Ethan kept me as his plaything for three years. In bed, he called me his baby. But the moment he got up, he forced birth control pills down my throat. Behind my back, he told everyone I was just a pet, a human shield to protect the woman he actually loved. He said he would throw me away when he got bored. The day I found out I was pregnant, he personally pinned me to the operating table. He ordered the doctors to scrape my womb clean, without any anesthesia. So I jumped into the freezing ocean, faking my death along with our unborn child. Three years later, I stood right across from him at his own engagement party. Linking arms with another billionaire, I slapped the Vance Corporation’s bankruptcy and acquisition papers right onto his face. “Mr. Vance, who is the pet now?” With bloodshot eyes, he fell to his knees in the pouring rain, begging me to look at him. What he didn’t tell me was that he was already carrying a terminal cancer diagnosis in his pocket. But when our little boy collapsed in front of him from a sudden heart attack, this ruthless man, the one who once wanted me dead, did the unthinkable. He let the doctors drain one-third of his own blood without any anesthesia to prime a mechanical heart for our son. With a weak, dying smile, he whispered to me. “Chloe, I am giving my life back to your son. Can you please stop hating me?”
Chloe’s POV It was burning hot. In the cramped, sweat-slicked space, the heavy scent of sex and raw pheromones was suffocating. Inside this ultra-luxury penthouse in Manhattan, the floor-to-ceiling glass windows reflected the glittering neon lights of the New York skyline, and our tangled, sweating bodies. I was pressed hard against the cold glass, gasping as Ethan thrust into me from behind. Ethan’s grip was punishingly tight, as if he wanted to crush my bones and fuse me into his own body. His burning chest was glued to my bare back, every deep stroke filled with an undeniable, brutal dominance. “Focus, Chloe,” his low, raspy voice whispered against my ear. His hot breath brushed my skin as he bit down hard on my earlobe, sending a violent shiver straight down my spine. I bit my lower lip raw, refusing to let out a single whimpering cry. My vision blurred with tears, and the city lights outside smeared into dizzying halos. Three years. I had been with this man for three whole years, yet I could never get used to his sheer madness in bed. To the world, Ethan Vance was the untouchable, cold-blooded billionaire CEO. But only I knew that behind closed doors, he was an insatiable monster. He was addicted to my body. He would kiss every single inch of my skin. And at the peak of his desire, he would grip my waist so hard it bruised, growling my name over and over again. I used to think this toxic, beautiful obsession was love. Until the final moment, when Ethan flipped me over, pinned me to the plush carpet, and let himself go. The second his passion peaked, the desire in his eyes vanished like a retreating tide, leaving only a freezing emptiness. The air still smelled heavily of sex. Ethan stood up, completely naked, and walked into the bathroom. The sound of running water started. I lay on the carpet like a discarded rag doll, so sore I couldn’t even lift a finger. My inner thighs were covered in angry red friction marks, proof of how rough he had just been. Half an hour later, Ethan walked out. He was already fully dressed in a tailored black suit. His tie was perfectly straight, and his silver-rimmed glasses sat high on his nose, masking any trace of warmth in his eyes. He was back to being the powerful, ruthless head of the Vance empire. He walked over to the desk, poured a glass of warm water, and took a small white bottle from the drawer. He shook out two pills. Turning around, he looked down at me with absolute indifference, holding out the water and the pills. “Take them.” His voice was flat, like he was giving an order to a low-level employee. My heart squeezed painfully. Birth control. For three years, after every single session, he would watch me swallow these pills with his own eyes. I pushed myself up, my muscles aching. I didn’t take the glass. I just looked up at the man I had loved for three years and whispered, “Ethan, my stomach hurts today. Can I please just…” “No,” Ethan cut me off, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. His long fingers gripped my chin, not hard enough to bruise, but with absolute control. “Be good, Chloe. I don’t want any accidents.” An accident meant a baby. He would never allow me to carry his blood. I lowered my eyelashes to hide the stinging tears. I took the glass and swallowed the bitter pills dry, right in front of him. Ethan let go of my chin, his thumb gently brushing my pale cheek, briefly returning to his role as the doting boyfriend. “I’m flying to Europe tonight for a few days. Stay in the penthouse. I just wired five million dollars to your account. Buy whatever you want.” Then, he pulled a sleek invitation card from his suit pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table. “Next month, on the eighth. I’m getting engaged.” Boom. My brain went entirely numb, a sharp ringing echoing in my ears. I snapped my head up, staring at the elegant, mocking invitation on the table. “What did you say?” My voice shook violently. “Are you deaf?” Ethan slowly buttoned his cuffs, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather. “I’m marrying Leilah Rose.” Leilah Rose. New York’s premier heiress. The girl Ethan grew up with. The woman he actually loved. My nails dug so deep into my palms that they almost drew blood. My eyes burned red as I choked out, “You’re getting married. Then what am I to you?” Ethan let out a soft chuckle that didn’t reach his eyes. He leaned down, placing both hands on the arms of the sofa, trapping me beneath him. His gaze was mocking and merciless. “Chloe, you’re a smart girl. Why ask such a stupid question? What are you? You’re my pet, of course. Don’t worry. Even after I marry Leilah, I won’t cut you off. As long as you stay obedient, this penthouse, and I, will still be yours.” His words were like a poisoned blade, tearing open my chest and trampling my dignity into the dirt. He wasn’t just marrying another woman. He wanted to lock me in this penthouse forever as his dirty little secret. Ethan didn’t care about my ghostly pale face. He stood up straight and walked toward the door. With a heavy thud, the door shut, locking me in the freezing silence. I stumbled into the bathroom, fell over the toilet, and shoved my fingers down my throat. “Gag…” I retched violently until the stomach acid and the half-dissolved pills were forced out. Staring at my bloodshot eyes and ruined face in the mirror, my tears finally spilled over. In truth, I hadn’t taken the pills last month. I had secretly swapped them with vitamins. And my period was already ten days late.
Chloe’s POV The next morning, wearing a low-profile cap and a face mask, I slipped into a private clinic in downtown Manhattan. It was an ultra-exclusive clinic known for its strict NDA policies. I had booked an appointment with their top OB-GYN. After a series of agonizing tests, I sat in the doctor’s office, my hands sweating as I gripped each other. The doctor pushed up his glasses, looking at the ultrasound sheet with a heavy expression. “Miss Sterling, congratulations. You are indeed pregnant. About five weeks along.” My heart skipped a beat. An overwhelming rush of joy mixed with a terrifying wave of panic crashed over me. I really had a baby. Ethan’s and my baby. “But…” The doctor’s voice turned grave. “Your physical condition is extremely fragile. You suffered severe trauma in the past, and your uterine wall is as thin as paper. Honestly, it’s a miracle you even conceived.” My face drained of color. The memory of being thrown into a freezing lake in upstate New York by my abusive father when I was ten flashed in my mind. I had almost died back then, and my body had never fully recovered. “Doctor, what does that mean?” “It means,” the doctor sighed, “if you want to keep this baby, you have to be bedridden. Any physical shock or stress will trigger a massive, life-threatening hemorrhage.” When I walked out of the clinic, the bright Manhattan sun blinded me. I clutched the crumpled ultrasound sheet in my pocket like it was my actual lifeline. This was my only chance in this lifetime to be a mother. But would Ethan ever want this child? Just yesterday, he had coldly reminded me that he was marrying Leilah. He would never tolerate an “accident.” I sat on a park bench near the clinic for two solid hours. My mind replayed all the sweet things Ethan had done for me over the past three years. He had canceled billion-dollar board meetings just to stay up all night holding a warm compress over my stomach when I had bad cramps. He had ruthlessly ruined a socialite who mocked my poor background, shielding me behind his back. Maybe… maybe he did care about me, even just a little? If he knew I was pregnant, if he knew this was my only chance to have a child, would his heart soften? Would he call off the marriage with Leilah for our baby? Even if there was only a one-in-a-million chance, I had to try. I took a deep breath, hailed a cab, and went straight to the Vance Corporation headquarters. The Vance tower pierced the New York clouds. As Ethan’s “personal secretary” (my official title to the public), I had executive elevator access directly to the penthouse office. The top floor was quiet. The assistants were busy at their desks outside. I walked up to the heavy mahogany door of the CEO’s office. Just as I raised my hand to knock, I heard laughing from inside. The door wasn’t fully shut; a tiny crack was left open. It was the voice of Julian Cole, Ethan’s wealthy best friend. “So, Ethan, the invites are out. You’re really marrying Leilah? What about your little kitten at home? Chloe has been with you for three years. She’s so sweet and obedient. Are you really just going to throw her away?” My hand froze in midair. My breathing stopped. From inside the room, Ethan’s voice drifted out, utterly careless. “Why wouldn’t I? She’s just a toy.” His voice was so chillingly cold, a complete contrast to the passionate man who had held me in his bed last night. Julian chuckled. “A toy? You’ve spoiled her rotten for three years, completely ignoring Leilah’s feelings. Everyone in our circle knows you’d jump in front of a bullet for Chloe.” “It was all a game,” Ethan sneered, tossing his gold pen onto the desk with a sharp clack. “You know how brutal the power struggle within the Vance family has been these past three years. My grandfather was plotting against me, and my uncles were waiting for me to fail. The attacks were coming from everywhere. Leilah just returned to the country; I couldn’t let her become a target.” Ethan paused, his voice utterly calculated. “Chloe had no family, no backing. She was easy to control with just a little cash. By pushing her into the spotlight and acting like I loved her, all the threats and assassination attempts aimed at me landed on her instead.” “Now, I have absolute control over the company. The family can’t touch me anymore, and Leilah is perfectly safe. It’s time to sweep the trash out.” Outside the door. I clamped my hand over my mouth, tears instantly streaming down my face. A target. A human shield. The three years of absolute devotion, the car crashes he “shielded” me from, the poison he saved me from… none of it was because he loved me. It was because those attacks were meant for him, and he had used me as a meat shield to keep Leilah safe! The man I thought was my savior was actually my executioner. A violent wave of nausea hit me. I couldn’t listen to another word. I turned around, desperate to run away from this suffocating place. But the moment I turned, I slammed right into someone. The overpowering scent of Chanel No. 5 hit my nose. I looked up, meeting a pair of eyes filled with smug satisfaction and disgust. Leilah Rose stood there in a Chanel haute couture suit, holding a limited-edition Hermès bag. “Oh, look who it is. Miss Sterling,” Leilah sneered, looking at my pale face. “Eavesdropping on the boss? That’s a fireable offense, sweetie.” Leilah didn’t bother to lower her voice. The men inside heard her instantly. The office door was thrown open. Ethan’s towering figure appeared. The moment his cold eyes landed on my shaking body, the casualness in his expression turned into a sheet of solid ice. “What are you doing here?” he asked coldly, without a single shred of warmth.
Chloe’s POV The air in the hallway turned to ice. Ethan’s gaze swept over me like a frozen blade. He didn’t even ask why I looked like I was about to faint. His first reaction was simply to scowl, annoyed that my presence had disrupted his perfect little world. Leilah immediately slid her arm through Ethan’s, leaning her body against his chest. She said sweetly, “Ethan, maybe Miss Sterling has some urgent work. But, you know, after we get married, I’ll be very jealous if you keep such a pretty young secretary around.” Her words were laced with venom, marking her territory while trampling on my dignity. Ethan looked down at Leilah, his sharp jawline instantly softening. He pinched her nose playfully, his voice dripping with affection. “Don’t be silly. She’s being reassigned tomorrow anyway.” Reassigned. With one careless sentence, he had erased me from his life. I stared at the happy couple, watching the genuine, unguarded tenderness Ethan showed to Leilah. It wasn’t an act. That was real love. He was a master actor, separating business from pleasure. He slept with me in his bed, while plotting my death behind my back. I felt a metallic taste in my mouth and forced myself to swallow the blood. My hand instinctively went to my flat stomach. The crumpled ultrasound sheet in my coat pocket burned like hot coal, making me shake. “Mr. Vance,” I spoke, my voice disturbingly calm. “I’m not here for work.” Ethan’s scowl deepened, his eyes flashing a warning. “Chloe, know your place. If you have personal matters, we’ll talk at the penthouse.” Did he think I was here to throw a tantrum about his engagement? “The penthouse? You mean the cage where you keep your pet?” I let out a hollow laugh, tears finally spilling over. Leilah’s face stiffened, and she gasped in mock shock. “Ethan, what is she talking about? What pet?” “Shut up!” Ethan snapped, his face turning completely dark. He marched over, grabbing my wrist in a grip so tight I heard my bones pop. “Chloe, have you lost your mind? Who gave you the right to make a scene here!” The pain in my wrist was agonizing, but I didn’t even flinch. I looked straight into his dark, ruthless eyes and said quietly, “Ethan, we’re done. I’m just here for my severance pay.” Ethan froze. He probably expected me to scream, cry, beg, or even threaten suicide. But he never expected me to just ask for cash. For three years, I had been the perfect, quiet doll who never asked for anything. “Severance pay?” Ethan laughed, his eyes filled with pure disgust. “So the sweet act is finally over? Showed your true colors, huh? Is five million not enough to buy your silence?” He turned to Julian and barked, “Go to accounting. Cut her a check for fifty million.” Julian worked fast. Within minutes, he ran back with a signed check. Ethan took the check and slapped it directly onto my face. The sharp edge of the paper sliced a thin red line across my cheek before fluttering to the floor. “Take the money and get the hell out of my sight. Don’t let me ever see your face again,” Ethan growled. I didn’t look at him. I calmly knelt down and picked up the fifty-million-dollar check from the floor. My movements were slow, but my back was straight. “Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Vance.” I folded the check, putting it in my pocket, and gave him one last look. There was no love left in that look. No hate, either. Just a vast, freezing wasteland. I was looking at a complete stranger. Ethan instinctively reached out to grab me, but I had already turned around, stepping into the elevator without looking back. The moment the elevator doors closed, my strength gave out. I collapsed against the cold metal wall, sobbing hysterically. It was over. Truly over. With shaking hands, I dialed my best friend, Serena Cross. “Serena… help me… I need to get out of New York… tonight…” At 8:00 PM. I dragged my exhausted body back to the penthouse. I didn’t turn on the lights. I walked straight into the bedroom to pack a few basic clothes. Serena had already arranged a private boat to take me out of the country tonight. I didn’t want to spend another second in a place that smelled like Ethan. Just as I zipped my duffel bag, the bedroom lights suddenly flashed on. The blinding light made me wince. “Where do you think you’re going?” A chilling voice echoed from the doorway. My eyes snapped open, my heart jumping into my throat. Ethan was sitting on the armchair in the corner of the room, his legs crossed. He held a lit cigarette, the red tip glowing in the dim light. At his feet lay a crumpled piece of paper. My eyes landed on it, and my pupils shrank. It was my ultrasound sheet! It must have fallen out of my pocket when I was changing in the cab earlier! Ethan slowly blew out a ring of smoke, standing up. His leather shoes clicked against the hardwood floor like a countdown to my doom. He stopped right in front of me, his eyes burning with a terrifying, wild rage. “You’re quite the actress, Chloe. You secretly stopped taking the pills, got pregnant with my heir, took my fifty million, and now you want to run away with my child?” He suddenly lunged forward, locking his fingers around my throat and slamming me hard against the wardrobe. “Did you honestly think you could escape me?”
Chloe’s POV “Let go…” He squeezed so hard my toes barely touched the floor. The air was being choked out of my lungs. I thrashed, clawing at his iron grip, my face turning purple from the lack of oxygen. Ethan watched my desperate struggle with zero mercy, his face twisted in pure, savage fury. He suddenly let go, and I collapsed to the floor like a broken rag doll, coughing violently as I scrambled to suck air back into my lungs. “When did you swap the pills?” Ethan roared, looking down at me like an angry god. “Speak!” “I…” I coughed up tears, looking up at this monster in absolute despair. “I didn’t plan this… it was an accident… I’ll leave, I won’t let the baby get in the way of you and Leilah…” “An accident?” Ethan mocked, letting out a dark laugh. “Chloe, do you think I’m an idiot? I watched you swallow those pills every single time. If you hadn’t swapped them behind my back, how could there be an accident!” He knelt down, grabbing a fistful of my hair and forcing my head back. “Did you think that getting pregnant would force me to marry you? Did you think you could use this bastard to climb over Leilah’s head?” His words were like poison-dipped daggers, tearing my soul apart. My heart was already numb. I let out a broken laugh. “Ethan, is that all I am to you? A worthless gold-digger who’d use a baby to trap you?” “What else would you be?” Ethan’s eyes filled with pure disgust. “You’re a street rat who lived off my charity. You think you’re worthy of carrying my blood? Leilah is innocent. I will never let her be humiliated by a bastard child.” The word bastard felt like a physical punch to my stomach. I instinctively wrapped my arms around my belly, shaking violently. “Ethan, the doctor said my body is too weak. If I lose this baby, I will never be able to have children again! I’m begging you, let me leave. I swear we will never show our faces in front of you again!” I begged him, literally crawling on my knees to grab the hem of his trousers. But Ethan just kicked me away, his expression cold and detached. “Whether you can have kids or not has nothing to do with me.” He casually straightened his suit, looking at me like I was trash. “I just want this threat gone.” He pulled out his phone and dialed his security team. “Bring the car around. Call Dr. Miller. Prep the OR for an abortion.” My eyes widened in pure horror. “No! I’m not going! Ethan, you can’t do this to me!” I scrambled up like a madwoman, trying to bolt for the door. But before I could make it, Ethan grabbed my hair from behind and dragged me back onto the floor. “You don’t have a choice!” He dragged me out of the penthouse like a piece of dead meat, throwing me into the back of his black Maybach. The doors clicked shut, locking automatically. The silence inside the car was suffocating. I curled up in the corner, holding my belly tight. My tears had run dry, leaving only a hollow void of despair. I clawed at the door lock, but it was completely dead. I turned to the man sitting beside me, my voice raspy. “Ethan, you will regret this. You are murdering your own child. God will punish you!” Ethan snapped his eyes open, grabbing my jaw in a crushing grip. “Shut up! Say one more word, and I’ll have the doctor rip it out of you right here in the car!” The car sped through the rainy night, finally screeching to a halt in the underground garage of the private hospital. A team of doctors and nurses was already waiting by the elevator with a gurney. The door was thrown open, and the guards dragged me out, pinning me down onto the gurney. “Let go of me! Help! Somebody help me!” I thrashed wildly, my wrists turning black and blue under their heavy grip. I was rolled straight into the operating room. The cold metal table. The blinding overhead lights. The nurses stripped my pants off, strapping my legs into the stirrups. The clinking of surgical tools echoed like a horror movie soundtrack. I saw Ethan standing in the corner of the room, dressed in sterile scrubs, watching everything with a blank face. “Mr. Vance, the patient is extremely hypertensive due to panic. If we administer general anesthesia, she might suffer cardiac arrest,” the lead surgeon reported nervously. “Then strap her down tighter. Skip the anesthesia. Do it dry,” Ethan said, his voice completely devoid of human emotion. The doctor gasped. But no one dared to defy Ethan Vance. He slowly approached the table with the metal speculum. The moment the freezing metal stretched me open, a blood-curdling scream ripped from my throat. “AHHHHHHH!” Just then, the heavy double doors of the OR were violently kicked open! “Stop! Everybody step the fuck back!” Serena burst in with four massive bodyguards, throwing the prep table over and pushing the doctor away.
Chloe’s POV The operating room fell into absolute chaos. Serena rushed to the table. Seeing me tied down, pale as a corpse, with blood already trickling down my legs, her eyes filled with tears of pure rage. “Chloe! Oh my god, Chloe!” She frantically clawed at the leather straps binding my arms. Ethan’s eyes turned lethal. He marched over, grabbing Serena by the collar of her jacket, and threw her across the room. “Who the hell let you in here? Get out!” Serena slammed against the floor, but she scrambled up like a protective mother lion, pointing right at Ethan’s face. “Ethan Vance, you absolute monster! Are you even human?! Do you have any idea what her medical history is? Performing an abortion without anesthesia? You are literally trying to torture her to death!” “This is between me and her. It’s none of your business,” Ethan said coldly, turning back to the terrified doctors. “What are you waiting for? Keep going!” “We can’t do it! Mr. Vance, we physically cannot do it!” Dr. Miller suddenly threw himself onto his knees in front of Ethan, holding up a freshly printed blood report. “Mr. Vance, Miss Sterling’s uterine wall is too thin, and she has a rare O-negative blood type! She’s already showing signs of an active miscarriage from the struggle. If we perform a forced curettage now, she will hemorrhage. We have zero matching blood in the hospital’s bank. If she starts bleeding out, she will die!” Die. Ethan’s pupils shrank. His gaze snapped back to me on the table. I was hovering on the verge of passing out from the pain, lying there like a broken doll, blood staining the white sheets beneath my thighs. I heard him roar at the doctors. “Save her…” Ethan’s voice actually trembled, a rare crack in his armor. “Use whatever it takes. Keep her alive! If she dies, I will bury this entire hospital with her!” “Yes! Yes! Quick, get her to the ICU!” After a frantic scramble, I was wheeled into the intensive care unit. The hallway went dead silent. Because Serena’s voice was incredibly loud, I could hear her screaming at Ethan through the thick glass door. “Ethan, you keep calling her a toy. But she gave you her whole heart for three years! Are you fucking blind? You killed your own child just to keep Leilah safe. You will rot in hell for this!” But Serena didn’t know that Dr. Miller had actually been bribed by me. I was indeed O-negative, but the situation wasn’t fatal. The blood on the sheets was from a medical blood bag Dr. Miller had hidden under my gurney. It was a dangerous gamble Serena and I played to save my baby. We gambled on whether Ethan had a single shred of humanity left for me. And we won. Three days later, I was moved to a luxury VIP suite. Ethan didn’t bring up the abortion again. Instead, he turned my room into a high-security prison. Four bodyguards stood outside twenty-four hours a day. Not even a fly could get in or out. For three days, Ethan was nowhere to be seen during the day. He only showed up late at night. We didn’t exchange a single word. The silence between us was suffocating. I leaned against the headboard, staring blankly out the window. Suddenly, my phone buzzed. It was a video from Leilah. In the video, Leilah was spinning around in front of a mirror, wearing a breathtakingly expensive wedding dress. The camera panned over to the sofa, where Ethan sat, looking at her with a gentle smile. “Ethan, do I look pretty?” Leilah’s sweet voice asked in the video. “Beautiful. You’re the most stunning bride in the world,” Ethan’s voice was deep and filled with love. The video ended. Then came a text message: Chloe, see that? Ethan loves me. He’ll get rid of that bastard in your womb sooner or later. If you’re smart, run away before I have to make you. I stared at the screen, my heart completely numb. When pain reaches its limit, you stop feeling it. I calmly deleted the video, picked up the glass of water, and swallowed my prenatal vitamins. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside, and a woman dressed in a nurse’s uniform, wearing a surgical mask, pushed a cart into my room. The moment she locked the door, she pulled down her mask. It was Serena. “Chloe, everything is ready,” Serena whispered, her eyes shining with determination. “The engagement party is tomorrow. Ethan will be too busy to watch you. I got us tickets for a cargo ship leaving for international waters. Once we’re on that boat, he’ll never find us.” I touched my flat stomach, my gaze turning cold and sharp. “Okay. Tomorrow, we leave.” The night before the engagement party. The rain tapped softly against the window, bringing the chill of late autumn into the room. The door clicked open, and Ethan walked in, smelling heavily of whiskey. His coat was gone, his tie was loose, and his eyes were bloodshot. I was about to sleep. Seeing him walk in, I instinctively shrank back, my eyes filled with defensive fear. “Why are you hiding?” Ethan marched over, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at him. The smell of strong alcohol mixed with his expensive cologne washed over me. I looked at him coldly. “Mr. Vance is getting engaged tomorrow. With your beautiful bride waiting, why are you acting like a maniac in my room?” “Are you jealous?” Ethan let out a dark laugh, his fingers tracing my lips roughly. The desire in his eyes flared up like wildfire.
Chloe’s POV He violently tore my hospital gown open, exposing my skin to the cold air. “Ethan, what are you doing! Let me go!” I panicked, thrashing as I shielded my stomach. “The doctor said no stress! I’ll lose the baby!” “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle,” Ethan ignored my pleas entirely, pinning my hands above my head as his heavy body pressed down on me. Like a starving beast, he bit down on my neck and collarbone, leaving dark, painful marks. His movements were rough, urgent, driven by a sick, possessive need. “Listen to me, Chloe,” Ethan growled in my ear as he forced himself into me, his voice raw and cruel. “Tomorrow, I marry Leilah. She will be Mrs. Vance. But you… you will always belong to me.” “Once your body heals, you are getting rid of this bastard. I’ll buy you the biggest mansion, the most expensive diamonds, and keep you for the rest of your life. I can give you everything, except my last name.” This was Ethan’s twisted logic. He wanted power, he wanted his pure socialite wife, and he wanted me as his obedient pet in the dark. He thought money and control could keep me chained to him forever like a dog. I closed my eyes, a single tear of pure humiliation sliding down my temple. Disgusting. He was absolutely disgusting. Suddenly, I stopped fighting. I let him have his way with my body. I even wrapped my arms around his neck, actively matching his rhythm. Ethan froze for a second, then his eyes flared with absolute triumph. He probably thought I had finally broken, that I was accepting my fate. “Good girl… that’s it…” He kissed the tears from my eyes, his movements growing wilder. That night, I acted like a lifeless doll, letting him use me however he pleased. I swallowed all my hatred and disgust, just to make him drop his guard. The next morning. Ethan was fully dressed in a tailored white tuxedo, looking incredibly handsome. He stood by the bed, looking down at me as I pretended to sleep, and kissed my forehead. “Wait for me to come back.” The door closed. I snapped my eyes open, bolted to the bathroom, and scrubbed my skin with cold water until it was raw and bleeding. At 10:00 AM. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed outside the suite. Ethan hadn’t let his guard down. In fact, he had doubled the security. Ten massive men in black suits completely blocked the hallway. “Mr. Vance’s orders. Not even a fly leaves this room today,” the guard captain said coldly through the door. I walked to the window, looking down. Eight floors. Jumping meant instant death. Outside the door were ten highly trained guards. A cold smile touched my lips. I pulled out the burner phone Serena had left me and sent a single text: Start the fire. Five minutes later. The hospital’s fire alarm blared through the building. Thick grey smoke began billow through the vents, and the smell of burning plastic filled the air. “Fire! Run!” “The eighth floor is on fire! Evacuate the patients!” Panic erupted outside. Even though the guards were trained, the blinding smoke and stampeding crowd threw them into chaos. Bang. The door was kicked open. Two guards rushed in to grab me, but the bed was completely empty. The bathroom door was locked. “Miss Sterling! Open up!” The guards kicked the bathroom door open, only to find my discarded hospital gown on the floor. As they searched the bathroom, I slipped out from behind the door, dressed in a nurse’s scrubs, a wig, and a surgical mask. I blended right into the screaming crowd, running down the emergency stairs without looking back. In the alley behind the hospital. An unmarked black sedan was waiting, its engine humming quietly. Gasping for breath, I burst through the back exit and threw myself into the passenger seat. Serena, wearing a baseball cap, slammed her foot on the gas, and the car shot forward like a bullet. “We did it!” Serena yelled, checking the rearview mirror to make sure no one was following before letting out a massive sigh of relief. I ripped off the wig and mask, panting heavily, my forehead soaked in sweat. I held my stomach as a dull ache throbbed in my lower abdomen from the running. “Chloe, are you okay? Does your stomach hurt?” Serena asked nervously. “I’m fine. I can make it,” I said, my face pale but my eyes burning with a wild, cold determination. “Drive to the Brooklyn Bridge.” “The Brooklyn Bridge? Aren’t we going to the harbor?” Serena was confused. “The harbor is too easy for him to check. Ethan’s network covers all of New York. The second he realizes I’m gone, he will lock down every port.” I took a deep breath, my voice freezing over. “I need him to think I’m dead. Completely destroyed.” Serena gasped, instantly realizing my plan. We had hidden a speedboat under the bridge pier beforehand. I was going to stage a fatal car crash off the bridge to cover my escape.
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