Chapter 1

It had been a year since Chloe's husband, David, died in that car crash.

A whole year.

My half-sister, Chloe. Always a little too fragile, a little too needy.

My mother, Susan, had doted on her, always.

Especially after Dad passed.

Lately, Susan had been spending more and more time at our house in Long Island.

Her visits were long. Her suggestions, frequent.

Mostly about Chloe. How Chloe was suffering. How Chloe needed family.

How Chloe, young and widowed, deserved happiness. Deserved a child.

Then, one Tuesday evening, Susan sat us down. Me and Ethan.

Her voice was soft, reasonable.

"Sarah, Ethan," she began, her eyes fixed on Ethan. "Chloe is so lonely. She wants a child, something of David to remember him by, but... it's too late for that."

A pause. My stomach tightened.

"She's young. She needs a child with a blood connection. Someone to carry on a legacy."

Ethan shifted beside me on the sofa. He looked uncomfortable.

"What are you saying, Mom?" I asked, though a cold dread was already seeping in.

Susan turned to me, her expression firming.

"Ethan is strong. Healthy. He can give Chloe a child. It would be a gift. For Chloe. For the family."

The air left my lungs.

"Absolutely not," I said. My voice was flat.

Susan's eyes narrowed. "Sarah, this is your sister. She's been through so much. Don't be selfish."

"Selfish?" I stood up. "You want my husband to impregnate my sister. That's not family, that's... insane."

Ethan finally spoke, his voice weak. "Susan, I... I don't think..."

"Ethan," Susan cut him off, her tone now sharp, laced with a familiar disappointment she always reserved for those who defied her. "Think of Chloe. Think of what this would mean. A child, a piece of this family, for her to love."

She played on his guilt, his desire to please, his inherent weakness I had too often ignored.

I refused. Vehemently.

But Susan was relentless. Tears. Accusations. How I never truly loved Chloe. How I was cold, unfeeling.

Ethan wavered. I saw it in his eyes.

The next day, I found myself locked in our guest room.

Susan had called in a private security guard, a burly man who stood outside my door. My phone was gone. My laptop too.

"Just until you see sense, Sarah," Susan had said, her voice devoid of warmth. "For your own good. For Chloe's."

They said I needed to "rest," to "think things over."

I was a prisoner in my own home.

Hours later, the lock on my door clicked.

It wasn't Susan. It was Ethan.

He looked pale, his eyes avoiding mine.

"They're... Chloe's waiting," he mumbled.

I stared at him, my heart a block of ice. "You wouldn't."

He wouldn't meet my gaze. He just stood there, a puppet.

Then, Susan appeared in the hallway, Chloe hovering behind her, eyes downcast but with a flicker of something I couldn't name. Triumph?

"Ethan, dear, don't keep Chloe waiting," Susan urged, her voice like syrup.

I watched, helpless, as Susan gently pushed Ethan towards Chloe's room. My room, the master suite, now hers.

He went. He didn't look back.

The door to Chloe's – to *my* – bedroom clicked shut.

That was my sister. My husband.

My mother had said, "She's your sister, what's the big deal in letting her have this?"

I thought he was her brother-in-law. I thought basic decency, basic human boundaries, would stop him.

But time ticked by. Each second a drop of ice water on my skin.

My body grew cold. So cold.

It was only me. Only I cared about the vows, the sanctity.

I sank to the floor, the image of them together burning in my mind.

Emily. My daughter, Emily. Thankfully, she was at a sleepover.

Tears streamed down my face. I hugged myself, rocking back and forth.

He was with my sister. My own husband.

The sky outside the small window began to lighten. Dawn.

Finally, the lock on my door turned again.

Ethan entered. He looked tired. He tried to pull me into his arms.

A faint, sweet perfume clung to him. Not mine. Chloe's.

"Sarah," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "I couldn't get away. I had to stay with her. Don't worry. No matter what happens between us, you'll always be my only wife."

He was explaining. He was trying to save face.

I said nothing.

The Ethan I married, the man who had promised me forever, died last night when he followed Chloe into that room. He was gone.