Chapter 1 - The Truth

Lucy Hawthorne

I used to believe love was something pure, unbreakable.

Indefinite.

Maybe that was why I clung so tightly to him.

Adrian Hawthorne.

Even when the pieces of us began to crack similar to a thin porcelain, I was still hopeful.

For that reason, I ignored the whispers in the mansion halls, the knowing glances from the servants, and the way his smile began to sharpen, forming into someone I could no longer recognize. 

All because of how genuine I love him.

And I innocently, foolishly thought he bore the same feelings for me.

But love is not always what murders you.

Sometimes, it’s the lie which pretends to be love.

Or sometimes, it's both.

–

I woke that morning to an empty bed, though the sheets on his side were still warm. 

Adrian was often up early for work, but something about the silence today felt wrong, hollow, stretching too thin than usual. 

After getting a shower, I wrapped myself in my casual floral dress, sliding a pair of low heels as I wandered through the house. 

Every step sent shivers to my bones, a morning hue blowing past my skin through the mansion.

The marble so polished it reflected the chandelier hanging proudly on the ceiling.

This mansion belonged to his family, the Hawthornes, a dynasty of wealth and whispers. 

As we’re bestowed with marriage, I thought I was marrying into a fairy tale, rained with fortune and blessed with love. 

My fingers traced along the carvings along the wall, a defeated sigh unbeknowingly escaped my lips. 

But instead, I stepped into a golden cage with invisible bars.

The staff and the maids greeted me too politely to my likings. 

Their eyes slid away quickly, as if afraid I might see the hidden thoughts written on their faces. 

Maybe I would have, if I had been brave enough to look closely.

I made it to the dining room just as the maid set down breakfast.

“Where’s Adrian?” I asked.

Her hands froze around a tray. “He… left early, Madam.”

“Again?”

She nodded without meeting my gaze.

A tiny sting, small enough to dismiss, pricked my chest. 

As always, it seems.

Adrian had been leaving earlier and returning later each day, his explanations vague, his kisses often distracted. 

The scent on his clothes had changed, too less of his cologne, more of something unfamiliar.

Ah, I must be overthinking again. I shook my head, already losing my appetite. 

In return, I lazily nudged the pancake with a fork before I forced myself on my feet.

Rather, I wandered into the indoor garden, letting my fingers trail along the hedges. 

The rose bushes he gifted me for our anniversary stood in perfect bloom, their petals vibrant, as if untouched by the rot that began spreading through our marriage.

Sometimes I wondered if the roses knew the truth before I did.

–

The sunny day wasn't long, by midday, the air gradually felt heavy, stormlike even. The wind harshly blew across my skin, threading through my soft raven hair.

I dejectedly returned inside, eyes scanning around the house only to find the house quieter than usual. 

Too quiet. 

My eyebrows knitted. Where is everybody?

Curiosity tugged my sleeve stubbornly, pulling my feet toward Adrian’s private study. One he rarely let me enter, as though fate was toying with my life.

The door was slightly ajar.

I shouldn’t have looked.

I knew I should have turned around.

But I didn’t.

Inside, I saw him. 

Adrian. 

My husband. 

His body pressed against someone else’s. My eyes widened, a gasp almost left my throat before I instantly cupped my mouth.

How could he?

Selene Voss, the family’s financial advisor, a woman beautiful in a sharp, calculated way.

Her hands slid through his hair.

His lips trailed her neck.

His voice, my husband’s voice, softened in a way it hadn’t been for me in months. 

“I’ll handle Lucy soon,” he murmured against her skin.

My world stopped.

My body froze. My breath hitched, but too quietly for them to hear. 

The room disappeared, the walls collapsing inward around me. A buzzing noise filled my ears as Selene replied, voice dripping with false pity.

“She’s been convenient, but she’s becoming a liability nowadays, don't you think? You know your family won’t tolerate loose ends.”

Loose ends.

To them, I was a ‘loose end’.

The man who once swore to love me, protect me and choose me, was plotting my removal like a mere business transaction. 

I stumbled back from the doorway, each heartbeat a stab to my being. The air around me tightened. 

My lungs were desperate for air to breathe.

Why? Why me? 

What had I ever done except to love him with every fragile piece of my existence?

And I fled, my heels knocking with every step I took, surely alerting them.

I didn’t remember running down the hall, or bursting out the back door, or the frantic sound of my pulse roaring in my ears. 

I only remembered reaching the cliff, the same place where he once proposed, slipping the ring onto my shaking finger under a sky full of stars.

The sea crashed below, wild and unkind.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks roughly, even when they kept falling, hot and relentless. 

I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear the world apart. Yet my voice stayed locked in my throat.

“Lucy.”

His voice spoke behind me, distressing my soul.

I spun defeatedly.

Adrian approached with the calm of a man walking into a board meeting. His hair was disheveled from Selene’s fingers. His shirt was wrinkled and he didn’t bother hiding any of it.

Shameless.

“You weren’t supposed to see that,” he said.

A laugh, broken and hysterical, escaped me. “You! You were cheating on me? And planning to what? Get rid of me?”

His jaw tightened. “Don’t make this dramatic. You were never meant to be permanent.”

A choked sound left my lungs. “I loved you.”

“And that’s why this is easier.” He sighed as though I were the ‘disappointment’. “My family needs someone with influence at my side now. You were a placeholder. Nothing more.”

I stepped back instinctively, toes curling over the edge of the cliff.

“Don’t,” he warned, as if he cared whether I fell.

I wanted to run. I wanted to fight. But betrayal weighs heavy, and grief pulls harder than gravity.

He moved first.

One step.

Two.

Then his hand shot out, grasping my arm. For a heartbeat, I thought he might pull me into his embrace.

Apologize. 

Pretend he still loved me.

Anything.

“You should’ve known your place, Lucy.”

Please, Adrian.

Instead, he pushed. Hard.

The ground vanished beneath me.

The wind tore a scream from my throat as I plummeted, the sky spinning wildly overhead. The sea rushed up, cold and merciless. Pain shattered through me, before darkness, thick and absolute.

I died.

I know I did.

I felt it.

–

Air rushed into my lungs in a violent gasp. My eyes flew open as I clawed on the sheets, coughing, trembling and crying.

Sheets.

Not water.

Not marble.

Not the Hawthorne estate.

I sat up, heart racing so wild it felt like it might burst. 

My eyes immediately scanned the room, it was small, cramped. 

Sunlight filtered through the cheap curtains, the wallpaper was peeling slightly at the corners and I instantly knew this place.

My old apartment.

My apartment from seven years ago.

I scrambled to my feet, nearly stumbling. The mirror on the wall reflected a version of me I hadn’t seen in years, softer, younger, untouched by Adrian’s cruelty. 

My phone buzzed on the bedside table.

The date on the lock screen made my stomach drop.

Seven years. 

Before him, before the marriage, before the betrayal, before I was murdered by his hand. 

My knees gave out as I sank to the floor, trembling. “I’m alive. I’m really alive,” I whispered, a sob breaking free, burning all the feelings I had left for him.

This time, I wouldn’t fall for him.

Adrian Hawthorne would never have the chance to wound me again.