Chapter 1

The box arrived on Valentine' s Day, just like it had for the past two years.

It wasn't filled with chocolates or roses.

It was filled with used condoms.

This time, they were strawberry-flavored. A small, handwritten note was tucked inside the lid.

"Chloe has been into strawberry-flavored things lately. See if you like them. If you do, I'll get you some next time."

The note was from Ethan Vance, my fiancé.

He was one of four potential heirs handpicked by my grandfather, the global tech billionaire Arthur Miller. Three years ago, when Grandpa finally found me, his long-lost granddaughter, living a quiet life in a small town, he presented me with these four men. He told me to choose one to be my husband, and that man would inherit the Miller family empire alongside me.

I chose Ethan. He seemed the most stable, the most reliable.

Chloe Peterson was the girl they thought was the Miller heiress for eighteen years, the girl my grandfather had raised by mistake. She was also the girl all four of those chosen heirs were in love with.

Ethan's next text came a few minutes later.

"Your birthday is in three days, and it's Chloe's too. I invited her to celebrate with us. You don't mind, do you?"

For three years, I had minded. I had fought, I had cried, I had made scenes. It never changed anything.

This time, I just typed back, "Okay."

The party was at a private ski resort in Aspen. The moment I walked into the main lodge, I knew it was a mistake. Chloe, wrapped in a thin designer dress and covered in what looked like fresh bruises, stumbled and fell directly into Ethan' s arms.

She immediately dropped to her knees in front of me, her voice a desperate, broken whisper.

"I was wrong, Sarah. I shouldn't have agreed to celebrate my birthday with Ethan and you. Please, please let me go... I don't want to be sold to the 'Nightfall Club'..."

Ethan held Chloe, who seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. His eyes, when they met mine, were blazing with a fury that felt hot enough to burn me from across the room. The other heirs, Liam, Noah, and Caleb, circled us like vultures, their faces masks of disgust.

"You're a monster," Liam spat.

"We'll tell Grandpa what you really are," Noah added.

My heart didn't just sink, it felt like it had turned to a block of ice in my chest. It was finally, completely clear. None of these heirs were suitable.

"Sarah, what did you do to her?!"

Ethan' s voice cut through the cold air of the Aspen ski resort. The chill on my skin was nothing compared to the ice in his stare. Chloe trembled in his arms, pulling his jacket tighter around her shoulders.

"N-no, it wasn't her," Chloe stammered, her words a jumbled mess. "It was... I accidentally got kidnapped on the way here and almost got assaulted. It's all my fault..."

She looked up at Ethan, her eyes wide and full of tears.

"I shouldn't have come to the ski resort, Ethan. Don't blame Sarah."

Her nonsensical, fragmented words were more effective than any direct accusation. They painted a picture for everyone to see: I was the cruel, jealous villain, and she was the innocent victim. She had cleverly nailed me to a pillar of shame without saying a single bad thing about me.

Ethan' s jaw tightened. "Since you were recognized, Chloe has never said a bad word about you. She moved out of the Miller mansion without a single complaint. How could you hurt her like this?"

Caleb, another of the heirs, stepped forward, his face twisted in a sneer. "Even if you're jealous that all four of us like her, you can't do something to ruin her reputation! This is low, even for you."

"Exactly," Noah chimed in, crossing his arms. "She even gave up her beloved Ethan for you. Hasn't Chloe compromised enough?"

The birthday party was filled with the younger generation of wealthy families, kids who had grown up alongside Chloe. They saw her as one of their own. To them, I was just some girl from a hick town who got lucky. In the three years since I was found, not a single one of them, besides my grandfather, had ever truly accepted me. I was an intruder, an outsider who had disrupted their perfect little world. To the four heirs, I was the woman who had destroyed their chances with the girl they all loved.

The accusations flew at me from every direction. Everyone in that room believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that I had arranged for Chloe to be kidnapped and assaulted out of pure, ugly jealousy.

I ignored them. I kept my eyes locked on Ethan's, my voice low and steady as I defended myself, word by word.

"I didn't."

I stared right into his cold, unforgiving eyes.

"I didn't even know when she was arriving, where she was coming from, or how I would even begin to arrange for her to be kidnapped."

Liam pointed a finger at me, his voice rising to a shout. "Are you saying Chloe would joke about her own reputation? Are you calling her a liar?"

Noah and Caleb moved to stand beside him, a united front of condemnation.

"Ethan, this time, you have to make her realize that our Chloe isn't to be trifled with!"

"Exactly! She's a hillbilly, she smells like fish. I've disliked her from the moment I saw her!"

I stood there, completely alone. I felt isolated, helpless. It felt like even the air I was breathing was being judged. But I hadn't done anything. I was innocent.

"Ethan, I'm so cold," Chloe whimpered. She was wearing nothing but a thin party dress, and she shivered dramatically in Ethan's arms. Her clear, doe-like eyes glanced at me for just a second, a flicker of something that was not innocence.

That was all it took.

Ethan' s expression hardened. He raised an eyebrow, carefully placed Chloe into Liam's waiting arms, and then he started walking towards me.

Every step he took felt like a drumbeat of doom.

He stopped right in front of me, his shadow falling over me.

"Take it off."

His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion.

"What?" I asked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"I said, take off your ski jacket." Ethan' s face darkened, his patience wearing thin. He repeated it, louder this time.

Before I could even process the command, before I could react, he reached out. His fingers were cold as they found the zipper of my heavy, insulated jacket.

In one swift, violent motion, he unzipped it and pulled it off my body.

The sub-zero air of the Aspen mountains hit me like a physical blow. The biting wind wrapped around me, seeping through my thin sweater, and I started to shiver uncontrollably.

Ethan didn't even look at me. He turned his back, holding my jacket, and walked directly to Chloe. He wrapped my jacket tightly around her shaking shoulders.

He finally turned his gaze back to me, his eyes filled with a cold, righteous fury.

"If you dared to have her clothes stripped, you should know I'll strip yours too."

He leaned in closer, his voice a low, threatening whisper meant only for me.

"Sarah, you'd better remember this lesson. I, Ethan Vance, will never marry a jealous and cruel woman."

And with that, he scooped Chloe up into his arms and walked away without a single backward glance. The crowd of their friends followed, their mocking eyes lingering on my disheveled state, my shivering body.

I was left alone in the vast, empty ski resort lodge. I stood there, frozen, for a long time, unable to move, unable to think.

When I finally regained some feeling in my legs, I stumbled toward the main exit, desperate to get somewhere, anywhere, warm.

The door was locked.

I pulled on the handle, rattling it, but it wouldn't budge. They had locked me in.

I remembered the recognition ceremony three years ago. Grandpa had pointed to Ethan Vance, Liam, Noah, and Caleb, and asked me to choose. I picked Ethan because he seemed the most mature, the most stable. I learned later that none of them wanted me. They resented my return because it meant Chloe, their Chloe, had to leave the Miller family. Before I was even officially recognized, they had tried to trip me up, to make me look bad, to make me disappear. I had tolerated it all, not wanting to cause trouble for Grandpa.

Looking back now, I saw my generosity, my willingness to forgive, had only made them see me as weak. They thought I was easy to bully.

My hands were shaking so badly I could barely function. I fumbled in my pants pocket and pulled out my phone. The screen was black. It had shut down from the extreme cold.

A violent shiver wracked my entire body, and my teeth chattered so hard my jaw ached. I huddled into a corner, trying to conserve any warmth I had left, my eyes falling on the small silver whistle hanging around my neck.

It was a gift from Grandpa, for emergencies.

With trembling fingers, I brought it to my lips.

A clear, high-pitched whistle echoed through the silent valley.

In a daze, my vision blurring from the cold, I thought I saw a figure, a man dressed all in black, kick open the heavy iron gate and run towards me.