Chapter 1

The music at Warden Rex Thorne' s promotion party was too loud.

Sarah stood by the punch bowl, her smile feeling stiff.

Rex, her fiancé, was across the room, accepting congratulations. He looked powerful, handsome.

Then a scream cut through the noise.

Brenda, Rex' s stepsister, stumbled into the room, clothes torn, face streaked with tears.

She pointed a shaking finger at Sarah.

"She did this to me! Sarah! She attacked me!"

Brenda' s voice was a raw cry.

"She said I was trying to steal Rex, that she' d kill me!"

The room went silent. All eyes turned to Sarah.

Sarah felt cold. This was not happening.

Rex strode towards Brenda, his face a mask of concern. He knelt by his stepsister.

"What happened, Bren?"

"Sarah... she' s jealous... she dragged me outside... hit me..." Brenda sobbed, clinging to Rex.

Rex looked up, his eyes finding Sarah. They were not the eyes of the man who loved her. They were cold, hard.

"Sarah?" His voice was low, dangerous.

"Rex, I didn' t... I wouldn' t..." Sarah began, her voice trembling.

Brenda let out another wail. "She' s lying! Look at me!"

Rex stood, his gaze fixed on Sarah. He believed Brenda. Completely.

His words fell like stones.

"You are no longer my fiancée. You are an inmate."

He didn' t shout. He didn' t need to.

"Blackstone Penitentiary. The old wing. Ten years."

A gasp went through the crowd. The old wing was a ruin, a place for the forgotten.

"Your sentence," Rex continued, his voice devoid of any warmth, "is to rehabilitate one hundred of our most hopeless. Counsel them. Care for them. Let' s see your gentle nature mend them."

It was not a sentence. It was a death warrant for her spirit.

Sarah felt her legs give way, but she forced herself to stand.

No trial. No questions. Just banishment.

Ten years passed.

The old wing of Blackstone was cold, damp, and filled with shadows.

Sarah was not the same woman. The softness was still there, buried deep, but her surface was hard, like the stone walls.

She had survived. Barely.

One day, the heavy door to her section creaked open.

Warden Rex Thorne stood there. Older, lines of power etched deeper around his eyes.

He expected to see her broken, begging.

He saw Sarah, thin, her clothes patched, but her eyes clear.

Beside her, a figure stirred. John "Silent" Doe. A lifer, his face scarred, his body a map of old injuries. He never spoke, but he was always near Sarah, a silent, watchful presence. He mended her torn clothes, left her small, scavenged comforts.

Thorne' s lip curled. "I see you' ve made a friend."

Sarah didn' t flinch.

"I' ve come to offer you a chance, Sarah," Thorne said, his voice smooth, like he was offering a gift. "Show remorse. Admit your... mistake. I can be lenient. You can leave this place. Be by my side again."

Sarah looked at him. The man she once thought she loved.

"No." Her voice was quiet, but firm.

Thorne' s eyes narrowed. "No?"

"I have nothing to be remorseful for, Warden."

Just then, Brenda appeared behind Thorne. She was perfectly dressed, a cruel smile on her lips.

"Oh, Sarah, still so stubborn. Rex is being generous. You should take his offer."

Brenda' s eyes flicked to John Doe, then back to Sarah, full of malice.

"Still clinging to this... creature? Rex, darling, she hasn' t learned a thing."

Brenda' s words were poison, dripping into Thorne' s ear.

Thorne' s face darkened. Sarah' s defiance, her connection to this inmate he despised, it was a slap in his face.

"You will regret this, Sarah," Thorne said, his voice tight with anger.