Introduction

The day I turned eighteen, I was thrown into a gilded cage, marrying into wealth as my mother' s unwanted baggage.

Ethan Kensington, my new stepbrother, treated me like furniture, a secret he summoned only when bored or lonely, buying me off with trinkets.

Then came the wedding announcement: Ethan was marrying someone else, and the world was celebrating, blind to the shadow I' d become.

Broken and disposable, I faked my death, hoping to evoke a shred of guilt, only to reappear years later, building a quiet life of my own.

But he found me, cornered me in a diner, and with a public proposal that reeked of control, I foolishly said yes.

I married him again, believing his grand gestures were a sign of true love, until I overheard him describing me as a problem to be "handled."

The humiliation burned, and then, a horrifying crash revealed his executive assistant, Chloe, tampering with my car brakes, confirming the chilling truth: he didn't just want control; he wanted me erased.

In the hospital, reeling from the accident, the doctor delivered another blow: "You're pregnant."

But then Chloe appeared, radiating fake concern, only to deliver her own bombshell: "I'm pregnant, too, Ava. And it's Ethan's."

My world shattered, and cold, hard rage settled in, replacing all weakness.

They wanted two women, two babies, two lives controlled, but I would not live in that gilded cage.

"I need to speak to my doctor," I told the nurse, "Alone."

I was ending this. All of it.