Chapter 1

The day my husband asked me to take the fall for the crash his foster sister had caused, I was exactly six weeks pregnant.

He said that because I was carrying a child, even if I went to jail I could post bail. But Kate Pope was about to lock down a tenured public-school teaching position, and once there was a record on her name, her whole life would be ruined.

I believed him.

After they locked me up, I waited every single day for him to come and get me out.

I waited until the pain in my belly became unbearable, until blood soaked through my trouser legs, and I begged him over the phone to submit the prenatal exam papers, to save our child.

But he was at Kate's medical checkup instead.

"Just hold on one more day. Today matters to her."

The baby was gone. My father sold the old house and dragged his sick body across the country to find evidence for me.

But when a sudden brain hemorrhage put him on the operating table, and the surgery was short by only five thousand dollars, Denys Stevens transferred the money in our joint account to Kate to cover the deposit on her marital home.

When my father died, I was wearing handcuffs. I never even saw him one last time.

Later, Denys came to see me. I thought he'd come to take me out.

Instead, he pushed a signed confession in front of me.

"Kate just cleared her posting review. Hold on in here for two more years, and when you get out, I promise I'll make it up to you with another child."

In that moment, I had nothing left.

My child, my father, my freedom, and the husband I'd loved for eight years.

So when the truth finally came out, I did not go home.

I took my father's ashes and vanished completely from his world.

1

"Denys, please, leave the prenatal papers!"

I clung to his briefcase, my belly cramping in waves.

The doctor had just finished examining me and said I was showing signs of a threatened miscarriage. I had to be hospitalized right away to save the pregnancy. As long as a family member submitted the prenatal report and the bail application, I had a chance to leave the county jail.

But Denys was taking the papers away with him.

"Gabriella, let go."

Kate hid behind him, the teacher's medical clearance pinned to her white blouse, her eyes rimmed red.

"Please don't blame him. Today's my last checkup. Once the review period ends, my brother and I will come get you, I promise."

I stared at them, no longer daring to hold on to any hope.

"Come get me. We agreed I'd only be in here one day, and then you'd take me out. But I've been in here a whole week. Did either of you even think about me once?"

"Denys, if the baby weren't about to be lost, if I hadn't called you, would you have remembered me at all? Or is there only room in your heart for Kate?"

But it was her who got behind the wheel and hit that person, not me.

At my words, Kate's tears spilled over in an instant.

"I know she regrets confessing for me. I'll go turn myself in right now. Let them sentence me if they want. My dad died young anyway, so no one will feel sorry for me."

She turned to leave, and Denys pulled her back at once, soothing her gently.

"Don't talk nonsense. Your father saved the Stevens family. I promised I'd protect you. How could I ever let you confess?"

Then he turned and scolded me.

"Gabriella Simmons, you signed the statement. You admitted with your own mouth that you were the one driving, that you hit that person. Now you're using the baby to force Kate to throw away her future. When did you become so selfish?"

I braced myself against the edge of the desk, feeling the cramps twist through my belly in waves, and the panic swallowed me whole.

"The baby, my baby! Denys, just submit the papers first. Let me keep the baby."

The officer on duty spoke up too.

"Lawyer Stevens, your wife isn't well. The doctor advises you to apply to change the coercive measure as soon as possible."

Denys was still hesitating. I couldn't wait. I reached out and grabbed at the briefcase, and several sheets of paper fell to the floor.

The bail application was already filled out, dated two days ago. It just had never been submitted.

I looked at him, unable to believe it.

"You had it ready all along. Why didn't you file it?"

"The victim is still in the ICU. If you get out now and change your story, it'll affect Kate's posting review."

"I won't change my story!"

"No, I don't trust you. Kate's job has to be airtight. I'm a lawyer. I understand the risks better than you do. As for the baby,"

Denys picked the application up off the floor, his face cold.

"once Kate's officially hired, I'll deal with your situation then."

Kate tugged at his sleeve, still the picture of pitiful helplessness.

"Denys, she's carrying your child. You should save her. Even if my dream is to be a teacher, it can't come at the cost of your baby. If something happened, and she pinned it all on me, that would be terrible."

Her words gave way, but the look she gave me couldn't hide her triumph.

Denys lowered his voice to comfort her.

"You've worked toward this for three years. No one has the right to force you to give it up. Not even my own child."

My belly dropped hard, and blood dripped down my calf onto the floor.

I grabbed the hem of Denys's clothes and begged him, over and over.

"Denys, the baby can't wait that long. I'm begging you, save him, please—"

He looked down at the blood on the floor, and at last his brow twitched. But Kate pressed a hand to her chest and sagged softly into his arms.

"Denys, there's blood. I'm scared."

Denys let go of me at once and caught her.

"Kate, breathe slowly. I'll take you to the hospital right now."

The iron gate of the jail was right behind me. Once Denys walked out, there would truly be no saving me or the baby.

I dropped to my knees in front of him with a thud.

"Denys, I confess. I'll do the time. Just leave the prenatal papers, just let the baby live, and I'll agree to anything you want!"