Chapter 1
In the sterile hospital room, Thea watched in horror as her husband Ryan ripped the oxygen mask off her mother’s face.
Mom’s desperate gasping cut through her like a blade.
Emma fought against the bodyguards, but they kept shoving her down onto the cold floor.
The heart monitor screamed. The numbers kept dropping.
“Ryan, please! You have to believe me-I I didn’t take Lyra!”
“Mom can’t breathe without that! She’s gonna die! Please, she’s all I have left…”
At all her pleading, Ryan just laughed-cold and cruel. His eyes were pure madness.
“Lyra’s my whole world. So why won’t you just stay the hell out of it?”
Thea’s heart shattered.
He’d told her Lyra was history.
He’d also promised to her that he’d only love her from now on.
But here he was, calling Lyra his whole world.
And torturing her dying mother to get answers she didn’t have.
“I don’t know where she is! God, Ryan, please…”
His stare was ice-cold.
“You were the last person who saw her.”
“Either watch your mom die, or tell me where Lyra is. Pick one.”
How was she supposed to confess to something she never did?
Mom’s chest barely moved now.
Thea slammed her head against the floor over and over, blood streaming down her face, but Ryan didn’t even flinch.
This was hell.
A phone rang.
“Boss, we found Lyra. She wasn’t kidnapped-she’s having afternoon tea with friends.”
Ryan was slightly stunned.
His eyes flicked to Thea for a split second before he turned and walked out.
The bodyguards finally let her go.
Thea crawled across the floor, fumbling to get the oxygen mask back on her mother’s face.
“Doctor! Someone helps! Save my mom, please!”
The medical team rushed in, but it was too late.
“Sorry. We did everything we could.”
Thea felt like she was falling through space. All she could hear was a deafening ringing in her ears.
She stumbled forward and grabbed her mother’s hand with shaking fingers. Tears hit the hospital blanket like rain.
“Sorry…Mom…”
“Mom, don’t leave me alone. Please don’t leave me.”
Thea knelt by the hospital bed all night before forcing herself to arrange the funeral.
She and Ryan had been together seven
college to
marriage. She’d watched him go from nothing to everything.
When times were tough, they’d lived
2
in
cramped
basement, sharing dollar store ramen.
Ryan always promised her better days.
“Babe, I’m gonna make it. You
won’t have
like this much longer.”
When Ryan finally hit it big, he treated her like a queen.
Surprise dates, taking care of her when she was sick, picking her up when it rained-the whole nine yards.
So when Lyra came back last year, Thea didn’t sweat it.
Gold-diggers were always after Ryan, but he never looked twice. Especially not at the ex who’d ditched him when his family went broke.
The fact was obvious.
She was really wrong.
Thea had only met Lyra three times.
First time-Lyra showed up half-naked, throwing herself at Ryan. He had his security toss her into the lake right in front of Thea.
Second time-Lyra drugged Ryan. He locked her out and waited for Thea to come over instead.
But the third time? Lyra showed up claiming she was pregnant, demanding Ryan choose her. Thea told her to get lost.
Then Lyra faked her own kidnapping. One text pointing fingers at Thea before she “disappeared,” and Ryan lost his damn mind.
He was so desperate to find Lyra that he killed Thea’s mother trying to force a confession.
That’s when it hit her.
Lyra had been telling the truth all along. Ryan had been already cheating early.
Even though Lyra was trash, Ryan was still crazy in love with her.
The funeral lasted three days. Many people came to pay their respects.
On the last day, Ryan walked in with Lyra.
“Sis, let me escort Auntie for a while…” Lyra said, looking completely innocent.
Rage burned through Thea’s chest. “Get the hell out.”
Ryan’s face darkened. “She’s trying to be respectful. Don’t be a total bitch about it.”
“This is all my fault. If I hadn’t…” Lyra’s eyes filled with tears.
Ryan immediately pulled her close. “Her mom was already dying, babe. The doctors said she didn’t have long. This isn’t on you.”
Thea felt like she’d been stabbed in the chest.
When Ryan ripped off that oxygen mask, he sure as hell didn’t care that her mother was sick.
But now? Now he remembered, just to make his precious Lyra feel better.
“Thea, Lyra doesn’t owe you shit. But you? You owe her big time.”
Ryan’s stare was ice-cold. “You almost made her lose the baby. So you’re gonna take care of Lyra until she delivers.”
“No fucking way!”
“Wasn’t a question.”
After leaving that last sentence to her, Ryan walked Lyra inside, his voice going all soft.
“Take it slow, baby. Don’t trip.”
Thea’s nails dug into her palms as tears rolled down her cheeks.
She knelt there until everyone was gone, until the last candle burned out.
Then she dragged herself up and headed across town.
“I need poison. Something clean-no taste, no smell,” she told Ryan’s biggest enemy. “Hook me up, and I’ll hand you Ryan’s head on a silver platter.”
