Stolen Womb, Stolen Life

“Seven years. My marriage to Matthew Lester, the golden boy of Texas high society, was outwardly perfect. I was even pregnant, finally giving his ecstatic parents the grandchild they longed for. I told myself I was happy. Then, his phone lit up with a text from Nicole Lawrence, my high school rival. "Did you tell her yet?" the message read. My blood ran cold as I scrolled up and saw Matthew's reply, "Not yet. Let her enjoy the pregnancy for a little while." Nicole' s next message ripped the air from my lungs: "It's my pregnancy too, Matt. My baby. I want to be the one to feel it kick." The baby growing inside me wasn't mine. It was Matthew' s and Nicole' s, conceived via IVF, and I was merely a surrogate. The man who supposedly saved me after my father' s tragic death had turned me into a vessel for his and my greatest betrayer' s child. My perfect life was a cage, and the truth made it crumble. How could he? How could they? The horror of being used, violated, and utterly betrayed by the two people who had already shaped my darkest moments was unbearable. Every act of kindness, every loving word, every shared dream was a calculated lie. My father' s death, my shattered past-it was all a setup. But a cold resolve settled in. I wouldn't be a victim again. I wouldn't break. I would play their game, then I would disappear, erase Stella Lester, and reclaim my life, whatever the cost.”