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 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.

Before the door even slammed behind him, I heard his men bark an order.

“Drop him.”

I ran.

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.”

“I want to file for divorce.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then, my lawyer sighed. “Miss Ellie… I’m afraid it’s not that simple. When you and Mr. Colton signed your marriage contract, a clause was included—divorce can only be granted if one party betrays the other, and there must be proof.”

I clenched the phone tighter. “I have the proof. I’m filing now.”

I didn’t wait for his response. Instead, I forwarded him the photos—Colton, half-naked, drunk, in bed with Shania. And not just once. Again and again, different angles, different nights, all taken by me for a moment like this.

“Process it immediately,” I said, then hung up.

I didn’t have time to fall apart again.

I called the agency next. “I want to cancel my identity here,” I told them.

There was a brief pause. “We can do that, Miss Ellie. But it will take ten days. You’ll need to wait.”

Ten days. Ten days to pretend like I hadn’t already left him in my heart. Ten days to smile, nod, and act like a loyal wife so he wouldn’t sense what I was planning.

Before heading home, I stopped by the hospital again. My brother was still unconscious, hooked up to machines, his face bruised, his arm in a cast. The doctors said it was a miracle he survived the fall—some trees had broken his descent.

He didn’t deserve this. He was just a teenager. He was the only family I had left.

I arranged for his transfer to a private facility in another country. Somewhere far, hidden, where Colton’s power wouldn’t reach. I made sure everything was clean, his name changed, his papers secure.

I won’t let Colton hurt him again. Not for that woman. Not for anyone.

By the time I arrived home, the sun was starting to set. The place looked like a palace—but it never felt like one. I walked up the marble staircase slowly, my fingers grazing the cold railing. Every step echoed with a memory I no longer wanted.

I started packing immediately. Not just clothes. I tore photos off the walls. Burned the love letters Colton used to write. Dumped jewelry into boxes without a second glance.

I found our wedding album shoved into the back of a drawer. My eyes locked on one photo—Colton smiling, holding my hand like he meant it. I stared at it for a long moment… then ripped it in half.

Why did I marry him?

I remembered the day vividly—five years ago. My family’s business had collapsed. My parents were sick. We were drowning in debt. And Colton, the rising CEO who once smiled at me during a business gala, suddenly proposed marriage.

“Let me take care of you,” he said. “I’ll pay everything. Just marry me.”

I thought it was a blessing. I thought maybe… just maybe… he saw something in me. I’d liked him from the moment I met him, after all. So I said yes—for my family. For my younger brother.

At first, it wasn’t bad.

He was gentle. Took me to Paris. Bought me designer gowns. Whispered sweet things under candlelight. And I, like a fool, fell harder every day.

Until Shania came back.

His first love.

That’s when things changed.

He started forgetting anniversaries. Making excuses. Then, he stopped coming home some nights. He made me into a housewife, a cook, a quiet background to his life—while Shania walked through the front door like she owned it.

She moaned his name loudly at night, knowing I could hear. I endured it all—because I believed love could fix it. Because I thought, if I stayed long enough, he would remember the girl he once brought flowers to.

But love doesn’t survive in cages.

And now I know—Colton was never a man worth loving.

I burned everything. Every trace of “us.” The flames licked the pages of our memories, turning them to ash. I watched in silence, no tears left.

When I stepped outside to toss the remains, the front door slammed open.

“Ellie!” Colton’s voice thundered through the hallway.

I froze.

His eyes were wild, his face flushed with fury. He stormed toward me and grabbed my arm.

“You bitch!” he spat. “You know what you did to Shania? You left her in Greece!”

“What?” I blinked, startled. “I told you—”

“She wasn’t even used to the heat! Now she has blisters and dry skin! Her skin!” His voice cracked, like that was the worst thing that could ever happen.

I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re angry because she has blisters?”

He sneered. “She suffered because of you! You sent her there!”

“I didn’t!” I screamed, trying to pull away. “She left on her own! I didn’t know anything about Greece!”

“You’re lying!” he roared. “She told me everything! How you pushed her away because you were jealous!”

Before I could say another word, he grabbed me and dragged me through the hallway.

“Colton, stop! What are you doing?”

“You need to learn a lesson,” he hissed. “A punishment for hurting my Shania.”

I kicked and screamed, but he was too strong. He yanked open the basement door and shoved me down the stairs. I hit the cold floor, pain shooting up my elbow.

The door slammed shut.

And then, silence.

Colton knew. He knew I had asthma. He knew the heat could trigger my attacks. He knew I was terrified of the dark.

He used to care. I remembered the time I got stuck in the elevator at his company’s tower. The lights went out. The air was thick. I was hyperventilating. Panicking.

And he didn’t hesitate. He broke protocol, demanded the power be rerouted just to get the doors open. He pulled me into his arms, whispering over and over, "You’re safe. I’ve got you. I’ll never let anything hurt you."

Lies.

Because now? Now he locked me in the basement. A place that reeked of mold and metal. No windows. No lights. Just endless black swallowing me whole.

All because of her.

My voice cracked as I called his name. Again. Again. Again.

But my cries just echoed, bouncing off cold walls and mocking me back. No one came. No one even answered.

My chest tightened.

Tears blurred my vision as I pressed my back against the damp floor, curling into myself. “How… how did we end up here?” I whispered into the silence. “Did I really… believe you loved me?”

Maybe I did. Maybe that was my biggest sin—believing in Colton.

But now the truth was louder than any of my screams: I was never his choice. Just a contract. A convenience. And when Shania returned, I became disposable.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.

I gasped, clawing at the air. It was too hot. Too heavy. My lungs tightened like they were being wrung out.

“Asthma,” I choked out. “P-please…”

I reached for the door. Crawled toward the stairs. “Help…”

Nothing. No voice. No footsteps. Just the growing roar in my ears and the throb in my head.

Then everything went black.

I woke to the soft beep of a heart monitor and the sterile scent of antiseptic. The lights were dim, but not dark. My body ached. I tried to move, but every inch of me pulsed with pain.

“You’re awake.” A nurse appeared beside me. Her voice was kind, but her expression… hesitant. “Don’t move too much, Miss Ellie. You’ve got some bruises. Insect bites too. And your breathing’s not fully stable yet.”

My lips were dry. “Wh-where… am I?”

“You’re in a private hospital. You were found unconscious in a basement. Sent here by… a butler, I believe.”

I blinked. “Not my husband Colton?”

She shook her head. “No. No visitors have come.”

No calls. No messages. Nothing.

My heart cracked.

He left me there to die.

That was it. The last straw. I was done waiting. Done hoping.

Later that afternoon, I called the airline. I booked the earliest flight out going to Germany where I also sent my brother hoping he would wake up anytime soon. Then I took care of myself. Ate. Took my meds. Showered with the IV still taped to my arm.

No one would do it for me.

That evening, I sat on the hospital bed, wrapped in a blanket, scrolling through the internet just to pass time. That’s when I saw it.

A video from an auction.

Colton beside Shania, bidding ridiculously high on every item she glanced at. Shania laughed as she kissed his cheeks. They were so sweet with each other.

“He’s definitely her sugar daddy.”

“No way, they look married.”

“Wait… isn’t that Colton Smith?”

“Is she his secret wife?”

My stomach twisted.

We never went public. Colton always said it was to protect me. "The media’s harsh," he claimed. "They’ll eat you alive."

But now it made sense. Maybe I was never meant to be introduced. A secret until Shania could return. Someone to warm his bed and fill the legal gap—until the woman he truly wanted could take her rightful place.

I tossed my phone aside, face buried in my pillow. I didn’t cry this time. I was too numb for tears. I closed my eyes, deciding I’d rest as much as I could. Ten days. I just needed to survive ten more days.

I thought sleep would numb me. But I was wrong.

I woke to sudden heat pressing against my ribs—too hot. Burning.

“Ahhh!” I screamed, jerking upright.

My eyes flew open.

Shania. Standing at the foot of my bed. Holding a heat pad against my side. Smirking like the devil herself.

“Oops,” she said sweetly. “Too hot for your weak lungs?”

I tried to pull away, but she clicked her tongue and leaned closer.

“Still clinging to life, huh? Honestly… are you planning to stay? Or do you want to just die already, so I can finally have my Colton without your pathetic shadow?”