Chapter 1
When I was pregnant for the sixth time as Rafe Clifton's mistress, his wife, Kimberly Hamm, suddenly changed her attitude. She agreed to let me give birth and even personally took care of me.
I thought the nightmare was finally over.
But I was wrong. It was only her revenge.
Right before labor, she tied me to an operating table.
A cold blade sliced across my abdomen. Blood beaded out.
"Tiana, I'll help you deliver the baby," she said.
Kimberly pulled the baby out of me and threw it to the wolfhound waiting nearby.
She said, "Tiana, you ruined my chance to ever have children. I would never let you off. And I wouldn't let anyone connected to you off either."
She removed my uterus and mailed it to my parents.
That night, the news of me being a mistress trended online.
My parents jumped to their deaths out of shame.
My sister died from complications in childbirth, and her baby died with her.
Overnight, I became completely alone.
Was that enough punishment?
*****
I collapsed in a pool of blood, my face pale, my eyes vacant and lifeless.
Just a minute ago, my parents had thrown themselves off a building, and my only sister died in childbirth. My newborn nephew never even got to take his first breath.
Overnight, I lost everyone.
And it was all because, when I was young and reckless, I made a mistake falling for someone and somehow ended up ruining Kimberly's chances of ever having children.
Kimberly's revenge was brutal.
I hated her.
I hated her with every fiber of my being.
My gut-wrenching cries filled the hospital corridor, but instead of sympathy, all I got was ridicule.
"Why are you crying? What's there to cry about?"
"If she hadn't been such a scheming mistress, her family wouldn't have ended up dead."
"Yeah, it's karma. She brought it all on herself. Can't blame anyone else."
Their harsh words pierced my ears, but I didn't have the guts to talk back.
They were right.
If I hadn't been so foolish back then, my parents and sister never would've suffered all this senseless tragedy.
I bit down hard on my lower lip, my nails digging so deep into my palms that they left deep crescent marks. Not that I felt a thing.
I had no idea how much time had passed before I finally got up, moving like a zombie. I called the funeral home, my voice eerily calm.
Their staff showed up pretty quickly.
But the moment they saw it was me, they flat-out refused me.
First, they didn't want to do business with a mistress. Second, Rafe had already made sure nobody would help me.
I tried every funeral home I could find, but no one was willing to help me.
Even after a week had gone by, I still couldn't give my parents and sister a proper burial.
I was such a failure as a daughter and a sister.
I dropped to my knees in front of their bodies and started slapping myself hard across the face.
I didn't stop until blood was pouring from between my legs and the pain finally hit me.
"Dad, Mom, Wendy, just wait a little longer. I'll make things right soon, I swear," I choked out.
I returned to the Clifton mansion and begged Rafe, "Mr. Clifton, please, spare my family!"
Rafe barely glanced at me, his eyes cold and indifferent.
"Spare your family?" he echoed, his voice coldly mocking. "Sure."
He crossed one leg over the other, leaning back on the sofa with an amused smile.
"Whenever you manage to make Kimberly happy, that's when I'll reconsider," he said.
Just as he finished, Kimberly descended the stairs in her high heels.
She glanced in my direction and let out a soft chuckle.
She started motioning to me like she was beckoning a dog.
That familiar gesture pierced my eyes. Swallowing my pride, I dropped to my knees and crawled toward her.
"Some dogs seem to have forgotten my rules." Kimberly's voice dripped with contempt.
As soon as her words faded, the maid tossed a collar bristling with spikes at my feet.
I understood all too well what she wanted.
To stop dragging my parents down any further, I put on the humiliating collar.
Then, I crawled right up to Kimberly's feet.
Kimberly slammed her heel down on my hand.
The sharp stiletto punched straight through my palm, and blood gushed from the hole.
I screamed in pain.
My desperate scream had barely left my lips when a sharp slap burned across my cheek.
"As my dog, you should know your place. You only have the right to cry out when I allow it. Understand?" Kimberly sneered.
She crossed her arms, her gaze filled with arrogance as she looked down at me.
After all this time, I knew exactly how Kimberly played her games, so I clamped my mouth shut.
The pain in my palm lingered, throbbing with every heartbeat.
I clamped down on the inside of my cheek, digging my teeth in to keep the pain from spilling out.