Chapter 1

1.

"My only crime was opening a window for some fresh air.

That tiny bit of breeze supposedly gave my husband's precious childhood friend a cold.

In a fit of rage, Callum ordered his men to drag me to the sub-zero meat locker in the basement.

And I was five months pregnant.

'Don't think that carrying my heir gives you the right to bully Vivianne,' he spat.

'If she loses so much as a single hair because of you, I'll make you pay a hundred times over!'

I was shivering uncontrollably, sobbing as I knelt on the frozen floor.

I begged for his mercy, promising I would serve her hand and foot just to make up for it.

I promised I would never let anything hurt her again.

But he just looked at me with those cold, dead eyes and ordered the guards to lock the heavy steel door.

He said I needed a lesson I would never forget.

A week later, Vivianne's sniffles were finally gone, and he finally remembered me.

'Mindy, have you learned your lesson yet? If you agree to crawl to Vivianne and beg for her forgiveness, I'll let you out.'

What he didn't know was that my body had already turned to ice in that cellar.

And the child he claimed to treasure was nothing more than a frozen memory.

'What kind of sick heart does Mindy have? She knew Vivianne was fragile, yet she left that window wide open just to freeze her!'

Callum slammed the thermometer onto the expensive cashmere rug.

The sound of the glass shattering matched the violence in his eyes, making the entire living room feel like a tomb.

The maids huddled in the corners, terrified to even breathe.

Old Ben, the butler, finally found the courage to take a step forward.

'Sir, the mistress just felt the room was stuffy. It was barely a breeze that day. Miss Vivianne might have just forgotten her blankets at night...'

'Shut up!' Callum barked, his voice like a whip.

'You dare defend her? Vivianne has been weak since she was a child. Mindy has lived here long enough to know that.'

'She's just jealous of Vivianne's place in my heart. She did this on purpose to hurt her!'

The woman he spoke of was Vivianne, the girl he had grown up with.

In Callum's eyes, Vivianne was a delicate flower, a treasure he had to protect with his life.

And I, Mindy, was just a wife forced upon him by a business merger.

I was an unwanted woman who had stolen a title that didn't belong to her.

'Bring her here!' he commanded.

Two guards dragged me into the living room.

My five-month pregnancy was starting to show, and my loose dress couldn't hide the curve of my belly.

I turned pale, struggling to find my voice.

'Callum, it wasn't on purpose. I just needed to breathe. I didn't think Vivianne would get sick...'

'You didn't think?' Callum sneered, stepping into my personal space.

He looked down at me with such pure disgust that it made my heart ache.

'Mindy, don't think that baby in your belly is a shield. To me, you aren't worth a single strand of Vivianne's hair.'

'She's suffering in bed because of you. You're going to pay for that.'

I shook with fear, instinctively covering my stomach as tears blurred my vision.

'I'm sorry, Callum. I'll never open a window again. I'll take care of her, I promise. Just please, for the sake of the baby, let me go this once...'

'Let you go?' He laughed, but it was a sound devoid of joy.

'You'll pay back every bit of her pain a hundredfold. Tie her up in the mountain vault. She doesn't come out until Vivianne is healthy!'

'No!' I screamed in terror.

That vault stayed below zero all year round. How could I, a pregnant woman, survive that?

'Callum, it's too cold! I'll die, and the baby won't make it! Please, punish me some other way! I'll do anything!'

But he didn't care about my begging. He turned to his guards with a final command.

'Carry out the order. Anyone who speaks for her joins her in there!'

The guards grabbed me as I fought and screamed, dragging me toward the back of the estate.

I watched Callum's cold, retreating back, and my heart shattered.

After a year of marriage, I thought I could eventually melt his heart.

Now I knew that neither I nor our child meant more to him than Vivianne's pinky finger.