Shattered Vows,The Heiress They Tried to Bury

On the day of my wedding, my fianc said he had a surprise for me.

He blindfolded me. Moments later, I lost consciousness.

When I woke, I was in a village I'd never seen before, deep in the mountains. A hulking brute of a man told me he was my husband. There was a three-year-old boy, too, clinging to my legs, begging me to hold him.

I was beaten into five miscarriages. Locked in the house day after day. One wrong look, one wrong word, and the fists came down. My mother-in-law was no better, obsessed with getting a grandson, treating me like a broodmare who'd failed her only purpose.

Three years. Three years, and my body was a map of scars. I'd given up fighting. I'd given up hoping. I was choking down folk remedies and bitter herbal concoctions, doing everything I could to carry a boy to term, because a son was the only thing that might keep me alive.

Then a helicopter descended onto the hilltop.

And out stepped my best friend and my fianc, arm in arm.

Rebecca Fletcher. Jacob Delgado. Walking toward me like they were strolling through a garden party.

"Marina Henson." Rebecca's voice floated across the dirt yard, light and amused. "Three years out here, and it looks like you've really gone native. Fully embraced the whole village-wife thing, haven't you?"

I lifted my head. My voice came out shaking. "Why?"

Jacob didn't even bother looking at me when he answered. "You're the one who set Rebecca up on that blind date. Tried to marry her off to some blue-collar nobody." He examined his cufflinks. "She's supposed to be your best friend, and that's how you treated her? So we thought you should get a taste of it yourself."

Three years.

For three entire years, I'd racked my brain trying to make sense of what had happened to me. I'd wondered if I'd somehow slipped into another dimension, another timeline, some cruel parallel universe.

But never once had I suspected that my best friend and my fianc had engineered the whole thing.

Now, standing in the dirt with the truth laid bare before me, I threw my head back and laughed. I laughed like a madwoman. I laughed until tears streamed down my face and my ribs ached and the sound tore out of me raw and broken.

Rebecca and Jacob both froze, caught off guard.

"Has she lost her mind?" Rebecca murmured, tilting her head. "Living out here too long must have scrambled her brain. What is this reaction?"

Jacob's brow furrowed. He stared at me.

He was wearing a suit that cost more than this entire village. Three years had made him sharper, more polished, more handsome. And the way he looked down at me now, it was with the same expression a man might give something stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Contempt. Disgust.

Rebecca stood beside him with her arms crossed, a delicate smirk playing on her lips.

"Look how happy Marina is. Maybe she hasn't had enough fun out here yet."

"Jacob." She looped her arm through his, pressing close. "Don't you remember? Three years ago, Marina said all she wanted was a happy little family. And look at the one I picked out for her. A strong husband, a three-year-old son. Everything she ever dreamed of."

A flicker of cruel satisfaction danced in her eyes.

"When you think about it, Marina really ought to thank me."

Jacob patted the back of her hand, indulgent and warm. "Rebecca, honestly, nobody takes care of things quite like you do."

My fists clenched so hard my nails broke the skin of my palms. I stared at the two of them, numb, hollow, barely human.

"Jacob Delgado." My voice was a rasp, scraped raw. I barely recognized the sound of it. I barely recognized myself. "Tell me why. The real reason."

Three years ago, it had been our wedding. Mine and Jacob's.

Everyone said the Henson-Delgado union was written in the stars. A perfect match. Two great families joined together.

And Jacob had loved me. He had. I was sure of it, sure down to my bones. He'd spent six months personally overseeing every detail of our wedding, crafting it into something out of a fairy tale. He'd promised to make me the happiest bride the world had ever seen.

But that moment never came.

The instant I put on my wedding dress, Jacob told me he had a surprise. He covered my eyes and said he was taking me somewhere special.

After that, everything went black.

I was drugged. And when I opened my eyes again, I was here. This godforsaken village in the middle of nowhere.

For three years, I'd turned it over and over in my mind, trying to piece together how my life had shattered so completely.

From the very first day, there'd been a three-year-old boy wrapped around my legs, calling me Mama. A violent brute who called himself my husband, who beat me and used me whenever the mood struck. And a mother-in-law who was anything but kind, who treated me like a thorn in her side, an enemy under her own roof.

I thought I'd crossed into another world. Slipped into some parallel dimension where nothing made sense.

But before I could even begin to process it, the real nightmare began.

I screamed at them until my throat was raw.

"Let me go! I'm the Henson heiress! However much money you want, I can give it to you!"

Kathy Jennings spat at my feet.

"You've already been thrown away like garbage. And you still think you're going back?" She let out a harsh laugh. "Keep dreaming."

I tried everything I could think of to reach Jacob. Every method, every angle.

Every single message I sent disappeared into the void. Not one reply. Not ever.

"You really are spectacularly stupid, Marina."

Jacob tilted my chin up with one finger, forcing me to meet his gaze. His eyes were filled with nothing but contempt.

"Can you honestly not tell? I arranged all of this."

"Only someone as impossibly naive as you could miss it."

"Three years you sat here waiting for me. Three years you kept begging me to save you." A cold smile tugged at his lips. "What a joke."

His eyes narrowed as they traveled over my face, and disgust crept into his expression.

"Look at you. Sun-scorched. Rough as sandpaper." He tilted his head, appraising me like damaged goods. "You can't hold a candle to Rebecca now. Not even close."

"Then again, maybe this is what you deserve. You always did lord that pretty face over everyone else."

I kept my head down. I couldn't even manage a bitter smile.

Three years of wind and sun. Three years of relentless abuse.

When I caught my reflection in a mirror now, I barely recognized the woman staring back.

Is that really me?

Every winter, my fingers cracked and swelled until they looked like raw sausages. And the face I'd once spent a fortune maintaining? It was mapped with fine lines and dark spots, weathered beyond recognition.

I looked no different from any village farmwife.

Jacob stroked Rebecca's smooth cheek with sickening tenderness.

"See, Rebecca? Clothes make the woman. These days, you're every bit the heiress Marina used to be. No difference at all."

Rebecca Fletcher. The scholarship student I'd sponsored out of pity. I'd covered her tuition, her living expenses, let her eat at my table and sleep under my roof.

Over time, she'd become my best friend.

I never imagined she'd become the one who dragged me straight to hell.

Rebecca nestled into Jacob's arms with a coy little laugh.

"That's only because you spoil me, Jake."

Then she crouched down beside me, close enough that I could smell her perfume, and put on a show of sisterly warmth.

"Marina, you know what? While you've been away, Jake has taken such good care of me."

"And don't worry, I haven't let you down either. I've been taking very good care of him too. Including in bed."

A triumphant smile spread across her face. "So just relax and keep playing house out here, okay?"

Playing?

My head snapped up. I'd nearly died here. More than once. And they thought I was playing.

My mouth opened, but my throat seized like something had clamped around it. No sound came out.

Jacob waved a dismissive hand.

"Alright, she's had enough fun roughing it. Let's just bring her back."

The words had barely left his mouth before panic flashed across Rebecca's face.

"Jake, are you serious? You're really taking her back?"

"You said this trip was just to check on her. That's all."

"And look, we've seen her, she's perfectly fine! She was smiling and laughing just now. She probably doesn't even want to go back." Rebecca's voice climbed higher, faster. "Why don't we just take a few photos and let her stay here? She's clearly enjoying herself"

Jacob frowned, hesitating.

"She's still the Henson heiress. I've been telling everyone she went on an extended vacation overseas for the past three years."

"The Hensons have been asking for her lately. If I keep stalling, it's going to raise questions." His jaw tightened. "It's time to bring her out."

A flash of hatred twisted through Rebecca's eyes.

"Fine. She's the Henson heiress, after all."

When they moved to take me away, Kathy and Ivan blocked the path, refusing to let us leave.

"Miss Fletcher, you're really taking her?" Ivan stepped forward, his expression sour. "But you said she was supposed to be my"

Rebecca silenced him with a single razor-sharp glare.

He shut his mouth.

"Haven't I paid you enough?"

Rebecca pulled out a check and held it up between two fingers.

"There's five hundred thousand dollars on this. Consider it compensation for playing house with Miss Henson."

"For backwater villagers like you, this should be more than enough to last the rest of your miserable lives."

Ivan and Kathy's eyes lit up like slot machines hitting jackpot.

"Yes, yes, of course. Miss Fletcher is always so generous."

Ivan's gaze crawled over my body, greedy and slow. He muttered under his breath, "What a waste, though. A wife like that..."

Kathy jabbed him hard in the ribs.

"Don't push your luck. With this kind of money, you can buy whatever wife you want."

"Besides, you already used her up. She can't even give you a son. Worthless. Let her go."

I kept my head down, letting their words burrow into my ears.

My face was numb. Expressionless.

Rebecca had brought servants with her. They cleaned me up, combed my hair, and dressed me.

When I stepped out in a white sundress, Rebecca looked me over and burst out laughing.

"Marina, you used to look stunning in white. I had no idea it would look so... wrong on you now."

"I'm so sorry, sweetie. I really didn't expect your skin to be this dark."

Her eyes brimmed with barely concealed glee.

Jacob stood beside her, frowning at me with open distaste. "Trying to look like something you're not."

He draped his arm around Rebecca, who wore a similar dress, and let out a mocking laugh.

"Standing next to each other, one of you looks like an heiress and the other looks like the help. And the heiress is obviously Rebecca."

Rebecca giggled, playfully swatting his chest.

"Don't say that. Marina and I are best friends. She's the real heiress."

She tilted her head, her voice dripping sweetness. "If it weren't for Marina, how would I have ever met you?"

She was right about that.

If I hadn't introduced Rebecca to my fianc, the two of them would never have ended up together.

Looking back, the signs had been there all along. Every time Jacob and I went out on a date, Rebecca would text me, begging to hang out. Without fail.

Gradually, our dates for two became outings for three.

Then, somewhere along the way, I was the one cut out. It became just the two of them, shopping together, grabbing coffee.

The first time I caught them, I was livid. "Jacob, I don't want you seeing Rebecca alone behind my back."

He acted like it was nothing.

"Marina." He rubbed my shoulders, his voice patient, placating. "Rebecca's your best friend, isn't she? I treat her like a friend too. That's the only reason we grabbed coffee."

"I'm just trying to get along with her so you don't feel stuck in the middle."

"If it bothers you, I won't see her again."

After that, he stopped meeting Rebecca openly.

And because I wanted to preserve our friendship, I decided to set Rebecca up with a suitable boyfriend. The young man I had in mind was an assistant at my father's company. Fresh out of college, he'd already been promoted three times. A rising star.

I never expected what happened next. The moment I explained what I had in mind, Rebecca burst into tears and screamed at me.

"Marina, do you really think I'm only good enough for some blue-collar nobody?"

Jacob had frowned too, his voice sharp with reproach.

"Marina, what you did was completely out of line. You overstepped."

In the end, I was the one who went to Rebecca to apologize.

I told her I'd meant well but made a mess of things. Rebecca smiled and said she knew I hadn't meant any harm.

I thought the whole thing was behind us. I never imagined they'd been scheming all along, biding their time for a far more devastating retaliation.

Seeing me silent now, Jacob grabbed my arm and yanked. "Marina. I'm talking to you. Are you even listening?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts. I lifted my head to look at him. "What did you say?"

But Jacob didn't answer. Instead, his brow creased.

"What's that smell? It reeks."

Suddenly, disgust twisted his features. He clamped a hand over his nose and took a large step back, putting distance between us.

"Rebecca, do you smell something weird?"

Rebecca sniffed the air a few times, then nodded.

"Yeah. It smells like... urine."

They both turned to stare at me, their eyes raking over my body with open scrutiny.

Every muscle in me went rigid. I stood frozen, not daring to move.

But the warm liquid kept coming.

Trickling down from between my legs.

Rebecca's eyes went comically wide. She pointed at my pants.

"Jacob, look! She wet herself!" A shriek of laughter tore out of her. "Oh my God, Marina actually wet herself!"

"Marina, I get that you're excited to be home, but this is a bit much, don't you think?"

Jacob backed away even farther, revulsion stamped across his face.

"Marina, you're really... unbelievable."

"Where's your breeding? Where's the poised, elegant Henson heiress? Three years in the countryside and this is what you've become?" His lip curled. "It's disgusting."

Disgusting.

I lowered my head, numb, and stared at the dark stain spreading across my skirt.

I'd lost control again.

Five miscarriages in three years had left my body irreparably broken. The medical care in Hollow Creek Village was nonexistent. There were a few unlicensed country doctors, sure, but Kathy and Ivan would never have spent a cent on me.

I pressed my lips together until they went white, enduring their shrill, exaggerated laughter.

"Enough. Enough..."

The words fell from my mouth, barely audible.

They were the reason I was like this. Every last bit of it was their doing.

And yet they doubled over laughing, unable to stop, feeding off each other's cruelty.

My fists clenched at my sides. Then I raised my head, slowly, and the numbness in my face hardened into something else entirely.

My gaze swept the room, cataloging everything within reach, until it landed on a porcelain vase on the side table.

The next second, the vase shattered over Rebecca's skull.

"Still funny?"

Rebecca swayed, stunned. Her hand went to her head. When she pulled it away and saw the blood coating her fingers, a piercing scream ripped from her throat.

"She's trying to kill me! Marina's trying to kill me!"

Her eyes rolled back, and she crumpled to the floor.

Jacob stood frozen, the color draining from his face. It took him a long moment to react. When he finally did, he rounded on me with a guttural snarl.

"You psycho!"

He looked at the blood streaming from Rebecca's head, his face chalk-white. He scooped her up and bolted for the door.

"It's okay, Rebecca, I'm taking you to the hospital right now..."

He was so frantic he nearly forgot to turn back. At the threshold, he whipped around, his voice shaking with rage. "This isn't over. I'll deal with you later."

I watched his retreating figure, unblinking.

"That's right. I've lost my mind."

"And now it's this madwoman's turn to come for you. Every last thing you owe me."

The vase had split Rebecca's scalp wide open. The wound was deep. I heard later it took over a dozen stitches to close.

Jacob's face was stone-cold. He'd sent over a dozen bodyguards to drag me to the hospital, and they shoved me to a stop right outside Rebecca's room.

The moment he saw me, his palm cracked across my face. Then he forced me to my knees.

"Apologize to Rebecca."

"Marina, what the hell happened to you?" His voice dripped with disgust. "You used to be so sweet, so considerate. When did you become this vicious? Lashing out and hurting people at the drop of a hat?"

"If your father could see what you've turned into, it would kill him."

The slap had split something inside my mouth. I tasted blood.

Jacob raised his hand to hit me again, but I caught his wrist. My grip was ice-cold, and I held on tight.

I looked up at him, my face completely blank.

"I'm only going to ask you this once."

"You knew. You knew I was tricked and sent to Hollow Creek Village. Didn't you?"

His body went rigid. The color drained from his face, and he looked away.

"That was just a game. I'm talking about what you did to Rebecca. Stop changing the subject!"

"Oh." My voice was flat. "So you were in on it."

He didn't need to say another word. That single sentence told me everything.

The question had been a formality. Deep down, I'd already known.

Three years.

For three years, I believed I'd been kidnapped and dumped in that godforsaken wasteland. I tried everything to reach Jacob, my fianc, to beg him to save me.

I had his tracking device on me the entire time. The one he'd made specifically for me.

On those nights when Ivan and Kathy had beaten me until my body was a canvas of bruises, when I lay bleeding and wide-eyed in the dark, unable to sleep through the pain, I would run my fingers over the tracker embedded in the belt. Over and over, tracing its edges like a prayer. And I'd remember the way Jacob had looked at me, his face so gentle, so full of warmth, when he said:

"As long as you wear this, no matter where you are in the world, I'll find you."

So I never took it off. Not once. Not even when Ivan and Kathy saw how expensive the belt looked and tried to rip it off me to sell. I took the beating. I took every blow they gave me. But I never let go.

Now I flung that belt at Jacob's feet. The tracker was still inside.

"Your gift. I'm returning it."

Jacob glanced down. His breath caught.

"Why is there... so much blood on this?"

Of course there was. All of it mine. Every stain from every time they'd tried to tear it away and I'd refused to let go. My fingers had bled. My waist had bled. The leather was stiff with it.

But the blood on that belt was nothing compared to what I'd shed over three years.

I said nothing.

My silence seemed to enrage him more than any words could have. His jaw tightened, and his eyes went hard.

"Marina, don't tell me you were playing the spoiled princess in that village too. Using this belt like a whip to hit people."

"I knew it. You're arrogant and out of control. Three years in the countryside, and you didn't learn a damn thing!"

He snatched the belt up and drew his arm back to lash it across me.

I didn't flinch. Didn't move. I just closed my eyes.

And in that moment, the belt never fell.

Instead, my legs buckled. The world went black, and I collapsed.

"Marina, cut the act. Stop pretending to faint."

"Get up."

But when he crouched down and brushed the hair from my face, when he saw how hollow and gray my skin was, the anger vanished. Panic flooded in.

"Marina. Marina, wake up. What's wrong with you?"

His face twisted. He scooped me up, stumbling toward the hallway, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Doctor! Someone collapsed!"

"Now!"

When I opened my eyes again, I heard voices arguing in the corridor outside.

"Doctor, what happened? She was fine a minute ago. Why did she faint?"

The doctor in the white coat finished his examination and let out a long, heavy sigh.

"She was in the early stages of pregnancy. She just miscarried." He fixed Jacob with a hard look. "No matter what your quarrel was about, you should have considered the condition of a pregnant woman."

The color drained from Jacob's face.

"Pregnant? Miscarriage? What the hell are you talking about?"