Chapter 4

Elise lunged at me, clamped a hand around my throat, and kicked me to the floor.

"Don't think I won't hurt you just because we've been together for years, Evan. If anything happens to Nico, I'll make you pay with your life!"

I could only stare at her in confusion.

She threw her phone at my face.

"Look what you've done!"

The screen showed a string of vicious online posts. They were published under my name, accusing Nico of breaking up a long-term relationship. The language was ugly, spiteful, and relentless.

According to the latest reports, Nico had been overwhelmed by the online abuse and was threatening to jump from a rooftop.

My voice shook.

"You think I wrote those?"

"Who else would?" Elise's eyes were like ice. "How could you be so vicious? Using dirty tricks to destroy a kid?"

She straightened and looked down at me.

"I was only going to look after Nico for a little while, grant a few of his wishes, and then marry you. But I've changed my mind.

"You're going to pay for this, Evan."

The door slammed behind her.

It felt as though someone had torn my chest open. I could barely draw breath, but I forced myself to go to work.

The moment I arrived at the station, my supervisor called me into his office.

"You're fired. Clear out."

I stood there, stunned, my mind completely blank.

When I stepped outside, strangers were staring at me.

Before I could understand why, my phone flooded with notifications.

Elise had issued a public statement. She'd attached her marriage certificate and what appeared to be a psychiatric evaluation bearing my name.

The evaluation was fake.

Her statement read: My husband is Nico Ferretti. Evan Kavanagh is simply someone I knew when we were young. He has serious mental-health problems, and I've continued helping him out of concern for our shared past. I never imagined he'd repay that kindness by spreading lies about my husband.

The internet turned on me in an instant.

They let someone like that host a television show? Gross. She treats him as a friend and he imagines she's his wife.

Sounds like some kind of delusion. That's terrifying.

People dug up his past. Apparently he bullied kids in high school. And he thinks he deserves a woman as successful as Elise Van Doren?

I stared at the accusations and twisted headlines until the world went black.

I collapsed on the sidewalk.

When I opened my eyes again, Elise had me locked inside the house.

Then Nico came to visit.

He held up a red wedding invitation and smiled.

"Evan, Elise and I are having our wedding ceremony next week. She's worried you'll make a scene, so she had you locked up here."

My stomach dropped. He smiled wider.

"She said I deserve to wear a beautiful suit while I'm still young and have the wedding of my dreams. Fifteen years of waiting, Evan. What a joke."

I didn't react. That seemed to make him angry.

"Oh, and did you know? She told me she only made you get that vasectomy because she didn't want your children. She's pregnant now. It's mine. The three of us are going to be a real family."

Something inside me snapped at the mention of a child.

I shoved him to the floor.

"Get out! Get the hell away from me!"

Elise burst in at the noise. Her expression changed when she saw Nico on the floor.

He clung to her, sobbing.

"I only came because I thought Evan might be lonely. Then he just went crazy. Elise, do you think he's actually mentally ill?"

She helped him up and turned a murderous gaze on me.

"I thought keeping you home would make you settle down. Clearly I was wrong. Maybe you'll behave yourself in a psychiatric hospital."

I was taken to a psychiatric facility against my will and restrained to a bed like an animal.

They undid the restraints.

On the day of their wedding, the ceremony was being broadcast nationwide. A television in the ward showed Elise walking toward Nico in a diamond-studded wedding gown.

Then several men barged into my room.

"So this is the guy Ms. Van Doren wants taught a lesson?"

One of them knocked me to the floor. The hard tiles drove the breath from my lungs.

They kicked and struck me again and again. I tried to fight back, but a blow sent me sprawling.

Through my tears, past their sneering faces, I could still see the television.

Elise was leaning forward to kiss Nico.

On the screen, flowers and blessings showered the happy couple, and Elise smiled with a tenderness I'd never once seen from her.

Off the screen, there was only brutality and despair. Next to her happiness, my struggling was laughable.

I closed my eyes and stopped moving.

...

The morning after the wedding, Elise woke amid the tangled sheets.

Out of habit, she called my name.

Then she remembered she'd had me committed to the psychiatric hospital.

Frowning, she phoned her assistant, Grant, and told him I could be released now.

But instead of simply handling the matter, Grant rushed over in a panic, carrying a small box.

"Ms. Van Doren, Mr. Kavanagh is missing. This was delivered to the office for you."

Elise frowned, still trying to make sense of where I could have gone.

Then she looked inside the box.

Her eyes widened, and the blood seemed to freeze in her veins.