On the evening of my husband Damien's thirtieth birthday celebration, he tried to end my life by making our car crash. I survived, but our baby—just two months old in my womb—didn't. The child we had created together was gone.
"My instincts told me it wasn't an accident," I murmured, my voice scraped raw from crying. "I know the truth. He wanted me dead so he could be with his mistress."
Nobody took my accusations seriously. As soon as I was well enough to leave my hospital bed, I went straight to the police station and filed a report. I recounted every detail I could remember. Damien had been emotionally distant for months. Just before we got into the car, he had been speaking on the phone with the woman he believed I knew nothing about. Then, somehow, our brand-new luxury sedan mysteriously veered out of control on a perfectly dry road.
The detective listening to me let out a weary breath as he tapped his pen against the desk.
"Mrs. Bennett," he said carefully, "your husband is Damien Bennett—the businessman who recently funded an entire pediatric wing at the children's hospital. On the night of his own birthday celebration, you believe he intentionally caused a crash that would kill both his wife and his unborn baby?"
"He never wanted that child," I shot back without hesitation. "The only woman he wants is her."
The detective slowly closed the folder in front of him.
"I understand you've suffered an enormous loss," he replied. "Grief and trauma can distort how people see events. I think you should go home and let your husband take care of you."
Before I could protest again, the office door opened.
Damien stepped inside looking as polished as ever. His tailored suit was immaculate, and there wasn't so much as a scratch on him. His face was carefully arranged into the expression of a heartbroken husband consumed by worry.
"Vivian," he said softly, hurrying toward me.
He dropped to his knees beside my chair and gently clasped my icy hands.
"My God... look at you." He turned apologetically toward the officers. "I'm terribly sorry. She's suffered so much. Losing the baby has shattered her. She isn't thinking clearly."
"I know exactly what you did," I whispered through clenched teeth, yanking my hands away as though touching him burned. "You're a murderer."
Damien lifted sorrowful eyes toward the officers, allowing tears to gather convincingly.
"Do you see?" he asked quietly. "She's beside herself. She needs rest, not interrogation. Please... let me take my wife home."
The officers exchanged sympathetic glances before nodding.
To them, I wasn't a victim. I was simply a grieving woman who had lost touch with reality, unfairly accusing a generous, respected man. In their eyes, Damien was the one deserving sympathy.
He escorted me outside with one hand wrapped tightly around my arm.
The second the massive front doors of our estate shut behind us, the devoted husband disappeared.
He didn't slap me.
He didn't raise his voice.
Instead, he hauled me upstairs with bruising force, his fingers biting into my already battered arm before shoving me into our bedroom.
"You almost destroyed everything I've built," he said in a voice stripped of every trace of tenderness he'd displayed at the station. It was emotionless, cold enough to freeze the air between us. "After everything I've given you, you still went to the police."
"You murdered our baby," I fired back, retreating until the backs of my legs struck the edge of the bed.
"It was an accident," he answered flatly, though there wasn't a hint of life in his eyes. "But you've become a problem, Vivian. It's time you remembered where your place is."
Without another word, he walked out.
The bedroom door slammed shut.
A heartbeat later, another sound echoed through the silence.
Click.
The lock turned.
For the next three days, that bedroom became my prison.
The maids silently left trays of food outside my door, never daring to meet my gaze whenever they entered. Most of the meals remained untouched. I wandered the room endlessly, unable to sit still. I cried until no tears would come anymore. I screamed until my throat gave out and my voice disappeared completely.
On the morning of the fourth day, I heard the lock disengage.
Slowly, I stepped into the hallway, my legs trembling beneath me. The mansion felt unnaturally silent. Desperate to hear another person's voice—any voice—I drifted toward the living room.
The television had been left on.
A news anchor's calm voice filled the quiet house.
"...In breaking news today, authorities have arrested twenty-four-year-old Ethan Carter, the brother-in-law of businessman Damien Bennett, on charges of grand larceny and embezzlement..."
I stopped breathing.
Ethan.
My brother.
Frantically, I grabbed the remote and turned the volume higher.
Footage appeared on the screen showing my younger brother with his head lowered as officers forced him into the back of a police vehicle.
"...Investigators allege that Mr. Carter stole more than fifty thousand dollars from a Bennett Corporation warehouse where he worked..."
"No..." I whispered in disbelief. "He would never do something like that. Ethan isn't a thief."
"He is if I decide he is."
I spun around.
Damien stood casually in the doorway, leaning against the frame with a crystal glass of whiskey in one hand. His expression was calm, almost amused, as though he had been waiting for this exact moment.
"What have you done?" I asked, barely able to force the words out.
He took another leisurely sip before answering.
"What makes you think I did anything?" he replied. "Your brother stole from me. That's all there is to it. It's unfortunate, really. The prosecutors are talking about ten years in prison. Maybe even fifteen now that sentencing laws are stricter."
"He didn't steal a single cent!" I cried.
I rushed toward him, pounding both fists against his chest again and again.
He barely reacted.
With insulting ease, he caught both of my wrists in one hand and held them still.
His lip curled into a contemptuous smile.
"You reported me to the police," he reminded me quietly. "You tried to ruin my name with those ridiculous accusations. Surely you didn't expect there to be no consequences."
"He's innocent," I sobbed. "Damien, please... he's all the family I have left. Our parents are gone. Ethan is all that's left of them. Please... let him go. Withdraw the charges."
"No."
He shoved me away.
I stumbled backward and barely managed to steady myself against the sofa.
"Think of this as your lesson," he said. "You wanted to involve the law? Now you've learned how easily the law works in favor of men like me."
"You're a monster," I whispered hoarsely. "You caused that crash. You killed our baby because you wanted a future with your mistress."
"I already told you that I didn't," he replied with obvious boredom as he adjusted his cuff links. "And even if your fantasy happened to be true, what evidence do you have? None. Without me, Vivian, you're nothing."
I stared at him.
Really stared.
For years, I had convinced myself I loved this man. Every late night at the office, every unfamiliar perfume lingering on his clothes, every lonely evening spent in a cold marriage—I had excused all of it. I blamed stress. I blamed work. I believed carrying his child might somehow bring back the husband I thought I'd married.
Only now did I understand that man had never existed at all.
Standing before me was the man responsible for my baby's death and the man who had deliberately framed my only brother.
The grief that had consumed me didn't disappear.
It changed.
Instead of drowning me, it hardened into something unbreakable, something sharp enough to cut through every illusion I'd clung to.
"I'm tired," I said quietly.
There was no anger left in my voice.
No screaming.
Only emptiness.
Damien paused, lowering his whiskey glass before it reached his lips.
"What did you say?"
"I'm tired of every lie you've told me," I answered.
I straightened my shoulders and wiped away the last traces of tears from my face. They would be the final tears he would ever witness.
"You stopped loving me a long time ago," I continued steadily. "Maybe the truth is that you never loved me at all."
I held his gaze without flinching.
For the first time since the crash, I refused to look away.
"Divorce me," I said.
