LOGINAmber.My eyes fluttered open slowly, but the harsh glare of sunlight mixed with bright white hospital lights made it impossible to keep them fully open at first. For several long seconds, everything felt disorienting. I wasn’t sure where I was. At first I thought I must be dead. I was supposed to be. Was this what heaven looked like? I had never really believed in life after death, but the sterile smell that hit my nose and the quiet voices around me quickly pulled me back to reality. There was a heavy pressure on my wrist, a dull, throbbing reminder.Was this the pain from where Zeden had slit my wrist? But if I was truly gone, would I still feel something like this? My hazy thoughts shattered when a calm female voice broke through.“You’re awake.”I tried to move my hands, my legs, even to speak, but nothing responded the way my brain commanded. Where was I? Zeden? The questions burned in my mind, but my throat felt like it was on fire every time I attempted to form word
Amber.His hand tightened around my neck, my own hands flying up to claw at his iron grip. It was useless—he was far stronger. My eyes widened in panic as he squeezed harder, cutting off my air. My legs kicked wildly against the floor, desperate for any escape.“Let me go… you’re going to kill me,” I choked out, the words barely scraping past my crushed throat.“Well, it would be faster if I did,” he said, his dead eyes darkening further. He tilted his head slightly, as if straining to catch every broken sound I made. “But you know I hate anything quick.”“Ple…ase…” I begged, my voice a ragged whisper.“Weren’t you going to leave me? What better way to make it quick, huh? Let’s just go together. After your death, I’d make sure to join you soon—I swear I won’t waste any time. What’s life without you anyway?” A cruel, evil smile twisted his lips.Both my hands still clutched at his wrist, trying to pry his fingers loose. For a fleeting second, every memory of the people Zeden had k
Amber.My chest heaved as I struggled to catch my breath. I knew Zeden would never let me go so easily.“Zeden…” I called out, my voice small and shaky.He raised a brow as I took three hesitant steps toward him. He remained completely still, calm in a way that terrified me more than any shout could. Despite my hammering heart and trembling legs, I held Yulia tight against me.“What’s happening, Zeden? They won’t let me leave.” I gestured toward the guards with my free hand. “And the door—the door is locked. It wouldn’t open when I tried.”He answered with a single nod, but not to me. It was directed at the nearest guard. Confusion washed over me as the man approached, his steps heavy with reluctance, as if disobeying might cost him his life.He reached out to take Yulia from my arms.“What are you doing? Get your hands off me! Let go of my child!” I shouted, panic rising fast. “Zeden, tell him to stop! Please, he’s trying to take Yulia away from me!”The guard was too strong. “
Amber.My hands moved quickly through the closet, grabbing clothes and shoving them into the bag. Tears kept falling no matter how hard I tried to stop them. The moment I left Zeden in that shattered room, I had laid Yulia gently on the bed and rushed straight here.Everything I was doing was for the best. Everything. I repeated it like a prayer as I folded shirts and pants into the suitcase. This was for Yulia. She needed to be safe. She didn’t deserve to grow up hated or caught in the middle of Zeden’s dangerous world. I had lived it. It only brought pain, fear, and endless sadness. Zeden should be glad. I was doing us both a favor by walking away before it destroyed what little was left of us.My heart ached with every item I packed. My hands trembled so badly I could barely zip the bag. Tears soaked the front of my blouse, leaving dark wet patches across my chest. Still, I kept going, moving to Yulia’s things next—tiny onesies, soft blankets, her favorite rattle. Each piece fe
Zeden. I bent down and picked up a sharp shard of glass, then closed my fist around it. The edges sliced deep into my palm, warm blood seeping between my fingers. “This pain you’ve caused me is so much worse than anything I’ve ever felt,” I said through clenched teeth. Amber cut in before I could continue. “Zeden, I can’t keep living like this. Every single day has been torture since the beginning. Constant suffering, constant pain. It’s tearing me apart inside and messing with my head until I don’t even recognize myself anymore. I’m scared all the time. I jump at every sound, every shadow. I can’t breathe freely.” Her eyes darted down to Yulia, and fresh tears fell onto the baby’s blanket. “Look at us. We can’t live freely because of your enemies—people who are always ready to kill or punish us just because I married a blind, ruthless man who turned half the world against him. Look at Zameera. She can’t even go outside these walls. You won’t let her. She can’t have real friends
Zeden.“Don’t you dare look away!” I shouted. I wasn’t going to stay calm about this. My hands clenched into tight fists at my sides, nails digging so hard into my palms I thought the skin might split. I could sense how tightly Amber held Yulia to her chest, as if the baby were her only lifeline in the storm I had become.If this was the height of her foolishness, I refused to accept it. Not after everything we had survived. Not when she stood here ready to tear our family apart because fear had finally gotten the better of her.I heard her small, broken sobs, and they only fed the rage burning through me.“You’re so fucking unbelievable!” I stepped back, my hands slicing through the air in sharp, furious gestures. “You want to leave? Then what about Zameera? You’re just going to abandon her? After she has grown so attached to you? After you made her see you as her only friend, her mother, everything I could never give her on my own?” Before she could answer, I grabbed the neare
Amber.I perched beside Zeden on the long leather couch, fingers wrapped around a glass of something dark and bitter that scorched all the way down.The room felt different here, cleaner and sharper, like the air itself carried money and old power.Crystal trays glided past on silent servers’ ha
Zeden.My hands twitched at my sides. Enzo still hadn’t taken his fucking arm off Amber. And she just stood there—fuming, yes, but letting him touch her. Letting him drape himself around her like he had any right. While I stood right in front of them.Was she testing me?Was she trying to see h
Amber.Oh my God, I was a slut.A fucking bitch in heat.A shameless whore.Dignity? What dignity? It had evaporated somewhere between Zeden’s hands and the way my body kept betraying me.My mouth hung open, breaths coming in hard, uneven gasps.I tried to swallow, but my throat felt thick and u
Amber.I was kneeling on the dining room floor, scrubbing like my life depended on it.The new maid uniform Daya had brought me felt stiff and foreign against my skin.I was sure Zeden had sent her to replace the torn one from yesterday.This life wasn’t living. Being a maid here meant selling e







