This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2025 by V. Brown

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. No AI training or purposes.

Cover Art by Magrnarts

Edited by BLD Editing

Contents

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Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Epilogue

Epilogue 2

Runaway Girl Teaser

Medical Malpractice Teaser

Acknowledgements

Also by V. Brown

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About the Author

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Prologue

OWEN

One month before...

“Thanks again for your help, Owen,” Everly said, pressing a light hand to my thigh to express her gratitude.

Alexis, my wife, was attending a work conference in the city over the weekend and had forgotten her promise to help Everly collect and install her new dresser.

My wife had called me that morning knowing I had a free day, begging me to step in and help her friend. I was reluctant at first, not wanting to sacrifice my day off, but finally relented since I didn’t have a legitimate excuse to say no.

Everly and I knew of each other in passing—growing up in a small town, we had little other choice—but had never taken the time to get to know one another on a personal level.

I’d always thought she was vapid and self-centred. Alexis always said my assessment was harsh, and from the forced company and actually spending time with Everly, it seemed my wife was right.

As the hours passed, I found she wasn’t so bad to be around and was actually pleasant to converse with.

We were in my pickup truck on our way to Everly’s house, her dreaded flatpack furniture boxes laid in the tray behind. The afternoon was arduous, and when I had finally finished putting the dresser together, night had fallen. I was famished—proven by my grumbling stomach.

“Stay for dinner, Owen. It’s the least I can do to say thank you,” Everly said, her fingers skimming my upper arm.

She had been doing that a lot—minute touches that were so insignificant, they were over before I even processed what was happening. At first, I thought she was being inappropriate, but I quickly shut that down, knowing that some people were naturally more tactile than others. Her actions weren’t outwardly suggestive, more a subtle acknowledgement to whatever she was saying.

I relented and sat down at the kitchen bench as Everly continued to chat while she cooked some pasta and pushed a full wine glass my way.

“Ah, I shouldn’t. I have to drive.”

“Just one with dinner, Owen. You deserve it.” She winked over her shoulder. Before I could react, she turned back to the simmering pot, and I sipped from the glass. Maybe just one.

I was slumped back into one corner of the couch, Everly doing the same on the opposite side. The room was spinning as we cackled with drunken humour.

One drink turned into… I didn’t know how many. I stopped counting after we finished the first bottle. I called Alexis through dinner, and she was buzzing with so much excitement she didn’t have time to talk as she was going out for drinks with the other nurses she’d met at the conference. She said a quick hello to her friend and sent me an air kiss before saying a rushed goodbye.

Everly was surprisingly good company. Quick-witted and funny, even when intoxicated. She had just finished telling me a childhood story when she topped up my glass.

“Geez, are you trying to kill meee?” Is that me? Am I slurring?

“Oh, shush, you big sook. Last one.”

“That’s what you said, hmmm, how many drinks ago?”

Everly rolled her eyes… or I thought she did. “This is the end of the bottle, so I promise this is it.”

I hummed, pressing the rim to my lips. I guess she is right. We may as well not let it go to waste.

Pleasure.

That’s all my idled brain could process as warm, soft lips wrapped around my throbbing length.

I groaned. Oh, Alexis.

My beautiful wife was always so good to me. I had missed her. Always missed her.

My eyes and body were weighed down, so heavy I couldn’t move. But my sweet, giving girl didn’t seem to mind. Her moans muffled as she swallowed me deeper.

“Hop on, Lex, baby,” I managed to stammer. “I want inside you.”

I heard some rustling, then her weight shifted over me before she lowered down on my shaft, encasing me in heat. Then, as she slowly pulled back, a blaring alarm barraged my senses.

Abort. Abort. Abort.

My eyes peeled open to a cacophony of emotions, wanting to make sense of that newfound panic. And I immediately froze.

Instead of staring into the green eyes of my lover, my wife, my fucking soulmate, naked and poised above me was Everly, her brown orbs looking back with unadulterated lust and triumph.

My hands shot to her hips, her dripping entrance poised at the head of my cock. Everly waited a beat before lowering once more. I didn’t stop her. My fingers didn’t do anything except clench tighter, spasming at the mixed signals flooding my brain.

Then, as my dick bottomed out inside her, pleasure and dread clashed together to form a chaotic fucking mess of my insides.

What am I doing? What have I done?

My neurotransmitters clicked back online, sifting through the absolute shit show I had just found myself in.

Everly began to gyrate backwards, which triggered my next move. I shoved her off me and threw her to the ground. I heard a pained umph but didn’t bother to look at her in case I fucking vomited everywhere.

With speed, I readjusted my pants, grabbed my keys and raced out the door.

Looking back on that moment, I shouldn’t have been driving, but the thought didn’t even cross my mind—another sin added to the countless others I had already committed that night.

As soon as I got home, the disgust could not be contained any longer. I emptied my stomach on the front lawn, the foul mess a great representation for what I had done to my life.

I betrayed my wife. I cheated on my wife.

What have I done?

Chapter 1

ALEXIS

Present day…

“I’m pregnant… with your husband’s baby,” said Everly, my close friend I’d known for years.

I had come home from work to find her in my driveway, saying she had to speak with me. I even offered her a cup of tea as we settled on the couch, side by side. In no way did I expect those next words out of her mouth.

My brain glitched… then glitched again. Surely I misheard?

Then, she kept talking.

“We didn’t mean for this to happen…”

Crack.

“He’s been so scared to tell you…”

Crack.

“But we have to try. For the baby…”

Crack. I could feel my heart splintering with each statement, each revelation.

Then, the front door slammed open, my husband stalling in the doorway. His usual soft brown eyes looked anything but as his gaze bounced between us to then settle on mine—with sheer and utter panic.

Shatter.

Everly bolted to her feet, which made Owen snap into action.

He came for us—for her.

“What the fuck have you done?” he asked, pulling on Everly’s arm as if to get her away from me. Probably for her own safety in case I snapped into a psychotic rage. Lucky for them both, I felt numb.

“She deserves to know.”

“I was going to tell her my way. Fuck, Everly.”

Up until that point, I was in some bizarre dissociative state. It was as if I was a third person floating from afar, silently watching my own life implode before my eyes.

That’s when some arbitrary emotions sparked enough for my thoughts to take root, for their absurd declarations to actually make sense.

Owen was fighting with a woman… A woman who was not his wife. I listened, concentrated hard, finally hearing his words above the roaring in my ears.

“I told you I’d look after my baby. I fucking told you! That doesn’t mean you can come here…”

My baby.

He said it. With his own voice, his very own mouth. Owen had already claimed the unborn child. Already considered that new life. His.

Ignoring their lovers’ spat, I bypassed them, bolted up the stairs to our main bedroom and started packing. My scrambled mind shut out their yelling and arguing and concentrated on what I had to do right at that moment.

Leave and escape—preferably without killing them both.

Once I had retrieved all my important documents and valuables, I started on my belongings, haphazardly throwing anything and everything that could fit into the suitcase. Because once I left, I was never coming back.

Our loving home that we had lived in for two years after our fairytale wedding… All those memories eviscerated.

I rubbed my sternum—a niggling pain that festered within my chest. Leave. Escape.

Once the suitcase was full to bursting, I managed to zip it closed before the bedroom door swung open with a bang, nearly falling off its hinges. Owen stood there, wide-eyed and panting before me.

I’d been so preoccupied I hadn’t realised it had gone quiet—too quiet. Their screams had ceased… If only that aided the never-ending screams reverberating inside my skull.

“You can’t leave! Let me explain. Let’s sit down and talk. FUCK! It wasn’t supposed to go like this. I was supposed to—”

Fuck him. Fuck this. He didn’t deserve my time. Not a single second.

I grabbed the suitcase and went to barge past when he blocked my way.

“You’re not leaving.” He looked rabid, like he was on the verge of losing his sanity. Too late for me, though, I guess.

I should have taken that as a warning, read his expression properly, processed his rage beneath the desperation, but I just didn’t give a fuck. “Don’t you want the house for your new wife, your new family?”

“You’re my wife. You’re my family.”

I flinched. The audacity of this man. The actual balls he had to make love to me the night before his mistress came over to implode our life with their big announcement. I rubbed my sternum again, trying to get rid of that pesky ache that wouldn’t quit.

Then, my mind snapped, and I started laughing—cackling, even. I didn’t know what was happening with my body. I thought it was defecting, but anything was better than crying. I wouldn’t give him my tears. Nothing.

“You’re delusional,” I managed to spit.

Owen’s hands raised in surrender. “Let me explain.”

I sobered immediately. “There’s nothing to explain. I don’t want to know. I know enough. Move.”

As I went to pivot around him, Owen stepped in my way again. He didn’t touch me though. As soon as I stopped, the stupid moron thought it was his in to tell me about his sordid love affair with my ex-friend.

“Everly and I… We—”

I screamed. Until my lungs were strained and my throat tore apart, I screamed. Hearing him say her name made my gut turn. It made me so fucking sick.

The high-pitched screech came to a halt as I concentrated on regaining my breath. “Don’t ever speak her name in front of me again. Better yet, you don’t ever speak to me again. Don’t touch me, don’t look at me. From now on, you don’t exist.”

I could see the terror in his eyes, the fear setting in as he tried and failed to placate me. That new, unhinged version of his wife he had never met.

Welcome to my alter ego, asshole. The scorned, heartbroken wife who will fucking destroy you. Yet, he still harped on with his shit.

“You’re not leaving until we talk this out. I’m not losing you over this.”

Fed up, I decided if he wasn’t going to let me go, I would bulldoze straight through him. I shoved with all my might, pitching a hard shoulder into his torso.

Get the fuck out of my way.

And you know what that cheating bastard did? He thought he would restrain me, hold my wrists to prevent them from pummelling into his chest. When that started, I’m not sure, but it felt good. So I continued to throw hands—punching, slapping, scratching.

I tried to inflict the same pain that was festering in my veins, in the very marrow of my bones. Unbearable, crippling pain.

The assault didn’t stop until he was squeezing my wrists so hard they felt like they were going to fracture.

Our chests heaved as we shared breath. I’d rather be oxygen-deprived than share the same air as him. I’d rather my skin peel off than have his touch.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” he said, his voice choked with sadness.

Leave. Escape.

I tried to twist out of his hold, but he wouldn’t relent. I wasn’t stupid. I knew how much his physical strength outweighed my own. Still, I couldn’t help but try. And for the first time since the newfound revelation, I stared him dead in the eyes and let him see the internal shift inside me. Watch, motherfucker, and see what you have done.

His fingers inadvertently tightened on my bruising wrists, and I whimpered. “Break them. Everything else I have, you broke.”

Owen stumbled back, dropping his hold immediately, horror freshly painted over his face.

“I will give you time. But we’re going to talk, Alexis. I’m going to fix this.”

I couldn’t deal with him much longer. I could feel the tether of my emotions pushing forward, wanting release. I had to get out before I broke down. Before I crumbled to the floor where I’d be unable to get back up.

I shut that shit down, packing all that hurt, all that useless feeling so far down to revisit another time.

Leave. Escape.

As if Owen could see the resolve hardening in place, he lost his composure. His voice cracked on a sob, and tears ran from his eyes as he instinctively reached for me.

His palms squeezed my cheeks as he dispersed kisses all over my face. Silently begging, pleading.

Each brush of contact reverent, each caress sealed with a vow—one he had already set on fire and burnt to ash.

And I felt nothing. I was an empty shell. Subjectively, I could feel his touch, but the neurons weren’t relaying to my brain. I couldn’t even feel his lips, not really. I just felt cold… So utterly cold.

After he naturally tapered off by laying one last kiss on my lips, Owen finished by looking deep into my eyes, searching for something he would no longer find.

Then, I gave him my reply.

“Your touch feels like poison,” I said. So matter-of-fact and genuine, the words made him wince backwards. Taking advantage of his distraction, I bolted for the door towards my freedom. “You will never see me again.”

I risked one last glance before my exit—one tiny token to take with me on the perilous journey ahead I’d found myself alone on.

Owen had crumbled to his knees, pulling at his hair, sobbing “please” over and over again.

Without another word, I walked out of our shared life—the life he had broken beyond repair.

Chapter 2

ALEXIS

I was parked at Mercy Lake— our lake.

I didn’t remember driving or even how I got there, but it seemed poetic in a way.

That place was the epicentre of everything important in mine and Owen’s relationship. It was where we shared our first kiss, where we awkwardly lost our virginity in the backseat of his car. By the lakeside is where he proposed, and subsequently, where we had our wedding ceremony.

It was symbolic in so many ways that it felt natural as I walked to the edge of the water. Night had fallen, and the black surface remained pristine as the sounds of nature drew me into a sense of melancholy.

I was alone. And would remain so.

I rubbed at my sternum, those harrowing emotions threatening to burst forth once more. Sliding my phone free from my pocket, I ignored all the messages and missed calls from my soon-to-be ex-husband and ex-friend. I blocked them without looking at their desperate pleas and pathetic apologies—all lame excuses to assuage their guilt.

I refused to do that to myself—wallow on the when, why and how. None of it mattered since the end result would still be the same.

Everly was pregnant with Owen’s baby.

It was a double betrayal. I lost two people at once, their treachery inflicting wounds so deep I knew I would never fully recover.

The instant loss was so extreme and all-consuming that the same blearing thought blasted on repeat. A sense of self-preservation.

Leave. Escape.

And I knew exactly who’d help me. I called Alicia.

“Hey, sis. This is a bit late for you?” her cheery voice chirped through the speaker.

That’s all it took. The sound of my sister’s teasing tone had me undone.

A sob broke out as I choked through the phone, “I need you.”

Then, I thoroughly broke apart, collapsing to the grass as my legs refused to keep me upright any longer.

I was unsure how much time had passed. I was cold, scared, alone and submerged in a void of depressing black until warm arms pulled me back into a tight embrace.

Alicia held me close, cradling my head in her lap as she stroked my hair. “I’m here,” she repeated. “I’m here.”

As awareness set in, I looked at my sister to find tears tracking down her face.

I wiped mine, trying to catch some semblance of normalcy. “How’d you find me?”

“Your location. You still have it on.”

I sat upright and cleared my throat. “I don’t know where to go from here.”

Since she had arrived, I had given her the rundown of what had happened. It took some time between the cries and threats, but I managed to relay everything I knew—which wasn’t much and too much, all at the same time.

“We can go back to Mum and Dad’s?”

“I can’t see—” I choked. “I don’t ever want to see him again, Alicia.” Our parents lived a five-minute drive from my house—correction, Owen’s house. I knew once my ex-husband had overcome his temporary breakdown, he would chase after me, and my parents’ would be the first stop on his redemption tour.

I refused to go there.

“Then you’re coming with me,” she said, so straightforward that I launched myself at her, crushing her in a bear hug.

Alicia worked as a high-profile financial advisor in the city—a four-hour drive away. She just happened to be visiting Acacia Falls over the weekend, and was due to leave the next day. It looked like those plans were expedited immediately.

We gradually made our way to the parking lot. I removed my suitcase and put it in her boot, transferred half of mine and Owen’s joint savings to her account, then left my phone and keys on the driver’s seat of my soon-to-be former car.

“You sure you don’t want to take anything else?” Alicia asked, her voice laced with concern.

I shook my head. “I want a fresh break. I don’t want anything that can remind me of them—of him. They’ve already taken everything of worth.”

Alicia wanted to argue but restrained herself when I slammed the door shut, maybe a bit too hard.

I strolled to her car, meandering over the new future I was suddenly thrust into. We were leaving town without a word or goodbye.

Alicia said she’d send for her things, which was a minor travel bag anyway. We also resigned to the fact that our parents would want to kill us, but they would have to settle for a phone call instead.

I refused to be stuck in that small town, trying to survive each day knowing that one, if not both betrayers, were close by. And I’d have to see Owen since I was a nurse and he was a physiotherapist working in the same hospital—the only hospital in the general vicinity.

Nope. That sounded all sorts of horrible, to remain in a realm of torture that I did not want to venture into.

I told him he’d never see me again, and I intended on keeping my promise.

As I went to get into Alicia’s car, a flash of moonlight reflected off the jewellery still settled on my finger.

Sprinting to the water’s edge, I tugged off my wedding rings and threw them as far as I could. I gave the lake another one of my firsts, letting the dark water swallow any last semblance of my marriage, of anything that consisted of Owen Ivans and me.

Chapter 3

OWEN

What have I done?

It had been a month since that disastrous night with Everly, and I was no closer to getting my shit together and doing right by my wife.

Since then, I hadn’t been able to sleep, eat or even look Alexis in the face. My conscience writhed from the truth that would break both our hearts.

Alexis’ work conference had ignited a new passion for her job, and she immediately wanted to implement what she had learnt. When she returned, she invested all her time and energy into putting those ideas into practice.

I took advantage of that distraction and worked overtime every night, hoping and fucking praying that she’d be asleep when I got home. Just so I wouldn’t have to look into her loving face, that sincere smile, those expressive green eyes that read me so well.

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