Chapter 1

Four years I' d been in Havenwood, this forgotten mining town tucked deep in the Appalachians.

Four years since I followed Ethan Vance here.

He said he needed to help revitalize it, his family' s old home.

Now, Ethan was the town' s charismatic leader, and I was supposed to be by his side.

A big town festival was just days away.

Ethan planned to use it to cement his leadership, to publicly show everyone our unbreakable bond.

My hand rested on my still-flat stomach, a secret joy blooming inside me.

I was pregnant.

I couldn't wait to tell Ethan, to see his face light up.

Our future, the one he promised, felt so close.

I walked towards his cabin, the one we once shared, eager to share my news.

The door was slightly ajar, and I heard voices.

Ethan' s, and another, a woman' s, wheezing and sickly. Daisy Rourke.

A local girl, always frail, her skin blotchy, her breath a constant struggle.

"Ethan, you really think making Sarah go through with the 'Founders' Pact' will work?" Daisy' s voice was raspy.

"What if it... what if she doesn't survive it?"

My blood ran cold. Founders' Pact? Survive what?

"It's the only way, Daisy-belle," Ethan' s voice, usually so warm to me, was different, colder.

"For you to be well, for Havenwood to accept you by my side. She's strong; she'll manage. Besides, she owes this community."

Owes? I' d given up everything for him, for this town. My money, my family, my life.

Daisy giggled, a horrible, rattling sound.

"And you won't miss her pretty face, Ethan? Once the Sickness takes hold on her?"

The Sickness. That' s what they called Daisy' s illness.

"Her face won't matter when you're healthy, my love," Ethan said, his voice sickeningly sweet to Daisy.

"Her sacrifice will bind this town to us."

My baby. My mind screamed.

The idyllic future I' d imagined shattered into a million pieces.

Ethan, the man I loved, the man who' d seemed like a local hero, had forgotten everything we were.

He planned to use me, to sacrifice me for Daisy, for his power.

My hand instinctively went to the old locket around my neck.

My grandmother gave it to me. It was my only real link to the life I' d left behind.

I knew then, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, I had to get out.

But how? Havenwood was isolated, and Ethan controlled everything.