Chapter 1

The silence in the grand dining room was heavy, broken only by the soft clink of silverware against porcelain. It was my eighteenth birthday, a day that should have been filled with laughter and joy, but the ghost of my foster parents hung in the air, a constant, sad presence. They had given me my first real home, a place of warmth and love that was snatched away by a hit-and-run driver years ago.

Ethan, my foster uncle, sat across from me. He had been my rock, my second home, the one who picked up the shattered pieces of my life after they were gone. He was handsome, with a serious face that rarely smiled, but his eyes, a deep, thoughtful gray, always held a flicker of warmth for me. Or so I thought.

"Happy birthday, Chloe," he said, his voice a low rumble that always made my heart beat a little faster. He pushed a small, elegantly wrapped box across the polished wood table.

My hands trembled as I opened it. Inside, nestled on a bed of black velvet, was a delicate silver necklace with a single, perfect pearl. It was beautiful, simple, and elegant, just like him.

"Thank you, Ethan," I whispered, my voice thick with emotion. "It' s perfect."

He just nodded, his gaze fixed on his plate. The distance between us felt like a canyon. For years, I had harbored a secret, a love for him that grew from childish adoration into something deep and all-consuming. Tonight, I decided, I would finally tell him. I was an adult now. Maybe, just maybe, things could be different.

Later, after the plates were cleared and the house settled into a quiet hush, I found him in his study. He was staring out the large window at the city lights, a glass of whiskey in his hand.

"Ethan?" I said softly, stepping into the room.

He turned, his expression unreadable. "Chloe. You should be in bed."

"I can' t sleep," I confessed, my hands twisting in front of me. I took a deep breath, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. "Ethan, I... I love you. Not like an uncle. More than that."

The air crackled with a sudden tension. His face, which had been passive, hardened into a mask of stone. He set his glass down with a sharp click.

"What did you say?" His voice was dangerously low.

"I love you," I repeated, a foolish hope still fluttering in my chest.

His reaction was swift and brutal. He took a step forward, his eyes blazing with an anger I had never seen before. "That' s improper, Chloe. Disgusting. I am your guardian, your uncle. How could you even think such a thing? Have you no shame?"

Each word was a physical blow, shattering my heart into a million tiny pieces. I recoiled as if he had struck me. He saw the tears welling in my eyes, but there was no pity in his expression, only cold, hard judgment.

"I gave you a home," he continued, his voice laced with contempt. "I took you in. And this is how you repay me? With these... sick fantasies?"

He turned his back on me, leaving me standing there, drowning in humiliation and pain. The next morning, he was gone. He left a note saying he was traveling for business. He was gone for two years.

Those two years were the loneliest of my life. I finished high school, started college, and lived in the big, empty house that was once a home. It was just a place filled with memories now, most of them painful.

When he finally returned, he wasn' t alone. He brought a woman with him, a fiancée named Tiffany. She was beautiful, with a perfect smile and an air of polished sophistication. She looked at me with a mixture of pity and condescension, her hand possessively on Ethan' s arm.

"Chloe, this is Tiffany," Ethan said, his tone formal and distant. "We' re getting married."

My world tilted on its axis. He had replaced me. The pain was so sharp, so intense, it was hard to breathe. But a stubborn, desperate part of me refused to let go. I couldn't accept it.

They were planning a trip to a private island to celebrate their engagement with a few close friends. I insisted on going. I begged, I pleaded, I made a scene. I think a part of me hoped that if I was there, he would see me, really see me, and remember what we once had.

Ethan was furious. "You' re being childish, Chloe. Stop this nonsense."

Tiffany just smiled, a sweet, cloying smile. "Oh, let her come, darling. It' s no trouble. It' s good for her to get out."

Her words were like poison, but Ethan eventually relented, his face a mask of weary frustration. I thought I had won a small victory. I was so naive.

The private jet was a symbol of his world, a world I was desperately clinging to. I sat alone, watching Ethan and Tiffany laugh with their friends, Sarah and Mike. The pilot, a kind-faced man named Liam, gave me a sympathetic smile when he brought me a drink. He was the only one who seemed to notice I was there.

Halfway through the flight, the unthinkable happened. The plane shuddered violently, an alarm blared through the cabin, and the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. Panic erupted. The jet was going down.

Liam was shouting instructions, his voice calm but urgent. "There are parachutes under your seats! Put them on, now!"

My hands fumbled with the straps, my heart pounding against my ribs. I managed to get the parachute on, my fingers clumsy with fear. Then, I saw Ethan. He was helping Tiffany with her parachute, his movements quick and efficient. He finished and turned, his eyes meeting mine across the chaotic cabin.

For a breathtaking moment, I thought he was coming to help me, to save me. But he strode past me, his face grim. He grabbed the last parachute from under an empty seat. But he didn' t put it on.

He walked back to where I was, standing over me. The plane lurched again, throwing us against the seats.

"Give it to me," he demanded, his voice cold and hard above the roar of the failing engines.

I stared at him, confused. "What?"

"Your parachute," he snapped, his hand reaching for the straps on my chest. "Give it to Tiffany. Hers is damaged."

I looked over at Tiffany. She was huddled in her seat, her face pale with terror. Her parachute looked perfectly fine to me. But the look in Ethan' s eyes left no room for argument. It was a command.

"But... what about me?" I stammered, my voice barely a whisper.

His expression was utterly devoid of emotion. It was the same look he had given me the night I confessed my love. A look of complete and utter indifference.

"You' re a good swimmer, Chloe," he said, his voice flat. "You' ll have a better chance in the water than she will."

He didn' t wait for my answer. He unclipped my parachute with brutal efficiency, his fingers cold against my skin. He snatched it away and fastened it onto Tiffany, pulling the straps tight. He was choosing her. He was sacrificing me.

The betrayal was a physical shock, more terrifying than the thought of the crash itself. He was my uncle, my guardian, the man I loved. And he was leaving me to die.

Liam, the pilot, saw what was happening. His eyes were wide with disbelief. "Ethan, what are you doing? You can' t do that!"

Ethan ignored him. He pushed Tiffany toward the emergency exit that the crew had just opened. "Jump!" he yelled.

Just before the plane ripped apart, as I was thrown from my seat into the screaming wind, my mind flashed back to a moment right after the crash that killed my foster parents. Ethan had found me sitting alone in the wreckage of our car, small and silent. He had wrapped me in his coat, his big, strong arms a shield against the world. "I' m here, Chloe," he had whispered into my hair. "I' ll always be here to protect you."

It was a lie.

I hit the water with a force that knocked the breath from my lungs. The cold was a searing shock, pulling me down into the dark, churning ocean. As the wreckage of the plane sank around me, a piece of debris hit my head, and the world went black.

Miraculously, I survived. I woke up washed ashore on a sandy beach, my body bruised and broken, but alive. The storm had passed, and the sun was beginning to rise, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. I was alone.

Driven by an instinct I didn't know I possessed, I started to search. For hours, I stumbled through the dense jungle that bordered the beach, calling out names, my voice hoarse. I found parts of the plane, twisted and mangled, scattered among the trees.

And then, I found him.

Ethan was lying at the bottom of a shallow ravine, his body tangled in vines. He was unconscious, a deep gash on his forehead bleeding sluggishly. He was alive, but barely.

Without a second thought, I scrambled down the slope. I checked his pulse, my fingers trembling. It was weak, but it was there. All the betrayal, all the pain, it all vanished in that moment. All that mattered was that he was alive, and I had to save him.

I tore a strip of fabric from my shirt and bandaged his head as best I could. He was a dead weight, but I managed to heave him onto my back. The journey that followed was a nightmare. I carried him through treacherous terrain, my own injuries screaming in protest with every step. I battled the relentless sun, the swarming insects, and the crushing weight of his unconscious body. I found a small stream and forced water past his lips, then drank sparingly myself. I found berries I vaguely recognized as edible and ate them, saving most in case he woke up.

I don' t know how long I carried him. Time blurred into a haze of pain and exhaustion. But I never stopped. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, driven by a love that refused to die, a love he had thrown back in my face.

Finally, just as my strength gave out completely, I stumbled into a clearing. And there they were. The other survivors. Liam, Sarah, Mike, and Tiffany. They had made a makeshift camp.

When they saw me, carrying Ethan, their faces were a mixture of shock and relief. I collapsed to the ground, my legs giving out from under me, Ethan's weight pinning me down. The last thing I saw before I passed out was Tiffany rushing forward, not to me, but to Ethan.

When I finally regained consciousness, it was to the sound of voices. I was lying on a bed of soft leaves, a makeshift blanket covering me. My head throbbed, and every muscle in my body ached. I opened my eyes a crack and saw them huddled around a small fire.

Ethan was awake. He was sitting up, leaning against a log, with Tiffany clinging to his side. His head was bandaged properly now, and he was drinking some water.

"You were so brave, Tiffany," Ethan was saying, his voice rough but filled with a tenderness that made my stomach clench. "When I woke up and saw you dragging me through the jungle... I don' t know what I would have done without you. You saved my life."

Tiffany looked up at him, her eyes wide and full of fake tears. "I would do anything for you, Ethan. I was so scared. When I saw Chloe just abandon you in the wreckage... I knew I had to get you out of there."

The world stopped. The air left my lungs. He thought she had saved him. The grueling journey, the pain, the sacrifice... he had given the credit to her. To the woman who had watched him sentence me to death.

I closed my eyes, a cold, hollow numbness spreading through me. It was worse than the rejection, worse than the parachute. This was the ultimate betrayal. He hadn't just abandoned me; he had erased me. My love, my sacrifice, it meant nothing. It was all a lie.

In that moment, something inside me broke. The desperate, hopeful girl who had clung to him for so long finally died. I felt the last of my love for him drain away, leaving behind an empty, aching void.

I would survive this island. I would get back to civilization. And then, I would disappear from his life forever. He would never see me again.