08:17 Sat, 24 May
Chapter 1
My husband, Colton, believed I was the reason his mistress, Shania, disappeared. So, to punish me, he did the unthinkable–he kidnapped my younger brother.
He handed me his phone, and the screen lit up with a shaky video, the wind howling. through the speaker.
My brother stood on the edge of a cliff, blindfolded, arms bound behind his back, swaying as though even the breeze could knock him down. One wrong move, one step, and he would fall.
“No…” I choked out. My knees gave in. “Please… Colton, please.
But my husband–the man I once trusted with everything–just stood there, cold and composed, holding the phone out like he was showing me a weather report.
“What?” he said sharply. “You’re still not going to tell me where Shania is?”
My lips trembled, but I couldn’t speak. The fear was choking me.
He stepped closer, shoving the phone in my face. “Are you really trying to make me a fool, Ellie?” His jaw clenched. “Don’t you think I know you’re the reason she left? You sent her away, didn’t you?!”
I looked up at him, face soaked in tears. “Just for her… you’re willing to kill my brother?” My voice cracked. “I’m your wife, Colton!”
But he didn’t flinch. He didn’t even acknowledge the word wife, as if it meant nothing.
anymore.
“Tell me where she is,” he demanded again, his voice rising.
It was the fourth time.
The first time he’d asked, I stayed silent–he’d accused me of worse before. The second time, I swallowed my pain. The third, I let him yell. I was used to it. It was easier to let him believe whatever his twisted mind wanted.
But now… he was using my brother. The only family I had left… just for his mistress. The woman he told me not to worry about when we got married because it was just nothing.
“Colton, I swear-” I tried.
“Don’t lie to me!”
“I’m not the reason!” I cried. “She left on her own!”
His glare turned dangerous.
And my heart burned with memory.
The last time I saw Shania, she cornered me in the hallway, perfume thick in the air, her lips curved into that smug smile I hated..
“He’ll never love you, Ellie,” she said, tossing her hair back. “Why don’t you leave him already? You’re only in the way.”
“We’re married,” I told her, cold and firm. “We’ve been married for five years. You’re the one
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08:17 501, 24 May
that smu
curved into that smug smile I hated.
“He’ll never love you, Ellie,” she said, tossing her hair back. “Why don’t you leave him already? You’re only in the way.”
“We’re married,” I told her, cold and firm. “We’ve been married for five years. You’re the one
who’s ruining our family so you should be the one to leave!”
“A family?.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. We all know that you’re just his placeholder for five years. I am still his first love, perhaps the greatest love. And now that I am back, you have no place!”
I turned to walk away, but her next words stopped me cold.
“Fine. If you don’t want to leave, then I’ll make sure Colton will make you leave for me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to disappear. I’ll make it look like you drove me away. Let’s see who Colton really chooses.”
I didn’t believe her at the time. Colton had other women before. They came and went like storms. Shania was just another one… or so I thought. But indeed, she was his first love- the only one he never moved on from. That is why when she came back, it was easy for him to throw away five years.
Five years of happiness. Or so I thought, because everything was a lie.
And now I was paying the price for Shania’s little game just to prove that Colton would
choose her.
“She framed me…” I whispered, as if saying it aloud might make him see.
But Colton only stared at me with fury, his hands tightening around his phone. “You really think I’m going to let you make a fool out of me?”
“I didn’t do anything,” I begged. “Please. Don’t hurt him. He’s just a boy–he’s all I have!”
He didn’t care.
He looked down at the screen, then turned to his men. “Looks like she’s not talking. Drop
him.”
“NO!” I screamed, lunging forward.
But before I could reach him, one of his staff barged in, holding a file..
“Sir! Urgent. We just received a travel record–it seems Madam Ellie booked a flight to Greece last week.”
Colton’s eyes darkened. “Greece?”
I froze. No! I didn’t do it! How?
“So that’s where you sent her?” he growled. “You bought her a ticket and lied to me?” “No!” I cried. “I don’t even know where she is, I swear I wasn’t the one who-”
“You really are useless!” he spat. “If something happens to her, it’s on you.” And then he stormed out–running, not for me, not for my brother–but for Shania.
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And then he stormed out–running, not for me, not for my brother–but for Shania. Before the door even slammed behind him, I heard his men bark an order. “Drop him.”
I ran.
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I didn’t feel the wind or the gravel tearing at my feet. I didn’t feel the panic in my chest. All I
could think of was him–my little brother–falling.
When I reached the cliff, I thought I was too late.
His body lay tangled in a mess of branches and blood on the slope below. Somehow, the trees had broken his fall, but he wasn’t moving.
I screamed so loud it scraped my throat raw.
The paramedics came.
He was alive. But barely. Fractured bones. Brain swelling. A coma.
I sat beside him in the hospital, holding his hand, my own shaking uncontrollably. His face was bruised, pale. His lips moved as if he were trying to speak, even in his unconsciousness.
I cried for hours. For everything. For him. For myself.
For the girl I used to be–the one who believed in love, in loyalty, in marriage.
Colton didn’t come. He didn’t even call.
He chose her. He almost killed my brother–for her.
And in that hospital room, staring at the boy I swore to protect, I finally stopped crying.
I picked up my phone and dialed the number I had been too afraid to call for years.
“Ms. Ellie?” My lawyer’s voice came through. “What’s wrong?”
“I want to file for divorce.”
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“I want to file for divorce.”
