Brayden

In the high sea near Nolens

"Help! Help! Help... Help me... Brayden, please, help me!"

Averie Briggs' desperate pleas were growing fainter. On one side, the chilling seawater lapped at her, and on the other, a sheer cliff offered no escape.

Suddenly, headlights illuminated her face, now ghostly pale. She backed against the low sea guardrail.

Her ears caught the kidnapper's chilling voice. "Averie and Corinna, choose one..."

"Corinna," the man on the phone replied, without a second thought.

Averie fell silent, her heart turning to ice.

Brayden Fowler, the man she loved, had shattered her heart with such ease.

He had chosen to abandon her, despite her carrying his child.

In the next moment, a sudden kick to her abdomen from a figure in black sent her tumbling over the guardrail.

The frigid seawater swallowed her whole.

Her hatred for Brayden was overwhelming.

A sharp twinge of pain erupted in her lower abdomen, and Averie's world slowly blurred into blackness.

As she teetered on the edge of consciousness, a single thought crossed her mind. If she made it through this, she'd never live the same way again.

She couldn't justify sacrificing her life for such a man.

......

Miraculously, Averie survived.

A fishing boat found her and rushed her to the nearest hospital.

But her baby, the one she had so dearly hoped for, was lost, forever a part of the sea.

The bright overhead lights seemed to flicker above her as she lay in the hospital bed, lost in a daze.

The Fowler and Briggs families were immediately informed of her hospitalization on the first day.

But now, three days later, not a single visitor had come.

In her room, the TV broadcasted Nolens' latest social news.

"The Briggs sisters were suspected of being kidnapped, linked to Fowler Group's power struggle..."

"Brayden Fowler has become the youngest CEO in Fowler Group history."

Averie ran her cold fingers over her now flat stomach, a bitter smile playing on her lips. With difficulty, she grasped a pen and began to write on a piece of paper.

She had reached her breaking point.

As the sun set, someone opened the ward door.

"Apologies, Mrs. Fowler. Mr. Fowler got held up and is a bit late."

Hearing the voice, Averie tightened her grip on the quilt, her eyes on the suited man, Theo Gordon, Brayden's assistant.

"Take a seat, Theo." She tried to sit up a bit straighter, but it was too painful.

"Mr. Fowler's aware of the miscarriage... He mentioned something about making it up to you."

Brayden would make it up to her?

Averie wondered how one could make up for a lost life.

Just then, Theo looked toward the door and respectfully called, "Mr. Fowler."

Following Theo's gaze, Averie noticed a tall, slim figure approaching, backlit by the hallway light.

Despite the hospital's somber setting, his commanding presence was unmistakable.

Their eyes met, and a heavy silence filled the room.

"Mr. Fowler, Mrs. Fowler had a miscarriage, but the doctor believes her health is otherwise fine," Theo informed.

In the lamplight, Brayden's throat moved slightly.

He sat down, half his face shadowed, his eyes partly obscured by his hair.

Brayden lit up a cigarette, the lighter's flame casting a shadow on the scar under his eye, making him look colder and more intimidating.

"When are you getting out of here?" he asked, his voice low and captivating.

But Averie didn't pick up any emotion in his words.

He seemed indifferent, even about the baby they had lost.

If she hadn't been sedated when she learned of the miscarriage, she could have broken down.

But his reaction wasn't surprising. After all, she only married Brayden as a stand-in for someone else, and he had never really cared for her.