Chapter 1

My Broadway dreams died with a fall on stage. For three agonizing years, my husband Hudson was my rock, nursing me through what doctors called a career-ending injury.

Then I discovered the truth. My "injury" was a lie, a conspiracy orchestrated by my husband and our doctor, Bethany. They had been slowly poisoning me to keep me crippled and dependent.

When I confronted them, they tried to silence me with an overdose. In the hospital, Bethany carved up my body with a scalpel.

To complete their twisted fantasy, they decided she would carry my child, forcibly harvesting my embryos while I was awake on a pain-enhancing drug.

Hudson just watched.

"Just endure it, Emmy," he murmured.

But they didn't break me. I escaped and meticulously erased myself from his world. My final act before disappearing was pressing 'send'-unleashing every piece of evidence to the entire world.

"You took everything from me," I wrote. "Now, I'll take everything from you. Tenfold."

Chapter 1

My life shattered on a stage, but the real performance began when I discovered my husband and doctor orchestrated my pain.

I stared at the screen, the message blinking, a desperate plea from the man who had torn my world apart. He begged me to come back, promising to change. His words were a cruel joke.

He claimed his actions were for my own good. A twisted lie I' d heard countless times before.

Then his tone shifted. From accusations to a fragile whisper of pain, a vulnerability designed to hook me back in.

It didn't work.

My finger hovered over the 'block' button, a cold certainty settling in my chest. The past was a wound, but I was finally ready to heal.

I deleted his number, then erased his presence from every corner of my digital life. It felt like shedding old skin, painful but necessary.

My new phone buzzed with an alert. A new identity, fresh and untainted. I was no longer the woman he knew.

Three years. Three long, agonizing years had passed since my world imploded.

Now, a twist of fate, a legal obligation, pulled me back to the city I swore I' d never see again. The place where my dreams turned to dust.

A familiar face from my past, a former colleague, approached me at the airport. She offered a strained smile, a question in her eyes about him.

She tried to deliver some message, some justification for his absence. Her words bounced off me, leaving no mark.

My heart was a stone. There was nothing left for her to touch.

The memories, however, were unavoidable. They clung to me like shadows, each step a reminder of the agony.

It started with the accident. A fall on stage, a twisted ankle, just before my big break on Broadway. The doctors called it a career-ending injury.

My dream, the one I' d chased since I was a little girl, was gone. Just like that.

The pain was endless. A dull ache that became my constant companion, a physical manifestation of my broken spirit.

My parents, overwhelmed by my medical expenses and their own lives, slowly faded away. I was alone, or so I thought.

He was there. Always there. My devoted husband, Hudson, the perfect picture of care and concern. He was my rock, my everything.

Month after month, doctor after doctor, the prognosis never changed. "Chronic pain," they said. "Irreversible nerve damage."

But I refused to give up. There had to be an answer. I found a new specialist, Dr. Evans, a renowned rehabilitation expert.

Dr. Evans ran new tests, countless tests, his brow furrowed with a quiet intensity. He called me into his office, his voice grave.

"Emmy," he began, "your previous diagnosis... it was incorrect."

My heart pounded. Incorrect? What did that mean?

He showed me the results. My body was riddled with a potent neurotoxin. The medication I' d been taking for three years, prescribed by Dr. Bethany Mckay, wasn't healing me. It was slowly crippling me.

Bethany. My doctor. The woman Hudson trusted.

"And Dr. Mckay," Dr. Evans continued, his voice low, "she's a close family friend of your husband's. Her brother died protecting his father, a hero in their eyes."

The pieces clicked into place, forming a monstrous mosaic of betrayal. Hudson. Bethany. The accident. Three years of fabricated illness.

Rage, cold and sharp, cut through the shock. I had to confront them. I had to know why.

I burst into his study, the medical reports clutched in my trembling hand. "Hudson! What is this?!"

His eyes, usually so warm, hardened into chips of ice. He rose slowly, a predatory calm in his movements.

"Emmy," he said, his voice devoid of emotion, "you shouldn't have seen that."

Then I heard it. Bethany' s voice, hushed and venomous, from the adjoining room. "She's getting suspicious, Hudson. We need to increase the dosage. She needs to stay... compliant."

The blood drained from my face. It wasn't just a mistake or a misdiagnosis. It was a conspiracy.

He stepped towards me, his shadow swallowing me whole. "You were becoming... too independent, Emmy. This was for your own good. To keep you safe. With me."

My blood ran cold. "You... you poisoned me! You stole my life!" My voice was a raw scream.

He slapped me, hard. The force sent me sprawling. "Don't you dare raise your voice to me, Emmy."

He snatched the reports from my hand, tearing them to shreds. "There's no proof now."

Bethany emerged, a syringe glinting in her hand. A cruel smile played on her lips. "Time for your evening dose, darling."

"No!" I shrieked, scrambling backward. "Get away from me!"

But he held me down, his strength overwhelming. Bethany plunged the needle into my arm.

"Please," I sobbed, tears streaming down my face. "Just let me go. I just want to dance again."

He watched, his face impassive, as the drug took hold. My vision blurred, my limbs grew heavy.

The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was his indifferent gaze. It was over.

I woke in a hospital bed, the sterile smell a familiar torment. My body felt heavy, alien.

"You're lucky to be alive, Mrs. Sosa," a nurse said gently. "Another few hours, and... well, it would have been too late."

Another few hours. They had tried to kill me.

A hollow ache settled in my chest, replacing the rage. They had taken everything. My career, my health, my trust.

But they couldn't take my fight. Not yet.

I would leave him. I would survive this. I would get my revenge.

I knew there was only one person who could help me pull off an escape this elaborate. The man who had always been a ghost in my life, yet held more power than anyone I knew. My father.

I picked up the secure satellite phone, a gift from him years ago, and dialed the number etched into my memory.

"Dad," I whispered, my voice raw. "I need your help."