Introduction

My life with Ethan Cole, the charismatic tech CEO, was perfect.

I was his beloved wife, carrying our first child, convinced I was the center of his universe.

But when my father fell ill, Ethan disappeared from my life, only to reappear in a crushing photo: his arm intimately around my successful cousin, Olivia Hayes.

My world shattered.

The betrayal ran deeper than I could have imagined.

I discovered I was merely a meticulously chosen stand-in, a grotesque copy of Olivia, the woman he truly loved.

He even desired our child to have *her* features, a living link to his obsession.

Every tender gesture, every shared dream, was a calculated lie, meaning my marriage, my love, and my pregnancy were all built on his monstrous deceit.

A cold rage blossomed within me; how could I have been so blind?

He believed he owned me, that I would never leave, especially with a baby on the way, confident I was a compliant fool.

He was terribly wrong.

I would not be his vessel, his substitute.

When he least expected it, while he was still flaunting his obsession, I quietly underwent an abortion.

Then, using his arrogance against him, I meticulously orchestrated my escape, securing my divorce and vanishing without a trace.

He thought he was playing me; I showed him exactly who was being played, leaving him a devastating truth about his own making.