Chapter 1

They took me. Two men. Zip ties. A warehouse.

My husband, the sheriff, sent every deputy he had to save his first love. She'd swallowed a bottle of pills. She was dying.

I didn't call him.

I let them hurt me.

Last time, I called. He came. His team took the kidnappers down. I walked out alive.

The next morning, Hannah Brooks was dead. She'd called him seventeen times while he was saving me. He never answered.

He told me he didn't regret it. I was his wife. I was carrying his child. Saving me was the only choice.

I believed him.

The night I gave birth to our daughter, he dragged me out of the hospital. Fresh stitches. Still bleeding. Our newborn in her carrier.

He drove us to Hannah's grave.

Snow howling. Wind like a knife. He kicked me to my knees on frozen ground.

"The kidnappers never touched you. You let her die because you were jealous."

He was laughing.

"Hannah was so pure. So gentle. How could you let her die?"

He poured ice water over my head. Left us there.

I held my baby as my body turned to stone. Her cries got quieter. Then stopped.

I died in the cold with my daughter in my arms.

Then I opened my eyes.

The warehouse. The zip ties. The same two men.

I didn't call him this time either.

***

They shoved a phone in my face.

"Call your husband."

I kept my mouth shut.

The beatings started. I still didn't speak.

Frustrated, they dialed his number themselves. The one with the scar across his face held the phone to my ear.

"Marcus Kane? We've got your wife. You want her alive, come alone. Old warehouse. Dockside. We need to talk."

Marcus sounded annoyed.

"Olivia. Really? Hannah's in trouble. I'm taking my team out there right now. Can you not do this today?"

A string of accusations. Then the line went dead.

He didn't believe me. Hannah had spent months telling him I was unstable. Dramatic. Desperate for attention. He'd been primed to see me as the villain.

I listened to his verdict. A knowing smile settled on my lips.

The scarred man lost it.

"You useless bitch."

His backhand sent my skull cracking against the wall. Blood flooded my mouth.

He hauled me up by my collar. Spit flying.

"What the hell is wrong with your husband? Make him believe it. Or I swear to God, I'll end you right now."

I knew he wouldn't kill me.

I'd lived this before.

I just hadn't expected to land in this exact moment when I came back.

I looked at his furious face. I let tears well up.

"Just kill me. I don't want to live anymore."

They froze.

Scarface recovered first.

"Don't play games with me."

His hand connected with my cheek again.

I broke down. Sobs tearing out of me.

"Save me? He wants me dead. He mortgaged our house. Our joint house. To buy that whore presents. My baby. I lost my baby. Because of him. All of it. Because of him."

"He's scum. He won't come for me. God. What's the point of living."

I started out pretending. Then last life's grief took over. Real howling. Real tears.

Scarface glanced at the bald one.

Baldy walked over. Kicked my chair over.

"Shut your mouth. Shut up."

He dialed Marcus again. Ten calls. All rejected. On the eleventh, the line went to voicemail.

Marcus had decided I was lying. He only cared about his precious first love.

Scarface was pacing.

"What the hell is wrong with this guy? His wife is missing and he doesn't care?"

He shoved a filthy rag in my mouth. Oil and mold. I was barely three months pregnant. The smell made me retch.

Baldy stayed calm.

"We wait. By tomorrow, the sheriff's office will notice their boss's wife is gone. Then they'll care."