Chapter 3

I was on my knees.

The cold, hard floor bit into my skin. My hands were wrenched behind my back, the metal cuffs cutting into my wrists.

"I was killing the spider!" I screamed, my voice raw and desperate. "There was a spider on his arm! I wasn't hurting him!"

No one listened.

Anthony stood over me, his face a mask of disgust. Alicia was sobbing hysterically, clutching Leo to her chest like I was a rabid dog.

"She tried to hit him!" Alicia wailed, pointing a shaking finger at me. "She raised her hand! I saw it! She's insane, Anthony! She's dangerous!"

"No!" I begged, looking up at my husband. "Please, Anthony! Look at his arm! There might be a bite! I was trying to save him!"

"Save him?" Anthony scoffed. He leaned down, his eyes cold and empty. "You're jealous, Amber. You're jealous because your son is dead and hers is alive. You wanted to hurt him."

"I didn't! I swear on Alexus's grave!"

"Don't you dare speak his name," Anthony hissed. He turned to the police officers who had just arrived. "Take her away. She's a threat to my family."

"But sir—" one officer started.

"Take her!" Anthony roared. "Or I'll have your badges!"

They dragged me out.

I kicked and screamed, begging them to check Leo's arm, begging them to listen. But they just shoved me into the back of the cruiser. The door slammed shut, sealing me in darkness.

I spent the night in a cell.

It was cold. It smelled of urine and despair. I huddled in the corner, shivering, my hospital gown thin and useless. I closed my eyes and saw Alexus's face. I saw the spider. I saw Alicia's triumphant smile through her fake tears.

They left me there to rot.

The next morning, the cell door clanked open.

"You made bail," the guard grunted.

I stumbled out into the blinding sunlight. My body ached. My spirit was bruised.

A black car was waiting at the curb. The window rolled down.

Anthony.

He didn't look at me. He looked straight ahead. "Get in."

I hesitated. I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. But I had nowhere to go. My accounts were frozen. My family was gone.

I got in.

The drive was silent. Suffocating.

When we pulled up to the mansion, Alicia was waiting on the porch. She looked fresh, rested. She was wearing a white dress, looking like an angel.

She walked down the steps as I got out of the car.

"Beg her," Anthony said, stepping out behind me.

I froze. "What?"

"Beg Alicia for forgiveness," Anthony said flatly. "She's the only reason I bailed you out. She dropped the charges. You owe her."

I looked at Alicia. She was smiling that sweet, poisonous smile.

"Come on, Amber," she cooed. "You owe me. I saved you from prison. You could have rotted in there for years for attempted assault on a minor."

"I didn't assault him," I whispered, my voice shaking with rage. "I was saving him from a spider."

"Liar," Anthony snapped. "Apologize. Now."

"No," I said.

Alicia's smile faltered. "Amber, please. Don't be difficult. I'm trying to help you."

"Help me?" I laughed, a broken, hysterical sound. "You ruined me!”

I raised my hand and slapped her.

Crack.

The sound echoed across the lawn. Alicia stumbled back, clutching her cheek.

But before I could even take a breath, a hand grabbed my hair and yanked my head back.

Pain exploded in my scalp.

Anthony threw me to the ground. I landed hard on the gravel, scraping my palms and knees.

"You ungrateful bitch!" he roared. He kicked me in the ribs.

I gasped for air, curling into a ball.

"Anthony, stop!" Alicia cried, rushing to his side. She grabbed his arm, her eyes wide with fake concern. "Don't hurt her! She's just... confused. She's grieving."

She looked down at me, pity oozing from her pores.

"It's okay, Anthony," she said softly. "I forgive her. I know she's not herself. We have to be patient."

Anthony looked at her, his anger melting into adoration. "You are too good for this world, Alicia."

He looked back down at me with pure hatred.

"You're lucky she's a saint," he spat. "Because if it were up to me, I'd leave you in the gutter."

I lay there in the dirt, tears streaming down my face. I was broken. Defeated.

"Please," I whispered. "Just let me go."

"Oh, no," Anthony sneered. "You're not going anywhere. Not after what you just did."

He leaned down, his voice low and menacing.

"You want to stay in this house? Fine. But you won't be the mistress of the manor anymore. You've proven you can't be trusted."

He straightened up, adjusting his cuffs.

"From now on, you're the maid. You'll cook. You'll clean. You'll serve Alicia and Leo. Until you decide to fix yourself."

My blood ran cold.

"A... maid?"

"Yes," Alicia said, beaming. "It will be good for you, Amber. Hard work builds character. And it will keep you busy so you don't have time to... imagine things. After all, where would you go without my mercy?”

The next few weeks were a nightmare.

I scrubbed floors until my knees bled. I washed dishes until my hands were raw. I watched them eat dinner at my table while I stood in the corner, waiting to clear their plates.

Every night, Anthony would make me sit and watch the news.

"Look at this," he'd say, pointing at the screen. "See how happy we are?"

On the screen, Anthony and Alicia were at a charity gala. He had his arm around her waist. She was wearing my diamonds.

I sat there on the floor, hugging my knees, watching them erase me. But something shifted in me as I watched them.

The pain didn't lessen. The grief didn't fade. But the fear... the fear began to turn into something else.

Cold. Hard. Resolve.

I stood up.

"I'm done," I said to the empty room.

I went to the drawer where I kept my mail.

I pulled out a thick envelope that had arrived that morning. It was from a law firm.

I tore it open.

PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE

Sebastian finally started our plan.

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Chapter 4

"Leo! He’s not breathing!"

The scream tore through the morning silence like a jagged knife.

I jolted awake, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I ran toward the dining room.

Alicia was on the floor, clutching Leo. His face was turning a terrifying shade of red. He was gasping, his small hands clawing at his throat.

"What happened?" I cried, dropping to my knees beside them.

"He ate a cookie!" Alicia shrieked, her eyes wild. "He’s allergic to peanuts! You know he’s allergic!"

She pointed a trembling finger at the plate on the table. Peanut butter cookies.

"I didn't give him that," I stammered, panic rising in my throat. "I didn't bake anything today! I just woke up!"

"Liar!" Alicia screamed. "You put them there! You tried to poison him because you hate him!"

Anthony rushed into the room, his face pale. He saw Leo gasping and immediately grabbed the EpiPen from the counter, jamming it into the boy's thigh.

Leo let out a wail, air rushing back into his lungs.

Anthony turned to me. His eyes were not human. They were the eyes of a wolf looking at a wounded rabbit. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to the basement door.

"No," I begged, digging my heels into the floor. "Anthony, please! Not the basement! You know I can't—please, it's too small!"

I was claustrophobic. He knew that. He knew that ever since I was a child, tight, dark spaces made me feel like I was dying.

"You should have thought of that before you tried to kill Leo," he spat.

He shoved me down the stairs.

I tumbled into the darkness. The heavy oak door slammed shut.

Click.

The lock turned.

"Anthony!" I screamed, pounding on the wood. "Anthony, please! I can't breathe in here! Open the door!"

Silence.

I was alone in the dark. The air was stale, smelling of mold and old fear. I curled into a ball at the bottom of the stairs, rocking back and forth. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to imagine I was in a field, under the sky.

But all I could see were walls. Closing in. Crushing me.

When the door finally opened, the light blinded me.

"Get up," Anthony’s voice drifted down. "Dinner needs to be cooked."

I crawled up the stairs, my limbs stiff, my throat raw from screaming. I blinked against the harsh hallway lights.

"I... I need to change," I rasped. "I need to wash my face."

"Make it quick," he said, turning his back on me.

I stumbled toward my room. I froze.

The room was empty. My clothes were gone. The photos of Alexus I had hidden under the mattress were gone. The blanket that smelled like him—gone.

I ran to the window.

Outside, in the center of the manicured lawn, a fire was burning. A metal barrel was spewing black smoke into the gray sky.

I sprinted through the house, out the back door, and across the grass.

I reached the barrel.

The heat seared my face. Inside, the flames were devouring fabric. Blue fabric. Dinosaur patterns.

"No," I whimpered.

I reached in, trying to grab a burning piece of cloth, but the heat forced me back.

It was Alexus’s blanket. His clothes. The few toys I had managed to save.

I fell to my knees, watching the last physical pieces of my son disappear.

"Why?" I sobbed into the grass. "Why are you doing this?"

I stayed there until the fire died down to embers. Until there was nothing left but gray dust.

Numbly, I walked back into the house.

I walked down the hallway, my eyes fixed on the floor.

Then I heard a sound.

Shake. Shake. Shake.

I looked up.

Leo was sitting in the middle of the hallway. He was holding something heavy. Something marble.

My breath hitched.

The urn.

Alexus’s urn.

Leo was holding it upside down. He was shaking it violently.

"Rocket ship!" Leo giggled, banging the urn against the floor. "Empty rocket ship!"

I felt my soul leave my body.

"Stop!" I shrieked.

I lunged forward, snatching the urn from his hands. I clutched it to my chest, falling to my knees.

I frantically pulled the lid off.

I looked inside.

Empty.

Clean.

There was nothing. No ash. No bone fragments. No Alexus.

"Where is he?" I whispered, my voice trembling so hard it hurt. I looked at Leo. "Where is he?!"

Leo looked scared. He pointed toward the trash chute at the end of the hall.

"It was just dirt," he whimpered. "I dumped the dirt so the rocket could fly."

I screamed.

"What is going on here?"

Alicia stepped out of her room, looking annoyed. She saw me clutching the empty urn. She saw Leo crying.

"Oh," she said, her voice dripping with fake boredom. "He must have thrown it away. Honestly, Amber, you shouldn't leave such morbid things lying around where children can find them."

"You..." I choked out. "You let him..."

I stood up. The empty urn fell from my hands and shattered on the floor.

I didn't care. He wasn't in there anymore. He was gone. Truly gone.

Anthony looked up from his desk, startled.

"Divorce me!" I screamed. "Divorce me now! Let me go!"

I slammed my hands on his desk. I was sobbing, my tears dripping onto his expensive paperwork.

"Just let me go, Anthony! Please! I can't do this anymore!"

Anthony looked at me. He didn't look angry. He didn't look sad.

He laughed. A cold, dry chuckle that sent shivers down my spine.

"Let you go?" he asked, leaning back in his leather chair. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you hate me!" I cried. "Because you have Alicia! Because you have your son!"

"I don't just want you gone, Amber," he said softly. "I want you miserable. I want you to suffer every single day for the rest of your life."

"Why?" I whispered. "I loved you. I gave you everything. You’re hurting me for no reason! You don't love me anymore, fine—but why this cruelty?"

Anthony stood up. His face hardened into stone.

"I'm returning the favor," he said.

"What?"

"You think you're the victim?" He walked around the desk, stopping inches from my face. "You’re the one who cheated on me first."

My mouth fell open. "I... I never..."

"Don't lie to me!" he roared, slamming his fist against the wall. "Alicia told me everything, and the DNA proved that Alexus is not my son!”

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Chapter 5

I stormed past the reception desk, my heels clicking sharply on the linoleum.

I found the lab director’s office. I burst in.

He looked up, startled, adjusting his glasses. "Mrs. Smith? Do you have an appointment?"

"Who paid for it?" I demanded, slamming the crumpled DNA test onto his desk.

"Excuse me?"

"The test!" I shouted, my voice cracking. "The one that says Alexus wasn't Anthony's son! Who paid for it? Who ordered it?"

Dr. Thorne sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Patient confidentiality—"

"I am the mother!" I screamed. "And my son is dead! And my husband thinks he wasn't the father because of this piece of paper! Tell me the truth!"

I reached into my purse. My hands were shaking. I pulled out a small velvet box. Inside was a diamond necklace—my grandmother’s heirloom. The only thing of value I had left that Anthony hadn't taken.

"Here," I said, shoving the box across the desk. "Take it. Sell it. It's worth more than your salary for a year. Just tell me who paid you to lie."

Dr. Thorne looked at the necklace. Greed flickered in his eyes for a moment, then guilt. He looked at me, at the desperation etched into my face.

He sighed again, heavier this time. He opened a drawer and pulled out a file.

He slid a receipt across the desk.

PAYER: ALICIA GREY.

SERVICE: EXPEDITED PATERNITY TEST (MODIFIED).

My breath hitched.

"Alicia?" I whispered.

"She came in months ago," Dr. Thorne said, not meeting my eyes. "She said it was a surprise for Mr. Smith. She wanted the results to show... certain discrepancies. She paid double for the modification."

He pulled out another paper. The real results showed that Anthony is indeed the father. Of course, I only have Anthony in my life, and my best friend ruined it.

Alicia had lied. She had falsified a medical document to make Anthony hate his own child. To make him believe that saving Leo with Alexus’s organ was justice, not murder.

I grabbed the real results and ran. I drove home in a daze. The world outside was gray and blurry.

When I arrived at the mansion, the house was quiet. Anthony’s car was in the driveway.

I walked into his study. He wasn't there. I went to his desk. My hands were trembling so hard I could barely hold the paper.

I placed the real DNA test right in the center of his blotter. Where he couldn't miss it.

Then I went upstairs.

I pulled a suitcase from the closet. I started throwing clothes into it. Anything. Everything. I just needed to leave. I couldn't breathe in this house anymore. I couldn't look at Anthony without seeing the monster he had become.

"What are you doing?"

Anthony’s voice boomed from the doorway.

"I'm leaving," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "I can't do this anymore, Anthony. Read the paper on your desk. Then you'll understand."

"I don't need to read anything!" he roared.

He crossed the room in two strides and grabbed the suitcase. He hurled it across the room. It hit the wall with a sickening thud, spilling clothes everywhere.

"Didn't I say?" he hissed, grabbing my shoulders. "You will not leave me! You belong to me!"

"Let me go!" I screamed, struggling against his grip. "You don't want me! You hate me!"

"I don't hate you," he said, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. "I need you to suffer. I need you here to remind me why I did what I did."

"You're insane!"

"Maybe," he laughed. "But you're coming with me."

He dragged me out of the room. Down the stairs. Into the kitchen.

He forced me into a chair.

"Drink this," he ordered, shoving a glass of water and two white pills into my hand.

"What is it?" I asked, shrinking back.

"Medicine," he said. "To help you relax. To help you..."

"No," I said, pushing his hand away.

He grabbed my jaw, forcing my mouth open. He shoved the pills down my throat and poured the water in until I choked and swallowed.

"There," he said, stroking my hair. "Good girl. Now we can be happy."

My vision started to blur. My limbs felt heavy.

"We're going on a trip," he murmured. "Just you and me. And Alicia and Leo. A family vacation."

I slumped forward onto the table.

Through the haze, I heard him talking on the phone.

"Yes, Doctor. She took the pills. Do whatever you have to do to make her forget. Electroshock, therapy, I don't care. She can't leave me. She has to stay here and suffer for what she did."

The next morning was a blur of bright sunlight and nausea.

I woke up in a cabin. The floor was swaying.

We were on a yacht.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Alicia chirped. She was wearing a bikini, looking fresh and vibrant. Leo was playing with a toy boat on the deck.

Anthony was at the helm, steering the boat through the sparkling blue water.

I stumbled out onto the deck. My head was pounding. The pills were still in my system, making everything feel unreal.

"We're going to an island. Just for the day. To celebrate,” Anthony said.

"Celebrate what?" I asked, leaning against the railing for support.

"Our new life," Alicia said, handing me a glass of juice. "We’ll be a happy family.”

I looked at the water. It was deep and dark blue.

The day passed in a surreal nightmare. Anthony and Alicia laughed and drank champagne. They acted like I wasn't there, like I was a ghost haunting their perfect vacation.

But Anthony made sure to torment me.

"Remember this song?" he asked, turning up the radio. It was our wedding song. "Oh, wait. You probably don't. You were too busy cheating on me to remember our wedding."

He laughed. Alicia giggled.

I sat in the corner, staring at the horizon. I felt sick.

Then the sky turned dark.

It happened so fast. One minute, the sun was shining. The next, black clouds rolled in, swallowing the light. The wind picked up, whipping the waves into a frenzy.

"Anthony!" Alicia screamed. "The storm! You said it would be clear!"

"The forecast changed!" Anthony shouted, wrestling with the wheel. "Get below deck!"

The yacht lurched violently. A massive wave crashed over the bow, soaking us instantly.

"Amber!" Anthony yelled. "Help Alicia with Leo!"

I didn't move. I couldn't. I was frozen in terror.

Another wave hit. The boat groaned, metal twisting.

"We're taking on water!" Anthony screamed.

The yacht tilted. I slid across the deck, slamming into the railing.

"Help!" I cried. "I can't swim!"

The boat was sinking. Fast.

Anthony grabbed Alicia and Leo. He threw them toward a life raft that had automatically inflated.

"Get in!" he roared.