Chapter 4
I didn’t cry.
Not when I uploaded the pictures of Sasha and Alex from his hidden email folder. Not when I found the prenup agreement labeled discreetly “future documentation – Sasha Elenora Hale.” Not even when I compiled the screenshots, the venue confirmation, the messages – proof enough to destroy him legally, emotionally, and socially.
I had learned how to bleed without showing the wound.
My hands were steady as I hit Send on the email to my lawyer.
Within an hour, the reply came.
Subject: Grounds Accepted. Divorce Filing in Motion.
Ms. Hale,
This is more than sufficient to meet the prenup clause. We will begin immediate proceedings. I’ve also started preparing the identity removal and record detachment papers, as you requested. Please be aware: once processed, no formal links will exist between you and the Hale family. You will legally disappear. Wait for five days.
I stared at the message for a long time. I had five days before everything was finalized.
“I can wait,” I told him over the phone when I called to respond. “But no one – not my family, not my friends – must know until it’s done. They’ll try to stop me.”
“Understood.”
I ended the call and locked my phone, letting the weight of the truth settle in.
Five days until I disappeared. Five days until I became no one to the man I married. And just as I began to pack a small bag for the night, I heard tires screech outside.
Then a frantic knock at the door.
I opened it to find Alex.
Disheveled, pale, breathing hard.
“Lindsey – I need your help,” he panted. “What’s your blood type?”
“What?” I asked, backing slightly.
“It’s Paula,” he said quickly. “She was in an accident. Internal bleeding. We’re a match, but they need more. She’s losing blood fast. I told them you could help.”
I hesitated. “I’m anemic.”
“I know,” he said, “but they only need one pint. Please – whatever you think of me – this is family.”
Family. I almost laughed at the irony.
But guilt has a strange way of sinking its claws into the good-hearted.
I agreed. At the hospital, a nurse led me into a small, sterile room. The moment the needle pierced my skin, my world grew fuzzy. The room swam around me, and I could barely keep my eyes open.
Alex kissed my forehead. “You’re incredible,” he whispered. “Thank you. I’ll be back.”
But he never returned.
Hours later, I woke up alone. Groggy. Weak.
I pressed the nurse’s button, and a young attendant entered the room.
“Where’s Alex?” I asked, voice hoarse.
“Oh,” she blinked. “I think he’s still with the other patient… Sasha?”
“Sasha?” I repeated, forcing myself upright.
The nurse nodded. “The girl who was kidnapped. She was in critical condition – beaten, bruised. They needed immediate blood transfusion.”
I felt like the floor fell out beneath me.
Not Paula. Sasha.
I gave blood – while weak, while anemic – for the woman he loved.
I had been lied to… again.
I pulled the IV from my arm despite the protests and forced myself to stand. My legs trembled beneath me, but I pushed forward, step by step, dragging myself through the hallway like a ghost haunting the living.
Then I heard them.
Laughter.
His laugh.
Her laugh.
It came from one of the private recovery rooms.
I turned the corner just enough to see it. Paula leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, grinning like a villain from a play.
And inside, Sasha lay in the hospital bed – bandaged, yes, but smiling. And Alex – my husband – was beside her, holding her hand.
Paula glanced sideways and saw me.
Her grin widened.
“Oh, poor you,” she said with mock sympathy. “Now that she’s back… did you really think my brother ever cared for you? You were a placeholder. Just the name on the documents until Sasha returned.”
I stared at her, unable to speak.
She turned back toward the room with a smirk. “Welcome back, sis-in-law,” she muttered before slipping inside to join them.
I stood there frozen, heart thudding painfully inside my chest.
Then Alex turned and spotted me through the glass.
His smile vanished. His eyes widened.
He stood quickly, but I had already turned.
Even if you kneel, you lost me, husband.