His Vows, Her Pills, A Life Unraveled

“My husband, Andreas, a brilliant architect, handed me a small bottle on our fifth wedding anniversary. He said they were custom vitamins for my health. But a doctor' s appointment revealed a horrifying truth: they were potent birth control pills, making conception impossible. My world shattered when the doctor, a colleague of Andreas, revealed he had another wife, Annabelle, and they' d just had a baby boy. Then, I overheard Andreas telling his best friend, Mark, that he loved me but couldn' t abandon Annabelle, his childhood friend, who was now the mother of his heir. He chillingly stated, "She gets me. And that's enough. I'll make sure she never has a child. Annabelle will have my heir. Jewel will have my love. It's the only way." My five-year marriage was a lie. I was the other woman, slowly being erased. The thought was humiliating, absurd. I stumbled out of the hospital, my mind reeling. I knew Andreas was possessive and wouldn' t let me go willingly. I needed help. My fingers, shaking, scrolled to a name I hadn' t called in ten years: Cassidy Farrell, my high school flame. "That offer... to help me disappear... is it still good?" I whispered.”