The Prank That Broke Her

I was on my way to tell my boyfriend, Cooper, that I was pregnant. He was my savior, the man who rescued me after a brutal assault left me an orphan.

But when I arrived at his penthouse, I overheard him talking to his sister, Kenya. My entire life was a lie. The assault wasn't random; it was a "prank" they had orchestrated so he could play the hero.

It only got worse. Kenya tortured and killed my dog for "surgical practice," and Cooper defended her. They leaked a private video of me, destroying my reputation at school. When I tried to escape, Kenya sent thugs after me, and the attack caused me to miscarry our child.

As I lay bleeding in the hospital, Cooper blamed me for losing the baby. He then told me the miscarriage had left me permanently infertile.

His final demand was the cruelest. He said I had to "compensate" his sister for all the trouble I'd caused by donating one of my kidneys to her.

But they had made one fatal mistake. They thought I was a powerless orphan.

They didn't know I had just inherited a billion-dollar empire from a secret aunt. And I was about to use every penny to burn their world to the ground.

Chapter 1

I held the small, gift-wrapped box tight in my hands. Inside was a positive pregnancy test. A surprise for Cooper. My heart was beating fast, a nervous but happy rhythm against my ribs. I pictured the look on his face, the way his eyes would light up. We were going to be a family.

I used my key to let myself into his lavish penthouse apartment. Music and laughter spilled from the living room. I paused, my smile faltering. He was having a party. He hadn't told me.

"Just get rid of her, Cooper. It's been long enough."

That was Kenya's voice, sharp and spoiled. Cooper's younger sister.

I froze at the edge of the hallway, hidden in the shadows.

"She's so boring now," another voice, a friend of theirs, chimed in. "The fun was in breaking her. Now she's just... a pet."

My breath hitched. I leaned against the cool wall, the gift box suddenly feeling heavy and cold.

I waited for Cooper to defend me. He would. He always did. He was my savior, the man who pulled me from the darkness after the assault that had left me an orphan. He wouldn't let them talk about me this way.

My phone vibrated in my pocket at the exact same moment I heard his voice, smooth and calm.

"I know, Kenya. Don't worry, I'll handle it."

It was a gentle compromise. A promise to his sister.

My phone screen lit up with a text from him.

Hey babe, something came up at work. Stuck here for a while. Don't wait up for me.

A lie. A casual, effortless lie.

I looked from the glowing screen to the sliver of the party visible down the hall. Laughter. Music. And the man I loved, choosing them over me.

A coldness spread through me, so profound it felt like my blood had turned to ice. My fingers trembled as I typed a reply.

Okay. Take care. Don't work too hard.

A moment later, a phone buzzed from inside the living room.

"Ugh, she's so clingy," Kenya complained. " 'Take care, don't work too hard.' Makes me want to puke."

"Just block her number for the night," someone else suggested. "I can't stand looking at her mopey face."

Cooper's voice was light, amused. "It's fine. We'll be done with her soon enough."

He then mentioned the assault. My assault. The one that destroyed my life, the one he saved me from.

"You really went too far with that prank, Kenya," he said, but there was no anger in his tone. Only a hint of mock chastisement. "You almost killed her."

My world tilted. Prank?

He was talking about the night I was attacked, left for dead in an alley. The night my parents died in a car crash rushing to my side. Prank?

"It wasn't my fault she was so weak," Kenya shot back, her voice full of indignation. "Besides, it was worth it. It made you a hero. You love that, don't you? Playing the savior."

"He does," another friend laughed. "Especially since you're the one who really saved him from that fire when you were kids. He owes you."

The room erupted in agreement. They were all in on it. This whole time.

My mind went blank. The sounds from the party faded into a dull roar. The foundation of my life, the one truth I had clung to for years-that Cooper was my rescuer-crumbled into dust.

It was all a lie.

A sick, twisted game.

My stomach churned, and a sharp pain shot through my core. I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was suffocating.

Was this real? Was any of it real?

"Enough," Cooper's voice cut through the noise, firm and final. "We're not talking about this anymore." There was a pause. Then, his voice dropped, laced with a chilling amusement that I had mistaken for affection for so long.

"She was a mess when I found her. So broken. It's been fun putting her back together, making her exactly what I want."

He described me.

"Like a little doll. Or a pet. She does whatever I say. She thinks I'm her whole world."

I could hear the smile in his voice.

"What about marriage?" Kenya asked, a taunting edge to her words. "You're not actually going to marry that charity case, are you?"

Cooper laughed. A cold, ugly sound.

"Don't be ridiculous. She's not Snow family material. She's just a placeholder. Something to pass the time."

A bitter, choked laugh escaped my own throat. It sounded like a sob.

I turned and stumbled away, my movements jerky and uncoordinated. I didn't know where I was going. My brain was a fog of white noise. The world was a sick, absurd joke, and I was the punchline.

My legs gave out, and I collapsed against the wall in the empty hallway, sliding to the floor.

His words echoed in my head, each one a fresh wave of agony.

Pet. Doll. Placeholder.

I thought about the night of the attack, the blood, the terror. I thought about my parents, gone forever. I thought about Cooper arriving like an angel, his arms around me, promising to keep me safe.

All of it a lie. A meticulously crafted lie.

Nausea rose in my throat, and I retched, but nothing came up.

He had found me in that warehouse, broken and terrified. He had held me as I cried for my dead parents. He had stayed by my side when I tried to end my own life, whispering words of hope and a future. He gave me a beautiful ring, not for marriage, but as a symbol of his "eternal protection."

Every act of salvation was just another link in the chain holding me captive.

My hand went to my stomach, to the tiny, secret life inside me. The surprise I had been so excited to share. Now, it felt like the final, cruelest joke of all.

They had taken everything from me. My family, my safety, my sanity. They would not take this child.

I pulled out my phone, my fingers shaking so badly I could barely dial. I called my academic advisor, Professor Albright.

"Professor," I whispered, my voice cracking. "I need your help. The study abroad program... is it still possible for me to go?"

"Alaina? What's wrong?" his voice was full of concern. "Yes, of course. We can sort it out. Are you okay?"

"I need to leave," I said, the words coming out in a rush. "I need to leave now."

Professor Albright' s voice was a steady anchor in the storm raging inside me. "Of course, Alaina. We'll make it happen. Just tell me what you need."

"Thank you," I whispered. I felt a pang of guilt for worrying him, but the desperation was a physical weight on my chest.

Before I could say more, my phone screen flickered and died. Out of battery. Of course.

The journey back to the apartment I shared with Cooper was a blur. My body moved on autopilot, carrying me through the city streets like a ghost.

When I finally reached the door, I saw the lights were dim inside. I pushed the door open, a sliver of irrational hope flickering in my chest. Maybe he had come home early. Maybe he was waiting for me.

But the apartment was empty. The silence was heavy, filled with the ghosts of our shared life. The scent of his cologne lingered in the air, a scent that once brought me comfort but now made my stomach clench.

I collapsed onto the sofa, the exhaustion hitting me all at once. Every muscle in my body ached. I curled into a ball, the plush cushions offering no comfort.

Tears I didn't know I had left began to fall, silent and hot, soaking the fabric beneath my cheek.

On the walk home, a group of men had harassed me on a dark street. Their leering faces and crude words had sent a familiar terror through me. In that moment, I had wished for Cooper. I had craved the false sense of safety he provided. The irony was a bitter pill to swallow.

Sleep finally claimed me, a black, dreamless void.

I woke to a sharp, stinging pain in my leg.

My eyes flew open. The living room light was on, blindingly bright. I squinted, trying to make sense of the scene.

Kenya Snow was kneeling beside me, a pair of tweezers in her hand, digging into a gash on my shin.

"What are you doing?" I gasped, trying to pull my leg away.

She looked up, her expression one of pure innocence. "I'm helping you, silly. You were bleeding."

She held up the tweezers, a small piece of gravel pinched in the tips. "You must have scraped yourself. I'm just cleaning the wound."

My gaze fell to my leg. The gash was deep, far worse than a simple scrape. And what she was doing... it wasn't cleaning. It was clumsy, almost malicious. I was pre-med. I knew this wasn't how you treated a wound.

"Stop," I said, my voice sharp. "Get away from me."

I scrambled back on the sofa, putting as much distance between us as possible. The sight of her, so close, touching me, made my skin crawl. All I could see were her laughing eyes from my memories of overhearing the party.

Her face twisted in anger. "Fine! Be that way. I was just trying to help. Cooper's right, you've gotten so bitchy lately."

Just then, the front door opened, and Cooper walked in. He saw Kenya' s pouty face first.

"What's wrong, Ken?" he asked, his voice soft and soothing.

He walked over and put his arm around her, completely ignoring me.

Then his eyes fell on me, huddled on the other end of the sofa. He noted my pale face, the tear tracks on my cheeks.

His expression shifted to one of feigned concern. "Alaina, baby, you're hurt."

He moved toward me, his hand outstretched. "Let me see. Does it hurt? Here, let me hold you."

The sight of his caring gaze, the same one I had fallen for, now made my stomach turn. I flinched away from his touch, turning my head so I wouldn't have to look at him.

"It doesn't need stitches," I said, my voice flat and cold. "It just needs to be cleaned and bandaged."

Cooper looked surprised by my tone. "Kenya was just trying to help, Alaina. She was worried about you."

He wanted me to thank her. To thank the girl who orchestrated my assault. The thought was so absurd it was almost funny.

I didn't answer him. I just stared at the wall, my jaw clenched.

Ignoring the stinging pain, I reached down and pulled the piece of gravel from my own wound with my fingers. Fresh blood welled up, dripping onto the pristine white carpet.

I stood up and walked toward my bedroom without a word.

"See?" I heard Kenya whine from behind me. "She's impossible."

"It's okay," Cooper's voice was a low murmur. "She's just upset. I'll talk to her."

I opened my bedroom door and stopped dead.

The room was different. My things were gone, replaced by Kenya's designer clothes and makeup strewn across the dresser.

Cooper appeared behind me. "Oh, right. Kenya's staying with us for a while, so I gave her your room. You can stay in the guest room for now."

He said it so casually, as if he were talking about the weather. He had given my room, our room, to her.

Kenya peeked around him, a triumphant smirk on her face.

"You don't mind, do you, Alaina?" she asked, her voice dripping with false sweetness.

Before I could answer, a faint, weak cry came from the corner of the room.

My eyes shot to the source of the sound. I saw a small, dark stain on the carpet. Blood.

My heart stopped.

"Sunshine?" I whispered.

I ran past them, my injured leg forgotten. In the corner, huddled in his dog bed, was my golden retriever, Sunshine. He was covered in blood, his beautiful fur matted and dark. His body was trembling, and his breathing was shallow.

He was dying.

I fell to my knees beside him, my hands hovering over his broken body, afraid to touch him, afraid to cause him more pain.

"Sunshine, baby, it's me," I choked out, tears streaming down my face. "It's gonna be okay."

But I knew it wouldn't be. I could feel the life fading from him. He managed a weak lick on my hand, his tail giving a single, feeble thump against the bed.

I remembered the day I brought him home, a tiny, clumsy puppy. He had been my shadow, my comfort, my only family after my parents died. He had licked away my tears more times than I could count. He was the one pure, good thing in my life.

My eyes scanned his body, and then I saw it. Crudely stitched wounds, angry and inflamed, crisscrossing his torso. Someone had practiced suturing on him.

A wave of agony so intense it buckled me. I couldn't breathe.

I looked up, my gaze landing on Kenya.

"You," I rasped, my voice a raw, broken thing. "You did this."

Kenya's face was a mask of indifference. She didn't even have the decency to look guilty. She just shrugged, hiding slightly behind Cooper.

"It was an accident," she said dismissively. "I was practicing my surgical skills for vet school. He wouldn't stay still. Stupid mutt."

My last sliver of hope turned toward Cooper. He had to see. He had to understand.

"Cooper, look at him," I begged, my voice trembling. "She tortured him. He's our dog. Our... our baby."

Cooper' s gentle voice cut through my frantic words like a shard of glass. "Alaina, calm down. It was for your own good."

I stared at him, uncomprehending. "For my good?"

"Kenya needs the practice," he said, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. "Besides, he's just a dog. His life isn't as important as a person's."

I gaped at him, the words hitting me with the force of a physical blow. Just a dog.

"You used to call him our son," I whispered, the memory a fresh wound. "You said he was family."

My voice rose, sharp and shrill with disbelief and pain. "He was family!"

Kenya snorted from behind Cooper. "Pathetic. Getting this worked up over a stupid animal."

Cooper stepped forward, his hand reaching for Sunshine's lifeless body. "Let's just get this out of here. It's making a mess."

"Don't touch him!" I screamed, shielding Sunshine with my own body.

"Alaina, be reasonable," he said, his patience clearly wearing thin. "It's just a dog. I'll buy you a new one. A better one."

I stared at him, truly seeing him for the first time. The charming facade had completely dissolved, revealing the cold, empty void beneath. He felt nothing. Not for Sunshine, and not for me.

The fight went out of me, replaced by a chilling emptiness. I sat on the floor, cradling Sunshine's body, and I didn't move for the rest of the night. My tears eventually ran dry, leaving my eyes swollen and raw.

Just before dawn, I wrapped Sunshine in his favorite blanket. I took all the cash I had, every last dollar, and found a 24-hour pet cremation service. I brought his ashes to the cemetery and buried them next to the graves of my parents.

I sat there on the cold ground for hours, the pain in my leg a dull throb compared to the gaping hole in my heart. Sunshine had been innocent. He didn't deserve to die in such a horrific way.

My phone rang, startling me. It was Professor Albright. He sounded worried. "Alaina, are you okay? There's something you need to see. Can you come to my office?"

A sense of dread washed over me as I walked across campus. Students stared and whispered, their eyes darting away when I looked at them. Something was wrong.

In his office, Professor Albright turned his laptop toward me. He didn't say a word.

On the screen was a video. It was me. In my bedroom. The video was grainy, shot from a hidden camera, and the content was private, intimate. Something Cooper had convinced me to do, promising it was just for him.

My face went white. I felt sick, exposed, violated all over again. I slammed the laptop shut.

"Where did this come from?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Professor Albright' s eyes were full of compassion. "It's all over the campus forums, Alaina. Someone leaked it last night."

I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, who was responsible. "It was never supposed to leave his phone."

"We need to go to the police," he said firmly. "This is a crime. They've identified you in the video, and there are awful rumors spreading. Some people are even suggesting you're involved in... selling this kind of content."

The world swam before my eyes. My reputation, my future, all of it was being destroyed.

"I need to find him," I said, my voice numb. I refused the professor's offer to accompany me to the police station. I had to face Cooper alone.

I reported the incident, then went back to the apartment. Cooper and Kenya were gone. Their phones went straight to voicemail. A part of me, the stupid, hopeful part, worried something had happened to them.

I was pacing the living room, my mind racing, when the front door swung open. It wasn't Cooper. It was two large, menacing men I had never seen before.

"We've been waiting for you, Alaina," one of them said with a smirk.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" I demanded, backing away.

They exchanged a look. "You gave us the key, remember?" the other one chuckled.

My blood ran cold. It was another lie, another trap. "I don't know you."

"Doesn't matter," one of them said, advancing on me. "Our employer is very unhappy with you."

I fumbled for my phone, my fingers shaking as I dialed 911.

"Bitch!" the man cursed, lunging for me. They saw the phone and bolted, slamming the door behind them. I stood there, trembling, my body covered in a cold sweat.

The door opened again. This time, it was Cooper.

"Alaina!" He looked frantic.

For a split second, relief washed over me. The old instinct to run to him, to seek his protection, was still there.

"Cooper, where have you been?" I asked, a sob catching in my throat. I wanted to ask about the video, about the men, about everything.

But before I could, Kenya appeared behind him. Her face was a mask of fury. She stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face.

The force of it sent me stumbling back.

"You stupid bitch!" she shrieked. "You called the cops on my friends? You're coming with me to the station right now to clear their names!"