Chapter 1

Jennie Chandler lay crumpled on the floor, her lower abdomen twisting as if someone were driving a knife through it. The pain forced her to curl into a ball.

Bright red blood streamed down her legs, soaking the hem of her dress.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, she pulled out her phone and called her husband, Daryl Fisher.

It rang for a long time before he finally answered.

“Daryl...”

“I’m entertaining clients right now. Whatever it is, we’ll talk when I get home.”

It was loud and chaotic on his end. Men shouted over drinking games while music, singing, and cheers filled the background.

“Daryl, I fell down the stairs. My stomach hurts so badly...”

Before she could finish, he cut her off impatiently.

“Jennie, don’t you ever get tired of this? What’s the point of acting like this all the time? I already told you I’m out entertaining clients. It’s not like I’m doing anything behind your back.”

Jennie struggled to speak through the pain. “I’m serious. I’m bleeding.”

Daryl went silent.

Just as he was about to respond, Zara Winston’s voice suddenly came through the phone.

“Daryl, what are you doing? Hurry up. The guys are all waiting for you!”

Jennie’s eyes instantly burned.

“You’re with Zara?”

Zara had grown up with Daryl and always claimed she was just one of the guys.

They were always hanging off each other and doing things only couples normally did, then brushing it all off as harmless because they were “bros.”

Daryl ignored Jennie’s question and said to Zara, “Jennie fell down the stairs. I need to go home and check on her. You guys keep drinking.”

Zara scoffed. “Women who act all delicate are such a pain. So she fell down the stairs. What are you going to do about it?”

Then she snatched the phone from him.

“Jennie, Daryl’s drinking with the rest of us right now. He’s not a doctor, so going home won’t help. I’ll call you an ambulance.”

Before Jennie could say anything, Zara hung up.

Refusing to give up, Jennie called Daryl again.

The line was busy.

Tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

She had been married to Daryl for three years, and every time he was forced to choose between her and Zara, he chose Zara without hesitation.

On their wedding day, he had abandoned Jennie to rescue Zara after she was kidnapped.

On Jennie’s birthday, he had gone hiking with Zara.

On their wedding anniversary, he had celebrated Zara’s birthday instead.

There were too many incidents to count.

Jennie had been foolish.

She had known there was a woman by Daryl’s side who hid behind her “one of the guys” act, yet she had still rushed headlong into the relationship and married him without hesitation.

Her stomach hurt.

Her heart hurt even more.

It felt as if someone were slowly cutting it apart with a dull blade.

Thinking of the baby inside her, Jennie forced herself to stop dwelling on Daryl. She unlocked her phone and tried to call 911.

But the pain was unbearable, and blood kept pouring from her body.

She had only managed to press the number nine when darkness swallowed her.

She passed out from the pain.

Jennie had no idea how long she was unconscious.

Through the haze, she thought she heard the wail of an ambulance siren. Then came the sharp smell of antiseptic.

“That piece of trash. You were lying there like that, and he was still off with that pick-me.

“I warned you not to marry a man like him, but you wouldn’t listen. Now you’ve lost the baby, and he hasn’t even bothered to show his face.”

The voice sounded angry, but the anger couldn’t hide the pain and concern beneath it.

The baby was gone?

Jennie slowly opened her eyes and placed a hand over her flat stomach.

She hadn’t even gotten the chance to feel her baby move.

And now the baby was gone.

Chloe Jensen had been sitting beside the bed the entire time. The moment she saw Jennie wake up, she sniffed hard and gripped her hand.

“Thank God. You’re finally awake! Do you have any idea how terrified I was? You were unconscious for an entire day and night. If Mrs. Jones hadn’t come home early that day, I don’t even want to think about what might’ve happened.”

Jennie looked at Chloe and pressed her dry lips together. Her voice was so hoarse it sounded as though she had spent days wandering through a desert.

“My baby?”

Chloe froze.

Helplessness and pain flashed across her face.

“You’re still young. You’re only twenty-three. You can have another baby someday.”

Jennie didn’t cry or scream.

She simply lay there in silence.

The loss had left a gaping hole inside her chest.

The pain was unbearable.

Her eyes filled with tears, but the grief ran so deep that none of them fell.

Her silence frightened Chloe.

“Jennie, I know you’re devastated, but you can cry. Let it out. The doctor said holding everything in will only make your recovery harder.”

Jennie asked calmly, “Where’s Daryl?”

At the mention of his name, anger surged through Chloe.

But when she looked at her best friend lying pale and weak in the hospital bed, she forced it back down.

“I tried calling him, but he didn’t answer. He’s probably busy. The doctor said you need to rest, so let’s not think about anything else right now, okay?”

Afraid of upsetting her, Chloe kept her voice as gentle as possible.

Jennie gave a bitter laugh.

Busy?

He was probably busy keeping Zara company.

In the past, finding out that Daryl had abandoned her for Zara again would’ve sent Jennie into a rage.

Now she only felt tired.

For three years, she had argued, cried, and fought with him over Zara.

She had nothing left.

“Chloe, where’s my phone?”

The patch of oil that had caused her to fall down the stairs had been bothering her.

Jennie preferred a quiet home, so she employed only one housekeeper. The day she fell, the woman had happened to be off.

Wasn’t that too much of a coincidence?

And where had the oil come from?

Chloe handed her the phone, then warned, “The doctor said you shouldn’t spend too much time looking at screens while you’re recovering. It’s bad for your eyes.”

Jennie ignored her and opened the home security footage.

It was her.

Zara.

The place where Jennie had fallen was in the camera’s blind spot, so the footage hadn’t captured anyone pouring the oil.

But Zara had been the only person who visited the house that day.

In the footage, she unlocked the front door with her fingerprint and walked inside as though the place belonged to her.

When she left, she was pulling a suitcase behind her.

Jennie’s grip tightened around the phone.

“Chloe, call the police. I want Zara charged with attempted murder.”

Chloe’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Zara was the one who made you fall down the stairs?”

Jennie clutched the phone, her eyes filled with a determination and hatred Chloe had never seen before.

“Yes. It was her. Call the police for me. I’m going to make her pay for killing my baby.”

Chloe’s face turned livid.

“I’m calling them right now. That shameless pick-me has spent years throwing herself at Daryl while pretending they’re just bros. I was already sick of her, but now she’s actually tried to kill you. She has to pay for this.”

Chloe immediately called the police.

It didn’t take long for officers to arrive.

Jennie sent them the security footage and had Chloe accompany them to the house to collect evidence.

The police worked quickly.

In less than half a day, Zara was arrested.

The moment she was taken into custody, Daryl finally appeared in Jennie’s hospital room.

He had been missing for an entire day and night without once checking on his wife.

“Jennie Chandler, were you the one who called the police on Zara?”