocheted myself.

I thought it would end t

here, until that fateful day when she ran down the stairs with a big smile on her face and a paper on her flailing hand.