Chapter 3

The sight of her made my stomach churn. I felt a violent wave of nausea, and I gagged, pushing Kameron away.

"Get out!" Kameron snarled at Carleen, his attention immediately shifting to me. He fussed over me, his face a mask of worry. "Hailey, baby, are you okay? What's wrong?"

He turned back to Carleen, his voice like ice. "I told you not to come here. Leave. Now."

Carleen's eyes welled with tears. She looked down, the picture of a wronged woman. "I was just worried," she whispered, her voice choked with fake emotion. She gave me a final, pitiful look and then turned and left the room.

Kameron continued to hover over me, but his attention was elsewhere. I saw him glance at his phone, his expression unreadable.

My heart sank into a frozen pit.

"Leave," I said, my voice hard. "I want to be alone."

"I have an emergency meeting anyway," he said, quickly recovering. He kissed my forehead. "I'll be back as soon as I can, my love. Rest."

The moment the door closed behind him, I was out of bed. The pain from the procedure was a dull throb, but I ignored it. I had to know.

I crept down the hallway, my bare feet silent on the polished floor. I found them in a secluded waiting area at the end of the corridor.

He was holding her, his hand stroking her back in a gesture of gentle comfort.

"I already told you," he was saying, his voice a low, soothing murmur meant only for her. "I'm not going to let Hailey get pregnant. She's not fit to be the mother of a Stephens."

"But the procedure..." Carleen sniffled, looking up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes.

"It was just for show," he said, a cruel smile playing on his lips. "I had the doctor swap her eggs with yours. We're going to have a daughter, sweetheart. A beautiful little girl who looks just like you."

The world went silent. All I could hear was the roaring in my ears.

He had stolen my chance at motherhood. He was going to use my body to give her a child. The depravity of it was staggering. It was a violation so profound it left me breathless.

"Really?" Carleen's tears vanished, replaced by a radiant smile. "Oh, Kameron! You have to buy me a present to celebrate!"

"Anything for you," he said, his voice dripping with affection. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a jade bracelet. It was a family heirloom, passed down through generations of Stephens women. It was supposed to be mine.

It was the bracelet he had placed on my wrist on our wedding day.

"Oh my god," Carleen breathed, her eyes wide with delight. "Isn't this the Stephens family heirloom? The one Hailey wears?"

Kameron's laugh was casual, dismissive. "The one she wears is a fake. A very good one, but a fake nonetheless. I had it made years ago. My mother would never have allowed the real one to go to someone like her."

He slid the real bracelet onto Carleen's wrist. "My mother adores you, you know. Just be discreet for a little while longer. Soon, everything will be yours."

She beamed, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply.

I stood frozen in the hallway, my body turning to ice. My hand went to my own wrist, to the cold, hard jade of the fake bracelet he had given me.

The vows he'd spoken as he put it on me echoed in my mind. "With this bracelet, I thee wed. You are the only woman I will ever love."

Lies. All of it.

I was a walking joke. A fool adorned in fake jewels and fake love.

Tears streamed down my face, hot and silent. The pain was a physical thing, a crushing weight in my chest. I ripped the bracelet from my wrist, the jade clattering against the floor. I didn't look back as I fled.

I didn't go back to my room. I drove, my vision blurred with tears, until I reached the cemetery where my mother was buried.

I knelt before the cold stone of her grave, my body shaking with sobs.

"Mom," I choked out, my voice breaking. "I was so wrong. I should have listened to you. You told me he was no good."

My tears fell onto the granite, disappearing into the cold, unfeeling surface. "I'm so sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry."

"He's not worth your tears."

The voice came from the shadows behind me. I spun around, my heart leaping into my throat.

A tall man stepped out from behind a large oak tree. He was handsome, with sharp, intelligent eyes. I recognized him instantly.

Elder Chapman. Kameron's biggest business rival.

He walked towards me, his expression unreadable. He held out a business card.

"Hailey Larsen," he said, his voice calm and even. "I've been watching you for a while. It seems we have a common enemy. If you want revenge, I can help you."

I stared at the card, then up at his face. My tears had stopped. A cold, hard resolve was forming in their place.

I wiped my eyes, my gaze turning to ice. I took the card from his hand.

"I don't just want revenge," I said, my voice low and steady. "I want to disappear. I want to die, and I want Kameron Stephens to believe it. Can you do that for me?"

Elder Chapman looked at me for a long moment, a flicker of something-respect? pity?-in his eyes.

Then he nodded. "I can."