I thought I'd crossed into another world. Slipped into some parallel dimension where nothing made sense.

But before I could even begin to process it, the real nightmare began.

I screamed at them until my throat was raw.

"Let me go! I'm the Henson heiress! However much money you want, I can give it to you!"

Kathy Jennings spat at my feet.

"You've already been thrown away like garbage. And you still think you're going back?" She let out a harsh laugh. "Keep dreaming."

I tried everything I could think of to reach Jacob. Every method, every angle.

Every single message I sent disappeared into the void. Not one reply. Not ever.

"You really are spectacularly stupid, Marina."

Jacob tilted my chin up with one finger, forcing me to meet his gaze. His eyes were filled with nothing but contempt.

"Can you honestly not tell? I arranged all of this."

"Only someone as impossibly naive as you could miss it."

"Three years you sat here waiting for me. Three years you kept begging me to save you." A cold smile tugged at his lips. "What a joke."

His eyes narrowed as they traveled over my face, and disgust crept into his expression.

"Look at you. Sun-scorched. Rough as sandpaper." He tilted his head, appraising me like damaged goods. "You can't hold a candle to Rebecca now. Not even close."

"Then again, maybe this is what you deserve. You always did lord that pretty face over everyone else."

I kept my head down. I couldn't even manage a bitter smile.

Three years of wind and sun. Three years of relentless abuse.

When I caught my reflection in a mirror now, I barely recognized the woman staring back.

Is that really me?

Every winter, my fingers cracked and swelled until they looked like raw sausages. And the face I'd once spent a fortune maintaining? It was mapped with fine lines and dark spots, weathered beyond recognition.

I looked no different from any village farmwife.

Jacob stroked Rebecca's smooth cheek with sickening tenderness.

"See, Rebecca? Clothes make the woman. These days, you're every bit the heiress Marina used to be. No difference at all."

Rebecca Fletcher. The scholarship student I'd sponsored out of pity. I'd covered her tuition, her living expenses, let her eat at my table and sleep under my roof.

Over time, she'd become my best friend.

I never imagined she'd become the one who dragged me straight to hell.

Rebecca nestled into Jacob's arms with a coy little laugh.

"That's only because you spoil me, Jake."

Then she crouched down beside me, close enough that I could smell her perfume, and put on a show of sisterly warmth.

"Marina, you know what? While you've been away, Jake has taken such good care of me."

"And don't worry, I haven't let you down either. I've been taking very good care of him too. Including in bed."

A triumphant smile spread across her face. "So just relax and keep playing house out here, okay?"

Playing?

My head snapped up. I'd nearly died here. More than once. And they thought I was playing.

My mouth opened, but my throat seized like something had clamped around it. No sound came out.

Jacob waved a dismissive hand.

"Alright, she's had enough fun roughing it. Let's just bring her back."

The words had barely left his mouth before panic flashed across Rebecca's face.

"Jake, are you serious? You're really taking her back?"

"You said this trip was just to check on her. That's all."

"And look, we've seen her, she's perfectly fine! She was smiling and laughing just now. She probably doesn't even want to go back." Rebecca's voice climbed higher, faster. "Why don't we just take a few photos and let her stay here? She's clearly enjoying herself—"

Jacob frowned, hesitating.

"She's still the Henson heiress. I've been telling everyone she went on an extended vacation overseas for the past three years."

"The Hensons have been asking for her lately. If I keep stalling, it's going to raise questions." His jaw tightened. "It's time to bring her out."

A flash of hatred twisted through Rebecca's eyes.

"Fine. She's the Henson heiress, after all."

When they moved to take me away, Kathy and Ivan blocked the path, refusing to let us leave.

"Miss Fletcher, you're really taking her?" Ivan stepped forward, his expression sour. "But you said she was supposed to be my—"

Rebecca silenced him with a single razor-sharp glare.

He shut his mouth.

"Haven't I paid you enough?"

Rebecca pulled out a check and held it up between two fingers.

"There's five hundred thousand dollars on this. Consider it compensation for playing house with Miss Henson."

"For backwater villagers like you, this should be more than enough to last the rest of your miserable lives."

Ivan and Kathy's eyes lit up like slot machines hitting jackpot.

"Yes, yes, of course. Miss Fletcher is always so generous."

Ivan's gaze crawled over my body, greedy and slow. He muttered under his breath, "What a waste, though. A wife like that..."

Kathy jabbed him hard in the ribs.

"Don't push your luck. With this kind of money, you can buy whatever wife you want."

"Besides, you already used her up. She can't even give you a son. Worthless. Let her go."

I kept my head down, letting their words burrow into my ears.

My face was numb. Expressionless.

Rebecca had brought servants with her. They cleaned me up, combed my hair, and dressed me.

When I stepped out in a white sundress, Rebecca looked me over and burst out laughing.

"Marina, you used to look stunning in white. I had no idea it would look so... wrong on you now."

"I'm so sorry, sweetie. I really didn't expect your skin to be this dark."

Her eyes brimmed with barely concealed glee.

Jacob stood beside her, frowning at me with open distaste. "Trying to look like something you're not."

He draped his arm around Rebecca, who wore a similar dress, and let out a mocking laugh.

"Standing next to each other, one of you looks like an heiress and the other looks like the help. And the heiress is obviously Rebecca."

Rebecca giggled, playfully swatting his chest.

"Don't say that. Marina and I are best friends. She's the real heiress."

She tilted her head, her voice dripping sweetness. "If it weren't for Marina, how would I have ever met you?"

She was right about that.

If I hadn't introduced Rebecca to my fiancé, the two of them would never have ended up together.

Looking back, the signs had been there all along. Every time Jacob and I went out on a date, Rebecca would text me, begging to hang out. Without fail.

Gradually, our dates for two became outings for three.

Then, somewhere along the way, I was the one cut out. It became just the two of them, shopping together, grabbing coffee.

The first time I caught them, I was livid. "Jacob, I don't want you seeing Rebecca alone behind my back."

He acted like it was nothing.

"Marina." He rubbed my shoulders, his voice patient, placating. "Rebecca's your best friend, isn't she? I treat her like a friend too. That's the only reason we grabbed coffee."

"I'm just trying to get along with her so you don't feel stuck in the middle."

"If it bothers you, I won't see her again."

After that, he stopped meeting Rebecca openly.

And because I wanted to preserve our friendship, I decided to set Rebecca up with a suitable boyfriend. The young man I had in mind was an assistant at my father's company. Fresh out of college, he'd already been promoted three times. A rising star.

I never expected what happened next. The moment I explained what I had in mind, Rebecca burst into tears and screamed at me.

"Marina, do you really think I'm only good enough for some blue-collar nobody?"

Jacob had frowned too, his voice sharp with reproach.

"Marina, what you did was completely out of line. You overstepped."

In the end, I was the one who went to Rebecca to apologize.

I told her I'd meant well but made a mess of things. Rebecca smiled and said she knew I hadn't meant any harm.

I thought the whole thing was behind us. I never imagined they'd been scheming all along, biding their time for a far more devastating retaliation.

Seeing me silent now, Jacob grabbed my arm and yanked. "Marina. I'm talking to you. Are you even listening?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts. I lifted my head to look at him. "What did you say?"

But Jacob didn't answer. Instead, his brow creased.

"What's that smell? It reeks."

Suddenly, disgust twisted his features. He clamped a hand over his nose and took a large step back, putting distance between us.

"Rebecca, do you smell something weird?"

Rebecca sniffed the air a few times, then nodded.

"Yeah. It smells like... urine."

They both turned to stare at me, their eyes raking over my body with open scrutiny.

Every muscle in me went rigid. I stood frozen, not daring to move.

But the warm liquid kept coming.

Trickling down from between my legs.

Rebecca's eyes went comically wide. She pointed at my pants.

"Jacob, look! She wet herself!" A shriek of laughter tore out of her. "Oh my God, Marina actually wet herself!"

"Marina, I get that you're excited to be home, but this is a bit much, don't you think?"

Jacob backed away even farther, revulsion stamped across his face.

"Marina, you're really... unbelievable."

"Where's your breeding? Where's the poised, elegant Henson heiress? Three years in the countryside and this is what you've become?" His lip curled. "It's disgusting."

Disgusting.

I lowered my head, numb, and stared at the dark stain spreading across my skirt.

I'd lost control again.

Five miscarriages in three years had left my body irreparably broken. The medical care in Hollow Creek Village was nonexistent. There were a few unlicensed country doctors, sure, but Kathy and Ivan would never have spent a cent on me.

I pressed my lips together until they went white, enduring their shrill, exaggerated laughter.

"Enough. Enough..."

The words fell from my mouth, barely audible.

They were the reason I was like this. Every last bit of it was their doing.

And yet they doubled over laughing, unable to stop, feeding off each other's cruelty.

My fists clenched at my sides. Then I raised my head, slowly, and the numbness in my face hardened into something else entirely.

My gaze swept the room, cataloging everything within reach, until it landed on a porcelain vase on the side table.

The next second, the vase shattered over Rebecca's skull.

"Still funny?"

Rebecca swayed, stunned. Her hand went to her head. When she pulled it away and saw the blood coating her fingers, a piercing scream ripped from her throat.

"She's trying to kill me! Marina's trying to kill me!"

Her eyes rolled back, and she crumpled to the floor.

Jacob stood frozen, the color draining from his face. It took him a long moment to react. When he finally did, he rounded on me with a guttural snarl.

"You psycho!"

He looked at the blood streaming from Rebecca's head, his face chalk-white. He scooped her up and bolted for the door.

"It's okay, Rebecca, I'm taking you to the hospital right now..."

He was so frantic he nearly forgot to turn back. At the threshold, he whipped around, his voice shaking with rage. "This isn't over. I'll deal with you later."

I watched his retreating figure, unblinking.

"That's right. I've lost my mind."

"And now it's this madwoman's turn to come for you. Every last thing you owe me."

The vase had split Rebecca's scalp wide open. The wound was deep. I heard later it took over a dozen stitches to close.