All Chapters of Sealed in Ice, Bound by His Madness: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

Nathan stroked her hair and said, "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Let that woman sit in there and think about what she's done. She won't dare touch you next time."But there was no next time for me. I was already dead.I broke down and wept.It had happened on my birthday. I had spent the afternoon cooking, setting the whole table, and waiting for Nathan to come home so we could celebrate together. Yet even after the food went cold, he never came.I was just about to call him when Annie showed up at the door. She knocked my birthday cake off the table and jabbed a finger at my forehead, her chin tipped up with contempt."You think just because you married Nate, he belongs to you? Let me make something clear—he's mine."I had had enough. I shoved her hand away, and she spun around, hitting the corner of the dining table and crumpling to the floor. Blood poured from her nose.Nathan walked in at exactly that moment. His face twisted with fury as he rounded on me. "Sherry Alva

The moment the fridge door swung open, I squeezed my eyes shut.It was my own body in there, but I was still afraid to look. No one would want to see themselves die like that.When Nathan saw what was inside, the color drained from his face. His pupils contracted, and his legs gave out beneath him, sending him stumbling backward onto the floor.I had been dead for days. My body had already begun to decompose. The smell was sour and thick, and my features were unrecognizable.My limbs were locked in a twisted position that made the stomach turn, and the inside of the fridge was streaked with rust-colored, dried blood.Nathan sat on the floor, shaking his head slowly, as if he were arguing with himself. "That's not her. That's not Sherry. It can't be her. She can't be dead!"He stared at my body for a long time—long enough that I lost track of how much time had passed. Then something shifted in his expression, hardening into a cold, thin smile."You're not fooling me, Sherry. Th

I stood there watching them like a ghost peering in through someone else's window.Yet something was off about Nathan. He seemed distracted, distant in a way I couldn't quite place. At one point, he dropped a paper napkin onto one of the dishes and left it there until Annie pointed it out. Then he fished it out in a hurry.When they finished and stepped outside, Annie spotted a children's clothing boutique across the street. She turned to him with a playful smile. "Nate, do you want a boy or a girl?"Nathan blinked, caught off guard. A long moment passed before he answered, "Either one, as long as it's yours."Annie's smile stretched wider. "I want a boy, one who looks just like you."I pressed a hand to my stomach, to the hollow part where my baby had been. The grief that hit me was so sharp that it felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry."But then Nathan did something I didn't expect. Instead of taking Annie home himself, he called t

Nathan pulled the door open and stuffed a rag into Annie's mouth. He smiled. "Does it hurt, Annie? Good. I'm going to make sure you feel every bit of what Sherry went through. That's only fair."Annie's eyes went wide above the gag, her muffled cries filling the small space.Nathan moved to check the fridge's vent and found it already blocked with packing tape. It took him a moment to understand what he was looking at, and then it hit him all at once.Annie had blocked it after I went in. That was why I had died as quickly as I did.His face went blank. He took a paring knife, pulled Annie's wrist toward him, and drew the blade across it. He watched the blood run expressionlessly, then shut the door and bound it with rope.When it was done, he went back upstairs to the bedroom and lay down beside me, one hand resting on my stomach."I'm sorry, baby. Your dad was an idiot. Please forget what I did to your mom that night. You be good in there. I love you. I love your mom too."Wha