out shell, a vessel of pain that no longer felt like my own. I was Ava, a successful archi

my husband, the man whose charming smile had built my w

That was Ethan' s voi

void of the love he' d professed for

hildhood friend, a shadow that always lingered. I had tri

laced with satisfaction. It was Chloe. "Sh

aby. The baby I had lost. They had called it a trag

e a chilling balm. "She was never meant to

hed over me. I tried to scream,

is voice clinical. "Are you sure it' s

cations from the miscarriage. She' ll never carry

hared me. They had orchestrated the death of my child and the end of my womanhood. Al

, no

pened my

ltered through the silk canopy of a bed I knew all too well. It was our wed

own, the one I had picked out for

er droplets glistening on his perfectly sculpted chest. He smiled, that devastati

mate rumble. "I was starting to think you were g

ook of adoration that I now knew was a lie. He was

nster, had shared me with his brother. They had rotated, taken turns playing the part of my husband. The times

on, a fresh wave of revulsion that

ut to touch my face. I flinched, pulling

econd. "What' s wrong, Av

my ribs, a trapped bird desperate for escape. I wasn' t the naive girl who had walked down th

say, my voice trembling. "It was a

rning. "It was perfect because you were

All

charm. I remembered the pain, the blood, the empty ache in my womb. I

as steel. I wouldn't just escape. I would expose them. I would

be the architect of

d to surviv

' m just tired, Liam. Can we.

he masked it quickly. He was good at that.

lips were warm, but all I could feel was the icy chill of the grave. As he he

ft spot. I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that

in this marriage, but in

an architect. I knew how to find the wea