Chapter 1

He saved his fiancée from the six-foot-deep pool, but he never once looked back at me.

As the icy water rushed into my nose and throat, I saw him swimming toward the deck, holding Melanie Montgomery tightly in his arms.

Before my consciousness faded into darkness, I heard someone screaming from the poolside. "Blood! Oh my god, there's so much blood in the pool."

When I woke up, the doctor told me we arrived at the hospital too late. The baby was gone.

Sebastian sat by my bed, his eyes bloodshot, whispering "I'm sorry" over and over again.

I turned my face toward the window, looking at the grey sky, and whispered, "Did you feel sorry when you chose me to take the fall for her hit-and-run three years ago?"

He didn't explain. He just held me tighter.

Outside the door, a maid sneered, "A housekeeper who's a convicted felon... why is she still breathing our air?"

I bit my lip and kept silent. The phone call I overheard between him and Melanie that morning was still vivid in my mind.

"Don't worry, Melanie. She'll stay by my side like a good little dog for the rest of her life."

My fingers tightened around the crumpled piece of paper a cellmate had shoved into my hand before my release. "If you're ever in trouble, find Gabriel Gray."

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

It turned out that the "debt of gratitude" I thought I owed him for the past three years was nothing but a cage he had custom-built for me with his own hands.

That night, I dialed the number.

"Gabriel Gray? Can you get me out of here?"