Most women put love first, career second. But I’m not most women. At twenty-six years old, I was the youngest marketing assistant in our company, and I’d fought too damn hard for that position to allow a little anniversary to get in the way.

The beeping of the hospital monitors had become the soundtrack to our lives. My daughter Lily lay in the sterile bed, her small frame dwarfed by the medical equipment surrounding her. Kidney failure. Those two words had shattered our world."Mommy," Lily whispered, her voice barely audible over the machines. "Do you think Daddy will come tomorrow?"......

They called me the broken wolf, the shame of my family. So they married me off to a low-born rancher in the middle of nowhere. But on our wedding night, under the full moon, I felt it—the terrifying, ancient power rolling off him. The entire pack howled in submission. It turned out the "useless" one wasn't me. It was everyone who had ever underestimated Lia and Kade.

The scent of red wine on the dining table hit me—not the rich grape aroma I expected, but a metallic iron tang, like old blood.Today’s my tenth wedding anniversary with Raymond Hale.On the table sits a diamond ring he gave me—three times bigger than the one from a decade ago.

"Mrs. Palmer, do you really want to terminate this pregnancy? You know Mr. Palmer's situation. If you go through with this, it'll be very difficult for him to have children in the future. Once the abortion is done, there's no turning back!"The doctor looked at me in disbelief and even took out Henry's medical report.

The chat log ended there.Learning that Steven Landers planned to harm my baby on my birthday tomorrow, I had only one thought: run.To avoid raising suspicion, I had my best friend buy me a train ticket.That night, I watched Steven drink the milk I'd laced with sleeping pills, and he fell into a deep sleep on the bed.

The noise outside the hospital room was still loud, but I sat there in a daze, staring at the chat messages on his phone."I've already told my wife. Once she gets rid of the baby, I'll bring our son home."  

Cathy Miller deleted her Instagram post not long after.I let out a cold laugh and sent Mike Tyler a message.[Let me know when you're free so we can get a divorce.]He didn't reply.I handled my mom's funeral alone.

In the deathly silent ward, only the sound of the ventilator could be heard. Outside in the corridor, the doctor couldn't help but sigh in amazement.

A week and a half ago, I had made plans with my husband, Caden Hall, to hit the slopes at Saint Lorenzo Snow Mountain.Decked out in my ski gear, I was relaxing in the lobby as I waited for the instructor when Caden showed up with his high school sweetheart, Kelly Turner, in tow.