Rising Cloud in the Mist
Ever since I had an abortion after being raped, I've been struggling with severe depression.
Five years ago, on my wedding night with Zane Gordon, his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Bailey—who hates me with a passion—abducts me, and I vanish for three whole months.
When Zane and his men finally find me in a remote mountain village, I'm locked in a cellar, my belly swollen, my eyes hollow and lifeless.
Zane loses his mind right then and there.
After rescuing me, he stops at nothing to take revenge on everyone who hurt me. The Bailey family is destroyed overnight, and Vanessa is sent to prison to pay for her crimes for the rest of her life.
For the past five years, every time I have an episode and start hurting myself, Zane drops to his knees, holds me in his arms, and begs for forgiveness over and over again.
Despite being a staunch atheist, Zane goes to the chapel on the 15th of every month and spends three days there in penance.
Then comes the day I find out I'm pregnant again.
Determined to move forward, I throw away everything I've used to harm myself and head to the chapel to find Zane, taking my positive pregnancy test with me.
I think a new life is finally about to begin. Instead, through a half-open door, I see two figures tangled together.
"Zane, you've kept me locked up here for five years and punished me every month under the guise of doing penance. Do you really hate me that much?"
She smirks and asks, "Who satisfies you more? Me or that cripple, Liana? Hmm?"
Vanessa's ragged, breathless moans send a shock through me, leaving my whole body numb.
In that instant, it hits me that the new life I've been imagining is nothing but a cruel joke.