Chapter 1

It all started because my daughter, Xena, accidentally bruised my sister-in-law's chest while helping her massage a clogged milk duct.

Without a second thought, my husband, Xavier, dragged her to a massive cattle ranch.

He claimed she needed to learn the proper way to handle a nursing mother.

He even demonstrated the process himself, right in front of our daughter's eyes.

"Don't you dare come back until you've mastered it to this level!" he barked.

I felt a wave of nausea as I saw the white liquid dripping from his lips.

Sienna, my widowed sister-in-law, squeezed out a few fake tears.

"Rosalie, please don't be disgusted by me. I am carrying the next heir to the Lennox family, after all."

Before I could utter a word of defense, Xavier's hand whipped across my face.

"A sister-in-law is like a mother! Xena's disrespect is a direct result of your failed parenting!"

"Since you can't teach her, I'll step in and do it for you!"

Xena clung to the car door, sobbing hysterically.

"Daddy, I'm sorry! I'll do it, I'll help her, just please don't send me away!"

My heart felt like it was being shredded as I knelt on the gravel, begging for mercy.

But Xavier just placed a protective hand over Sienna's belly and sneered at me.

"I promised my late brother I would protect his wife for the rest of her life."

"Sienna is going through so much with this pregnancy. Why do you insist on making her life a living hell?"

Xena was tied up like a calf, forced to crawl on her knees and mimic a nursing animal.

I begged the ranch hands to stop, even trying to use my status as Mrs. Lennox to gain their sympathy.

"Mrs. Lennox? Give me a break! You're just the woman who tried to seduce the boss's brother, aren't you? Disgusting."

The realization hit me like a physical blow. Xavier had been playing husband to his brother's widow for a long time.

"A trashy mother raises a trashy daughter. Today, I'll teach you some manners!"

I was shoved into a pile of manure, rolling under the heavy hooves of the cows.

I watched in horror as Xena was dragged across the rough concrete by a charging bull.

A sharp, agonizing pain shot through my abdomen, and I felt a warm gush of blood.

Hours later, I stumbled into a clinic, my mind a hollow shell.

"The remaining frozen embryo we have on file... please destroy it."

Xavier Lennox, I don't want your child anymore, and I certainly don't want you.

1

"Mommy, save me! I'm scared..."

My daughter was bound by a rope as thick as a man's arm, her cries piercing the air.

The head ranch hand kicked her without a shred of pity.

"I'm not your mother! This cow is your mother now!"

She pointed at a Holstein and shoved Xena's face toward the dirt.

"Now, lick it!"

The manure was piled high, the stench so thick it made my eyes water.

I tried to rush to her, but a heavy boot slammed into the back of my knee.

"Don't just watch. Mr. Lennox said you have to learn your lesson too!"

I was shoved into the pen, forced to kneel and wash the filth off the old cattle.

Xena had a collar around her neck, and she was dragged across the yard day after day.

Her limbs were a mess of raw flesh, and her knees were worn down until I could see the flash of white bone.

We lived in the barn, forced to fight the animals for scraps of food.

Xena caught a horrific infection; her fever was burning up, and her bones were literally being eaten away by bacteria.

She cried from the pain but tried to comfort me with a shaky voice.

"Mommy, don't cry. If I'm good, Daddy will come and get us soon."

"It's my fault for being clumsy and hurting Aunt Sienna. Daddy was right to be mad."

Xavier had stripped us of our phones and money before dumping us here.

I was utterly powerless.

I broke down and begged the ranch hand for a phone, but she demanded I milk every cow in the pasture first.

I didn't hesitate, dragging my broken body from one cow to the next.

I worked until the moon was high in the sky.

"I've finished. Can I use the phone now?"

The leader's expression shifted into a cruel, twisted grin.

"When did I promise you that? I don't recall saying any such thing."

"But you just said―"

"Do you have any proof?"

A cow's hoof stepped on my chest, pushing me deeper into the filth.

My stomach cramped violently, and a cold sweat broke out over my skin.

"Stop faking it and get back to shoveling the manure!"

She delivered a sharp kick directly to my belly.