A Wife's Ultimate Sacrifice

My sister, Jayda, stumbled at a charity gala, splashing a drink near Diamond Hampton' s prized show dog. It was a simple mistake.

The reaction was not. Diamond' s security guards, men built like refrigerators, brutally beat Jayda, leaving her crumpled on the polished floor. My husband, Alex Wade, Diamond' s head of security, blocked me from reaching her.

"You need to be quiet, Erica," he said, his face an unreadable mask, as his men dragged my bleeding sister away. He dismissed her injuries, claiming she shouldn' t have startled the dog, and forbade me from calling the police or talking to the press. He even threatened Jayda' s life if I caused a problem for Ms. Hampton. Later, he forced me to play my cello for Diamond until my fingers bled, then smashed the instrument. He then demanded I undergo a hysterectomy to appease Diamond, who claimed she couldn' t have children because of him.

I was screaming, "That' s not a debt, Alex. That' s a sacrifice. And you' re not sacrificing yourself. you' re sacrificing me!"

He let his men drag me to a private clinic where Diamond, in a white coat, watched as a doctor performed the procedure without anesthetic.

Chapter 1

The shriek of Diamond Hampton' s prized show dog cut through the manicured perfection of the charity gala.

Erica' s sister, Jayda, had stumbled, her drink splashing near the dog' s paws. It was a simple mistake.

The reaction was not simple.

Two of Diamond' s security guards, men built like refrigerators, grabbed Jayda. They didn' t restrain her. They hit her. Hard. Once, then again. Jayda' s head snapped back, a small cry escaping her lips before she crumpled to the polished floor.

Erica screamed, pushing through the stunned, silent crowd. "Jayda!"

An arm like a steel bar blocked her path. It was her husband, Alex Wade.

"Don' t," he said, his voice low and flat.

"That' s my sister! They' re killing her!" Erica clawed at his arm, her eyes fixed on Jayda' s still form. The guards were dragging her away, a smear of blood trailing behind them.

"You need to be quiet, Erica." Alex' s grip tightened, his face an unreadable mask. He was Diamond Hampton' s head of security. His men had just beaten her sister half to death.

"Quiet? Alex, did you see what they did?" Her voice was a raw, disbelieving whisper.

He pulled her away from the scene, his movements efficient and cold. "Jayda shouldn' t have startled the dog. You know how much that animal means to Diamond."

The words didn' t make sense. It was like he was speaking a foreign language. They reached a secluded corridor, and he finally let her go.

"Go to the hospital. Check on her. But you will not call the police. You will not talk to the press. You will not cause a problem for Ms. Hampton."

Erica stared at him, her heart turning to ice in her chest. "A problem? Alex, they left her for dead."

"She' s not dead," he said, his tone devoid of sympathy. "And she will stay that way as long as you do exactly what I say."

The threat hung in the air, suffocating her. This was the man she loved, the man who had sworn to protect her.

She remembered the day he' d told her about the "assassination attempt" years ago. He was a rising star in private security, assigned to Diamond Hampton. There was an ambush, a staged corporate kidnapping gone wrong.

"She took a bullet for me, Erica," he had said, his voice thick with a guilt that seemed to have no bottom. "The doctors said... they said she can' t have children now. Because of me."

That story, that single event, had become the foundation of his life. A debt he felt he could never repay. Now, Erica saw that the debt was not just his to bear. He was making her pay it, too.

"Why?" she whispered, the word breaking. "Why are you doing this?"

"I owe her," he said, his gaze as hard as granite. "I owe her everything."

He turned and walked away, leaving her alone in the corridor, the sound of the party a distant, mocking echo. He was going back to his boss, leaving his wife to deal with the wreckage.

Erica ran. She ran to the hospital, her mind a storm of fear and confusion. Jayda was in the ICU, her face a swollen, unrecognizable mess of bruises. The doctors spoke in low, serious tones about internal bleeding and head trauma.

Erica sat by the bed for hours, holding her sister' s limp hand. She tried to call Alex a dozen times. He never answered.

When she finally returned to their sprawling, empty apartment, he was there, sitting in the dark.

"How is she?" he asked, not looking at her.

"She' s in intensive care. Alex, they almost killed her."

He stood up and walked to the bar, pouring himself a drink. "They were following protocol. The dog is worth millions. An asset."

Erica felt a dizzying wave of nausea. "Jayda is not an asset. She' s my sister. A person."

He turned, the glass in his hand. "Listen to me very carefully. You will drop this. If you go to the police, I can' t protect Jayda. The Hampton legal team will bury her. They' ll say she was on drugs, that she attacked them. They will ruin her." He took a sip of his drink. "And if that doesn' t work, accidents happen. Especially to people in hospitals."

The cold, deliberate cruelty of his words struck her dumb. This wasn' t the Alex she knew. The man who held her at night, who laughed at her bad jokes, who had once quit a high-paying job because it meant being away from her for too long.

A memory surfaced, sharp and painful. Their first anniversary. They were broke, living in a tiny apartment. He had sold his prized vintage watch, the one his father had left him, to buy her a cello bow she' d been admiring for months.

"Nothing is more important than you, Erica," he had whispered, tracing the curve of her cheek. "Nothing."

That man was gone. In his place was a stranger, a monster wearing her husband' s face.

"Diamond asked you to do this, didn' t she?" Erica asked, her voice shaking.

"Diamond needs to be protected," he said, his voice flat. "She' s been through enough."

"And Jayda? And me? Haven' t we been through enough?"

He looked at her then, and for a second, she saw a flicker of something in his eyes-pain, conflict-but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by that same chilling resolve.

"Her pain is more important than yours," he stated, as if it were a law of physics. "Now, go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow."

He turned his back on her, dismissing her, dismissing her sister' s broken body and her own shattered heart. As Erica walked to their bedroom, she understood. Her marriage wasn' t a partnership anymore. It was a prison, and Alex was the warden, serving a life sentence to Diamond Hampton.