Cold sweat seeped from every pore. I forced each word through gritted teeth. "She has seventeen different men saved in her phone—guys she's been flirting with. Last week alone, she checked into hotels with three of them. Call Dr. Grant Abbott Abbott right now. Ask him just how dangerous that kind of lifestyle really is."
"Lies!" Sophie shrieked. "You're framing me!"
The tears came instantly, streaming down her cheeks as she crumpled into Rhys's arms.
"Rhys," she sobbed, "she's gone too far. She's using her position at this hospital to forge documents and slander me."
"You know I've always been with you. How could I possibly be with other men? How could I have contracted anything?"
"Rhys, are you really going to let her bully me like this? You have to make her pay..."
With every word of her accusation, Rhys's expression darkened further. "Drag her to the underground freezer. No one releases her without my explicit order."
The bodyguards seized my arms and hauled me toward the fire escape.
I struggled, but their grip only tightened. Pain shot through my body until even the stairs seemed to pitch and sway before my eyes.
"Rhys Abbott! Ignore what I've told you and you'll regret it."
Behind me, Sophie's wailing grew louder.
"Rhys, make her disappear. I can't stand looking at her anymore. If she finds out we're getting married soon, she'll try to ruin our wedding."
Rhys's voice softened as he soothed her. "Shh, trust me, baby. I won't let anything go wrong on our wedding day."
"You're going to be the most beautiful bride in the world."
"..."
The freezer door groaned shut.
Minus fifteen degrees. The cold hit like a thousand ice needles, piercing straight through to my bones.
I curled up against one of the storage units, pounding on the door. "Rhys Abbott, let me out!"
"This is false imprisonment! It's illegal! Let me out!"
My thin surgical scrubs were useless against the biting cold. My thoughts began to blur, freezing over like frost on glass.
I don't know how long I'd been there when Rhys's voice cut through the haze. "Learned your lesson yet? Going to try this again?"
"Leonora, don't think that giving me a child entitles you to touch what's mine."
"I'm making sure you understand exactly what happens to anyone who does."
Rhys stood just outside the freezer, carrying Sophie in his arms like a princess.
She was wrapped in his suit jacket, her face still pale—but beneath that fragile exterior, her eyes glinted with calculation.
Sophie nestled deeper into his embrace. "Rhys, it's so cold here. Do you think she'll freeze?"
