OLIVIAI hoped Nick would come home early today. He hadn’t been around much since he started working with my best friend, Sandra. Things had been hectic at the office, but I still hoped today would be different, seeing how it was our fourth-year anniversary. I also had big news; I was finally pregnant, and we were about to have the family we’d always dreamed of.I couldn’t wait to see his reaction when I told him, and I didn’t even want to think about my mother-in-law—she’d be thrilled. I’d call and tell her after telling Nick. I was sure they’d cut their trip short once they heard the news of my pregnancy.I hummed as I moved around the kitchen, cooking. I was happy, despite knowing things hadn’t been the same between Nick and me lately. I hoped that after hearing the news of my pregnancy, he would become the man I fell in love with again.Just as I placed the last dish on the dining table, the front door opened. My heart leaped with excitement, and I rushed to greet him. Nick was ta
OLIVIATwo Days Later“Lock her up, and don’t let her see the sun ever again. She doesn’t deserve it!” Nick barked at the New Village Town police. His eyes were cold as ice, filled with hatred. The officer roughly shoved me into the filthy, smelly cell before slamming the bars shut. I turned to look at Nick and Sandra. They stood together, looking like old friends... or lovers. She was why he had turned against me, though I didn’t understand what had motivated her. We’d grown up together, did everything together. We’d watched each other’s backs. And now she stood beside my husband as he threw me into jail for something I didn’t do. A few hours ago, I was cooking dinner for my husband, waiting for him to come home from work. Even after the incident with Sandra in the kitchen, and even though things had changed between us since Sandra came back, I still had hope that we could fix things. Then this happened.The way Nick had looked at me when he arrived with the police broke my heart,
OLIVIAAs I stood in the cell, my thoughts went to my grandma. What would happen to her now that I was locked up? My chest tightened as I thought of her and her fragile health. Hearing about my arrest might kill her.Nick turned to the officer. “She’s to have no visitors and isn’t allowed outside. Let her rot in this cell. She can die here for all I care!”My heart shattered into a million pieces. I felt hot and struggled to breathe. How was my grandmother going to know that I was all right if I couldn’t have visitors? This would kill her! My throat felt like it was closing, threatening to cut off my air supply. I wanted to give up so badly. But then I looked at the satisfied gleam in Sandra’s eyes. Determination flooded back into me. I wasn’t going to let that witch win. By then, I was drenched in sweat, my eyes wide as saucers. I was sure I looked pale as a white sheet. The nice policeman looked terrified. “Sir, she can’t breathe. Should I call the doctor?” Maybe I should tell Ni
OLIVIAI sat in the dark jail cell, thinking about my baby and how he was going to survive in a place like this. I didn’t care about myself—they could keep me there for as long as they wanted—but my baby didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve to be born in a jail or suffer for my sins.It was only the second day of my incarceration, and the police were keeping their word to Nick about not letting me out. But I thought they were taking it too far; they hadn’t given me food since I arrived.It was good that nothing stayed in my stomach anymore. I’d been starting to have morning sickness. But I still felt hungry, even though I knew whatever I ate would come back up again.“Oh, my baby,” I said, caressing my stomach, “I’m so sorry you’re going through this, that you’re going to start your life into this world like this. But I swear to you, I will protect you. Your father will never know you exist, and he’ll never hurt you or me ever again. He’s done enough.”The cell door opened. I stood
OLIVIANINE MONTHS LATERPrison had been hard, not just because I was pregnant but because of how I was treated. But I was grateful for one thing—Ethan kept his word. The guard he’d bribed continued to bring me vitamins and took care of me as promised.But when he wasn’t around, the others would conveniently “forget” to feed me. There were days I was so hungry that my stomach ached. One day, I yelled until someone finally came. But instead of food, I got a beating.They beat me so badly that I had a black eye and bruises all over my arms and legs. But through it all, I protected my baby. Even after the beating, they didn’t give me any food. From that day on, I learned to stay quiet when that officer wasn’t around.I rationed my food, eating small portions and saving some in case I didn’t get any the next day. I was skin and bones, and I worried about my baby. Was he getting enough nutrients? Would he be born healthy?The thought of my baby suffering only made my resentment for Nick gr
NICKTwo years have passed since that woman humiliated me, since I found out she stole millions from me. While I had planned to start a family with her, she had secretly been taking birth control pills. Why couldn’t she have just told me she wasn’t ready for kids? Now, I know why—she was still in love with her ex and was only with me for my money.How could I have been so stupid and blind? When Sandra told me that Olivia had a hand in what happened to my mother all those years ago—how they met, how Olivia “just happened” to save her from being hit by a car—I refused to believe it at first. I thought my wife could never be capable of such things.Then she gave me that recording of their phone call, where Olivia had admitted everything: how she’d landed her “golden goose,” how her life was going to change for her and her grandmother. As if that weren’t enough, she stole from me. Sandra had showed me the proof.I recovered some of the money, but only a small portion. Thinking about her s
NICKMy parents left and Sandra came out from the kitchen. She was crying and I didn’t like it. I didn’t know why my parents would be so cruel to her, she was not the one who did all those things to me. she was the one who saved me from a bad situation and showed me the kind of wife I had.I didn’t understand why they would treat her that way. “Sandra, I am so sorry. I will talk to them again and make them understand. I will show them the proof of Olivia’s crimes and then they will believe me and accept you as my close friend.”I took her into my arms and consoled her. “Don’t get her out Nick, am scared of what she will do to me when she gets out. Please, let her stay there.” She cried even more, making my heart tighten. I wished I could let her stay; I wanted her to stay there longer but my parents were not joking when they said they would disown me if I don’t let her out.“Don’t worry, I will protect you. that woman will never come anywhere near you. but I have to make that call. I h
OLIVIAPrison became hell for me after I gave birth. The policeman who helped me before, transferred two days later. I think he was so traumatized by what he saw that he didn’t want to be anywhere near me after. I had an infection after giving birth, but I didn’t know that it was an infection. I thought it was just side effects after giving birth.No one told me what was normal and what was not in that situation. The policeman’s last good deed was to tell the doctor about it when I asked him to. The doctor checked on me and told me that I had what is called PDI (Pelvic Inflammatory Disease) she said bacteria infected my uterus and surrounding areas after giving birth.She gave me pills; said I would be fine after taking them and I only took them for a day until those animals decided I deserved a beating because Nick ordered them to.They beat me up so badly and flushed my pills down the toilet. They never told anyone about my beating, and no one cared to check on me. I was almost dead