I spent days alone in the hospital, staring at the blank walls, my mind racing with thoughts I didn’t want to entertain. James never visited. Not once. The only person who showed up was Kate, but even her presence felt off, like she was only there out of obligation. I tried calling James multiple times, but his phone was either off or unreachable. Every unanswered call felt like another stab to my already shattered heart. Was he mourning the loss of the baby? Or was he just avoiding me?
The day I was discharged, I decided I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for answers. I needed to see him for myself. Still pretending to be blind, I asked one of his employees to escort me to his office at the canned goods factory.
The moment I reached his office door, I stopped in my tracks. I could hear voices inside. James. And someone else. Curious, I leaned in, my heart pounding in my chest as I recognized the other voice—Andrew, his stepbrother. Their conversation sent ice down my spine.
“She doesn’t know a thing,” James said, his tone smug. “She still thinks I’m just some loving fiancé who forgave her for getting pregnant out of nowhere.”
Andrew chuckled. “And you’re sure she has no idea that it was you all along?”
James scoffed. “She was too drunk to even recognize me that night of her debut. Well, told her to drink before performing so that she won't have an anxiety attack. Besides, the disguise worked perfectly. The moment she told me she was pregnant, I knew I had to play along. If she found out the truth, she would’ve run. We know that. And for god's sake, I thought she didn't love me back then because she was chasing her dream to be a famous singer that's why I did it. At least, she couldn't run anymore if I impregnated her, right?"
I slapped a hand over my mouth, my body trembling. James. My fiancé. My supposed “protector.” He was my producer. The man who had raped me. Everything suddenly made sense—why he never questioned how I got pregnant, why he accepted it so easily. He had planned this from the start.
He once told me he wants to have a baby already but I couldn't risk my hard work in my music so I dosagreed.
My stomach twisted in disgust, but I forced myself to stay silent. With shaky hands, I pulled out my phone and took a few photos of them, needing proof of this conversation. But before I could do anything else, a familiar voice called out from behind me.
“Zoey?”
Kate. My body froze. I turned just in time to see the shock on her face. But it wasn’t just shock—it was disappointment. Her eyes darted to my phone, then back to me. And in that split second, I knew she had figured it out. I wasn’t blind.
“Zoey, what the hell are you doing?” she shouted, her voice loud enough to alert James and Andrew inside the office. Panic surged through me. Without thinking, I turned and ran.
“Get her!” I heard James’ furious voice behind me, followed by the sound of footsteps. I sprinted through the factory, weaving between workers and crates, my heart pounding. My legs burned as I pushed forward, but I didn’t stop—not until I reached the hill that overlooked the ocean. There was nowhere else to go.
I turned around, breathing heavily, as James, Kate, and Andrew caught up to me.
“You sick bastard,” I spat at James, my voice shaking. “You tricked me. You—”
“You were never supposed to find out,” he cut me off, his expression unreadable. “But now that you have… we’ll have to fix this.”
“Fix this?” I laughed bitterly. “You think you can fix this? You raped me, James. You ruined my life. For these past few months, I thought you were the producer but what? Y-You just wore a mask to fucking make me believe!"
Kate stepped forward, her expression softer, as if trying to calm me down. “Zoey, listen to me—”
“Don’t come near me,” I warned, my feet dangerously close to the cliff’s edge. “I swear, I’d rather jump than let any of you touch me.”
Kate hesitated, then sighed. “You’re ruining everything,” she murmured. Before I could react, she lunged. Her hands shoved against my shoulders, sending me backward. I felt weightless. Air rushed past me as I plummeted. The last thing I heard before I hit the water was Kate’s terrified scream—
“She jumped! She jumped on her own!”
LIAR. The ocean swallowed me whole. Cold, dark, endless. I thrashed, kicking, trying to fight my way to the surface, but the waves were too strong. Water filled my lungs.
My body ached. My vision blurred. And then… nothing.
I woke up to the sound of waves crashing against the shore. My body felt heavy, my limbs sore. When I tried to move, a sharp pain shot through my ribs.
Where… am I? Blinking, I realized I wasn’t in the ocean anymore. I was lying on a small cot inside a wooden hut. And then I saw him. A man sat nearby, staring at me like he had seen a ghost. His dark hair was messy, his clothes worn, and his tanned skin told me he spent most of his time under the sun. I tried to speak, but my throat felt like sandpaper.
“W-where am I?” I croaked.
The man blinked, snapping out of whatever daze he was in. “You’re awake,” he muttered, his voice deep and rough. I swallowed hard.
“Who… are you?”
He hesitated before answering, “Damon. I’m a fisherman. I found you washed up on the shore.”
Damon. The name didn’t ring a bell, but something about him felt… safe. I tried sitting up, wincing at the soreness in my muscles.
“How long have I been here?”
“Three days,” he answered. “I almost thought you weren’t going to make it.”
Three days. That meant James and Kate probably thought I was dead. For the first time in weeks, I felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe this was my chance to disappear—to start over. But then, one morning, Damon returned from fishing with a newspaper in hand. He placed it in front of me without a word. My heart stopped when I saw my own face printed on the front page. MISSING. And underneath it, James’ name, offering a hefty reward for any information about me.
“He’s looking for you,” Damon said carefully. “Your husband. Damn! I knew it, you're that singer!"
I just let out a sigh. A bitter laugh escape my lips. “Shh... don't be noisy. And husband? That bastard is the reason I almost died.”
I told Damon everything—the rape, the lies, the betrayal. His jaw tightened, his fists clenching at his sides. But when I told him James would kill me if he found me, his expression changed.
“I need to hide you,” he said firmly.
For the first time in forever, I felt like someone was on my side. But that night, my world shattered all over again. Damon told me he was going out for a while. I trusted him. But when he returned, he wasn’t alone. Behind him stood James’ men. Panic gripped my chest as I recognized the guards. Damon wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Damon…” My voice trembled.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I needed the money. My wife… she’s in the hospital. I had no choice.”
Before I could run, the guards grabbed me. Darkness swallowed me once more.
When I woke up, I was tied to a chair inside an abandoned room. The dim lighting barely illuminated the space, but I knew exactly where I was. James’ warehouse. The door creaked open, and Kate stepped in. Gone was the sweet, concerned best friend. In her place was a woman filled with hatred and resentment. She slapped me, the sharp sting making my head snap to the side.
“You ruined everything,” she hissed.
I glared at her, refusing to let her see my fear. “You tried to kill me.”
Kate smirked. “I should have pushed harder.”
I clenched my fists. “Why, Kate? Why betray me?”
Her smirk widened as she stepped back, placing a hand on her stomach. “I had a plan, Zoey,” she said. “James was supposed to think this baby was his.”
I froze. Then, to my horror, Kate lifted her shirt and peeled off a fake belly. My stomach twisted in confusion. If she wasn’t really pregnant… then how did she plan to convince James he had a child?
