His Unwanted Wife, Her Vengeful Heart

e Hensl

is, Eva? Do you have any concept of what it means to lose everything, to be tre

to be abandoned while you choke on your own blood. It's waking up to learn he's gone and finding out the money never came. It's being traded like chattel to a monster, then beaten and thrown from a balcony. It's being doused in filth

cker of genuine fear in her eyes. Go

pressed to his ear, his face tight with annoyance. He saw

being difficult. She refuses to sign the waiver. It's just a formality, but she's making such a fuss

ow to twist the knife, how to m

elief that he didn't have to deal with it directly? He hesitated for

r, desperate. "Don't make me do this. Don'

mall thing, Caleb, maybe we're not as aligned as I thought. Maybe

e wouldn' t risk losing her again. He turned to me, his face a mask

r-up! It's absolving criminals! For a wooden bir

k a step closer, his voice dropping to a menacing whisper. "Or do you want me to remind everyone of the little 'accid

w? He dared to use that a

el. "Try me. Sign

uly thought of everything. He had me cornered. For my father, I had endured

eat. The paper blurred through a curtain of tears. My body shook with suppressed sobs, my chest aching as

eyes, a fleeting shadow of discomfort. But it was fleetin

. See? Wasn't so hard, was it?" She squeezed Caleb's arm, her eyes spa

e one last time, a cold, empty look, then turned and followed

ars streaming down my face, hot and furious. It wasn't just the pain; it was the utte

igns outside. Weeks had passed. Weeks of fever, of pain, of pushing myself to heal, to

cold, hard resolve. I wasn't just

ther's picture inside. Everything else I left behind. Everything associated with Caleb, with the Wileys, with that house of

ine of the cello I had once loved. I couldn't take it.

unted, but there was a new glint there, a steely resolve. I was no longer Isabelle Hens

s re