Chapter 1

Oh my goodness! I was in a novel—not just reading it, but living it as the doomed heroine, Emily Summers.

I knew her story by heart: a relentless cycle of betrayal, beatings, a forced miscarriage, and even losing her eyes and a kidney. All for nothing. Her reward was a miserable death, only then the male lead realized she'd been innocent. Talk about useless regret.

The worst part? This place seemed to run on pure melodrama, with zero real laws. The injustice of it burned me up. I finally dozed off, too furious to even keep my eyes open.

When I woke, the pieces clicked into place with grim clarity. I was right at the story's lowest point: the day Emily was framed by Charles Kingston's saintly Bianca White and lost her baby.

A bitter laugh escaped me. Well, wasn't this a perfect starting line? My hand dove into my pocket, found the phone. Three quick taps, then I held it to my ear, my voice clear and sharp. "Emergency services? I'd like to report an attempted murder."

Let's see if this dramatic, lawless little world of theirs even had police.

*****

The sharp, sterile scent of antiseptic flooded my senses as I drifted back to consciousness. Instinctively, I wrinkled my nose.

"Stop pretending you're asleep." A cold voice cut through the haze. "Go apologize to Bianca."

Wait a sec, why did that line sound so familiar? Wasn't this the tragic novel with the dead heroine I was reading before I fell asleep?

Charles stood by my hospital bed, his sharp features cast in shadow by the light behind him, hands shoved in his pockets, acting all aloof.

In the original story, Charles and Emily were married on paper, but Emily had been crushing on Charles for ages. Charles was totally clueless about his own feelings for her—until his precious Bianca came back from overseas.

Bianca, hell-bent on breaking them up and taking Emily's spot, slipped Charles something, hoping to hook up with him. But fate had other plans, and he ended up sleeping with Emily instead.

Bianca played it off and pinned the whole thing on Emily. Emily couldn't get a word in edgewise, totally unable to clear her name, and Charles started thinking she was some kind of mastermind. From then on, the gap between them just kept getting wider.

Just that one time, Emily got pregnant, but her pregnancy was already fragile. Then Bianca came looking for trouble, went out of her way to mess with Emily, and even shoved her down the stairs, causing Emily lose the baby on the spot.

What the hell? He wanted me to apologize to that psycho Bianca? I was not the old Emily, and I was about to wreck their whole script.

I scowled, totally fed up. "Apologize my ass!"

Charles was floored.

After a brief moment of shock, Charles' frown deepened. "Finally dropped the act, huh? Turns out Bianca was right—you were just faking being nice and sweet all along!"

He stepped up and yanked my arm. "You fell down the stairs on your own and tried to blame Bianca. She's been feeling so guilty she hasn't eaten or drunk anything the whole time you've been out. Do you even have a heart? Go apologize to her, now!"

"Screw you!" I jerked my arm free, and for a second, my vision blurred. Still, this body was way too fragile after the miscarriage.

I glanced up at him, then reached out my hand. "Give me your phone."

Charles frowned, a flicker of sympathy crossing his eyes when he saw how pale I looked. He pulled out his phone and said, "Fine, just call and apologize. I'm cutting you some slack because you're sick, but don't push it next time, or else..."

While he was still talking, I took the phone from him and punched in 911, dead serious.

The call connected instantly, and I said calmly, "Hello, 911? I need to report an assault."

Charles was like, "What the hell?"

The cops showed up in no time. Soon, a few officers were crowding around my hospital bed. I cleared my throat and started bawling, "Officer, help me!"

I jabbed my finger at Charles, who looked totally stunned. "My husband's been cheating on me with his mistress! And that mistress pushed me down the stairs! I lost my baby because of her! How could she be so heartless? My poor baby!"

Charles' face turned ashen. Under the cops' stern gazes, he was at a total loss for words. "I didn't... I didn't do it..."

"Charles..." Everyone turned at the sound of the voice. Bianca stood in the doorway, wearing a flowy white dress, looking all delicate and helpless, giving everyone that innocent, wounded look.

Wow, she was really laying it on thick.

My eyes narrowed as I quickly decided to strike first—no way I was letting her play the victim and twist the story.

I ripped the IV out of my hand, scrambled to the foot of the bed, and tore at my hair like a maniac. Then I screamed, voice cracking with panic, "Help! She's here! The murderer's here! She's going to kill me! She's going to kill me! She's the one who killed my baby!"

Bianca's carefully crafted, fragile look almost cracked as she took a couple of awkward steps forward. Charles tried to rush over, but the lead cop blocked him. "Excuse me, the person who called us is accusing both of you of intentional harm. We need to get your statements, so please don't approach each other."

Bianca just stood there, totally confused. "Huh?"