Chapter 1 - The Broken Vows
Flynn went ghost-white as my demand for a divorce echoed against the sterile walls of the hospital room.
He stared down at the crushed white roses scattered across the cold linoleum floor.
His hands began to shake violently as he took a tentative step toward my hospital bed.
"Mabel, you cannot mean that," he whispered.
His voice cracked with a desperate, pleading edge.
I looked at the man I had loved fiercely for three years and felt absolutely nothing.
There was only a hollow, icy void in my chest.
"Get out of my room, Flynn," I said.
My voice was barely above a raspy whisper due to the oxygen tube resting near my throat.
His sorrow instantly morphed into a dark, defensive anger that I had never seen before.
"You are my wife, and you are not leaving me over a tragic mistake," he snapped.
His jaw clenched tightly as he glared at me.
Dr. Marcus Reed stepped forward immediately.
His broad shoulders completely blocked Flynn's path to my bed.
"Sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave this room right now," Dr. Reed commanded with absolute authority.
Flynn puffed out his chest, his corporate arrogance flaring up.
"I am the CEO of Vance Global, and I will stand beside my wife," Flynn growled.
Dr. Reed did not flinch.
He reached calmly for the emergency call button on the wall.
"You are also the man who put two stab wounds in her abdomen," the doctor replied coldly.
"Security is already on their way."
The heavy doors swung open, and three massive hospital security guards rushed into the intensive care unit.
They grabbed Flynn by the arms, dragging him backward as he began to struggle wildly.
"You cannot keep me away from her!" Flynn shouted.
His expensive suit wrinkled as he violently fought the guards.
"I will never sign those divorce papers, Mabel!" he screamed as they pulled him into the hallway.
"You belong to me!"
The heavy door clicked shut, cutting off his frantic shouting.
The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.
I closed my eyes, letting a single, bitter tear roll down my cheek.
The reality of my dead twins washed over me like a tidal wave.
They were gone, and the man who had promised to protect me was their murderer.
Dr. Reed walked back to my bedside.
He gently adjusted my intravenous drip with a deeply sympathetic expression.
"You are incredibly lucky to be alive, Mrs. Vance," he murmured softly.
I opened my eyes and looked at him, feeling a sudden surge of desperate adrenaline.
"I need my personal belongings," I croaked.
I tried to push myself up against the pillows, ignoring the sharp pain in my stomach.
Dr. Reed frowned, pulling a clear plastic evidence bag from the bottom drawer of the bedside cabinet.
"The police brought your purse in with the ambulance, but you really need to rest," he warned me.
I ignored his medical advice and ripped the plastic bag open.
I pulled out my blood-stained cell phone and powered the device on.
There were forty-seven missed calls from Flynn.
There were also dozens of frantic texts begging for my forgiveness.
But one unread message sitting at the very top of my screen caught my attention.
It was from a completely blocked number.
"He didn't just snap, Mabel."
"Selina brought the knife with her, and she handed it to him."
"Check the hidden camera in the living room before he deletes the cloud footage."
My breath caught in my throat as I stared at the glowing screen.
I had secretly installed a tiny nanny camera in a bookshelf a month ago to monitor our new puppy.
Flynn had absolutely no idea that camera existed.
If he had premeditated this attack with Selina, I wasn't just a victim of a crime of passion.
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I was the target of a calculated murder plot.
And the killers were still out there.
