MARCUSI regret ever listening. I wish I had kept my distance, stayed out of it, and resisted the temptation to eavesdrop on Olivia’s therapy session. I only wanted to understand what that man, Xander, had done to her. I needed to know the depth of the damage he had inflicted upon my wife. Never in
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 pregna
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 loo
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. L
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 t
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 con
NICKTwo years have passed since that woman humiliated me, since I found out she stole millions from me. 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
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
MARCUSI regret ever listening. I wish I had kept my distance, stayed out of it, and resisted the temptation to eavesdrop on Olivia’s therapy session. I only wanted to understand what that man, Xander, had done to her. I needed to know the depth of the damage he had inflicted upon my wife. Never in
LUKEI stood outside, listening to Nick as he worked on breaking Xander down. The boy was good, too good for my liking. I never intended for those boys to be involved in my line of work. Keeping Nick behind was never meant to have him do this, it was meant to keep him away from Olivia. Being around
NICK“Do your worst, Nick,” Xander sneered, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth as he spat it onto the floor at my feet. “See now? You people shot me, and I haven’t been able to contact my guys. The alert is out. It’s no longer just about Olivia. Now, your whole circle is fair game.”I coul
MARCUS“Olivia, you’re still not well,” I said, my voice firm but laced with concern. “And yet, you want to know about that? I’m not telling you anything right now. Recover first if you want to be included. Until then, I’m not saying a word.”I could feel my frustration rising. We had just gotten ho
OLIVIABy the time we landed back at New Village, Luke’s men were already waiting for us at the airport. The moment we arrived, Marcus spoke with them outside the car, while I settled inside with the kids. My baby girl was still fast asleep in my arms, and her brother had just started to stir as the
Nick“Nick, calm down. There was nothing you were going to do there. You promised not to interfere with her anymore. She left with her husband and kids to fix herself, to fix her marriage. You don’t belong there.”I stopped, the words hitting me like a slap. I turned to glare at him, fury bubbling i
MARCUS“Home. I want to go home.”Those were the first words Olivia spoke when she finally woke up. The urgency and exhaustion in her voice were clear, and it broke something in me to hear it. Home. The place where she could feel safe again, where she could begin to heal. I didn’t hesitate for a sec
OLIVIAI couldn’t tell how long I had been unconscious or why I had lost consciousness in the first place. The confusion lingered in my mind, but when I finally opened my eyes, everything shifted. There, sitting quietly beside me, was Marcus, his head resting on the edge of my bed.His presence felt
MARCUSI trembled with fury as I watched my wife in such a state. The sight of her, broken and trembling, filled me with a rage that burned so intensely, I could barely contain it. The urge to scream, to shout, to lash out at everything and everyone was overwhelming. I wanted to destroy everything,