Chapter 1

**Trigger warning*** Smut*18+ content

Laura Sterling

“You promised you’d always be here… Why did you leave me?”

My voice shattered into a broken sob as I clutched the silver-framed photograph against my chest like it was the only thing keeping my heart from splintering completely.

My parents smiled back at me...Daddy’s proud, steady gaze, Mom’s soft warmth, my brothers standing tall and full of life.

They were supposed to be my anchor. Now they were gone, ripped away forever in that merciless plane crash, leaving behind a silence so deep it swallowed me whole.

“I can’t breathe without you,” I whispered, rocking slowly in my wheelchair, tears streaming hot down my face. “Every day feels like dying. Please… come back to me.”

Then the bedroom door slammed open with a violent bang.

I flinched hard, my frail body jerking as I hastily wiped at my soaked cheeks.

Derick Cole...My cruel husband.... lurched in, reeking of whiskey and that sickeningly sweet cheap perfume.

He had bright red lipstick stains smeared across the collar of his white shirt like a cruel taunt. His eyes were bloodshot, and his tie dangling loose like a noose.

My stomach churned with fresh dread.

“Derick…” I rolled my wheelchair forward a few painful inches, my weak arms trembling with the effort. My voice came out raw and pleading. “Where have you been? It’s been hours. Today was the memorial for my family. I needed you there… I needed you to hold me.”

He swayed on his feet and let out a low, mocking laugh that cut deeper than any knife.

“Needed me?” Derick sneered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Look at you...so pathetic. Don't tell me you are still crying over ghosts. When are you going to get it through that stupid head of yours? They’re dead, Laura. Dead and rotting. Get over it.”

The words landed like blows. I recoiled, my breath catching in a fresh wave of agony.

“Please,” I begged, my voice cracking into a whisper. “Just let me go to the memorial...for one hour. That’s all I’m asking. Let me say goodbye properly… I’m begging you.”

His face twisted into something ugly and vicious. In two unsteady strides he was on me, his hand cracking across my face with brutal force. The slap echoed through the room.

I felt pain explode across my cheek, burning hot, but it was nothing compared to the black hole of grief ripping open inside my chest.

I gasped, my head snapping to the side as fresh tears spilled over.

“You think I’m letting you crawl out there like some broken widow, fishing for pity?” he growled, his breath hot and foul. “So everyone can whisper about poor little rich Laura? No. You will stay locked up here where you belong, you worthless cripple.”

Tears poured down my face as a wave of raw regret crashed over me, drowning me in its depths.

’Oh God, how did I let this happen? Daddy begged me on his knees the night before the wedding. “Laura, please.....don’t marry him. Don’t make him CEO. He’s not the man you think he is. He’ll destroy you and everything we built.” His eyes were so full of fear for me.

I laughed it off and called it true love. I handed Derick my empire, my fortune, my soul on a silver platter. And this… this is what I traded my life for. A monster who enjoys breaking me.’

“I should never have married you,” I whispered through choking sobs, the truth tearing out of me like blood. “You’re a monster… I hate what I’ve become because of you.”

Derick’s laugh was ice-cold and vicious. He seized the handles of my wheelchair and yanked it forward with savage force, flipping me out onto the floor.

I cried out as my body slammed against the carpet, my useless legs crumpling beneath me like dead weight. I hated being on the wheelchair, I hated being so sick that I could not be useful anymore.

He towered over me, his shadow swallowing what little light remained in the room.

“Monster?” he snarled, dropping to his knees and ripping my blouse open with brutal hands as my breasts almost got exposed to the cold air...The buttons flew everywhere, scattering like my shattered dreams.

“You made me this, you stupid bitch. You wanted equality, remember? Well, here’s your equality....your only duty now is to please your husband. Your dead family can rot in hell for all I care. They’re not here to save you.”

I sobbed uncontrollably, my hands weakly pushing at his chest as he tore the rest of my clothes away, exposing me completely. The cold air bit into my skin like teeth, but the real pain was deeper than my regret.

“Please… not tonight,” I pleaded, my voice fracturing into desperate, broken whimpers. “I can’t… I’m still mourning them. It hurts so much… have some mercy....”

“Shut your mouth!” Derick snapped, pinning my wrists above my head with crushing strength, his face inches from mine. “You don’t get to mourn. You don’t get to feel anything unless I allow it. You’re mine now....body, money, everything. And you’ll spread your legs whenever I want, grieving or not.”

He fucked me mercilessly without even asking if I wanted it. I cried my eyes out, begging him to stop ..but he didn't... of course he didn't. Because this is what he always did, he made me his little sex toy and I was too helpess to defend myself. Who would believe me? To the world, he was a loving husband with a sick and disabled wife...but in reality, he was worse than the devil.

When Derick finally pulled back, his breathing ragged and satisfied, he zipped up his pants with a slow, mocking smirk.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small white pills...the ones he forced on me every day...He said they were supposed to help my legs get better....In truth, they felt like poison that slowly drained my strength, clouding my mind, and keeping me trapped and helpless in this wheelchair.

For six years, I believed they would help. I believed the man I once loved...Now I had questions that had no answers.

I hated them with every fiber of my being. They made me feel weak, dizzy, and disconnected from myself, like I was slowly fading into nothing. There was no enjoyment, only dread and disgust. Every swallow felt like swallowing another piece of my own destruction.

“Open your mouth,” he ordered, his voice flat, emotionless, and terrifyingly calm.

I turned my head away, tears streaming silently onto the carpet, my body still trembling from the violation.

“I said open it,” he growled, gripping my jaw with bruising force and forcing the pills past my lips. “Swallow. You know exactly what happens if you don’t.”

I choked them down, the bitter taste burning my throat as violent sobs wracked my entire frame. The pills slid down my throat... already promising the familiar fog and weakness that would follow.

Derick wiped his hands dismissively on his stained shirt and stared down at me with cold, empty eyes.

“Good girl. Now stay on the floor where you belong… exactly where a worthless piece of trash like you deserves to be.”