CHAPTER 1

OLIVIA

Two 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, too. I’d never seen such hatred in his eyes. It seemed Sandra had wrecked my marriage and turned him against me, feeding him lies. And he had believed every word.

I had tried to plead with him, tried to make him see reason. “Nick, please! I didn’t do this. Sandra is lying. I don’t know why. Please, believe me! I didn’t push her, I didn’t kill her baby, and I didn’t steal from you. You know I could never do something like that,” I had insisted, but he hadn’t listened. Instead, he had come back from the hospital the next day with the police, accusing me of stealing from him.

I didn’t know when things had gotten so bad between us that he stopped trusting me. We were happy once, making plans for our future. Then I let a snake into my home, and it turned on me.

I had to tried to plead with Sandra too. “Sandra, please. Tell him the truth. Tell him I didn’t do this. I don’t know why you turned on me like this. Why would you lie to him like this? You know I could never do any these things. I didn’t push you, and I didn’t even know you were pregnant. Why would you do this? Tell the truth!”

Instead of coming clean, Sandra had teared up and said, “Olivia, you’re so cruel. Even now, you blame me for what you did. What did I ever do to deserve this from you? I was your friend, and I loved you. But you never cared about me. You knew I was pregnant. Yet you still pushed me. I didn’t even tell Nick about it when you started stealing from him! I kept your secrets, and this is how you repay me?”

I felt all hope drain from me then. None of that was true, yet Nick had believed her.

Sandra cried and turned to him. “I shouldn’t have told you anything about what she’s been up to. It’s my fault she’s acting like this. Forget everything I said and listen to your wife.”

She turned to me and smirked without him seeing. “Olivia, I’ll leave. I’ll go back abroad. I’m sorry I ruined your marriage. I forgive you for everything, and I know you didn’t mean to push me. But you should come clean about all the money you stole. I’m sure Nick will forgive you, and you can fix things.”

Nick’s eyes softened when he looked at Sandra. He believed all the nonsense she was spewing, and my heart broke when I saw him look at her that way. That softness used to be reserved for me, his wife.

“Don’t be sad, Sandra. You aren’t the cruel one who’s been cheating, stealing, and plotting behind my back,” Nick said coldly. “You didn’t tell her to take those pills to avoid having my baby. You didn’t push her down the stairs.” Then he turned to me and said, “I promise you, Olivia, you’ll pay for everything. For as long as I live, you’ll never have peace.”

The temperature dropped a few degrees, sending cold shivers down my spine, knowing he meant every word. I never thought he could do something like this to me or utter such hateful words, and I couldn’t stop the tears from falling.