Chapter 1 - THE FIVE MINUTES THAT KEPT ME ALIVE
After being told my thirty-two-week-old baby had died from a sudden placental complication at St. Catherine’s Medical Center, I awoke in agony and slipped out of my private room past midnight. Outside a half-open door, I overheard my billionaire husband, Victor Ashford, ruthlessly blackmailing Dr. Owen Kessler into forging pathology reports and performing an unauthorized emergency hysterectomy on me to eliminate any future competing heirs. Minutes later, Victor warmly embraced his pregnant mistress, lifestyle mogul Celeste Rowan, promising their unborn child would inherit the entire Ashford empire. Before I could act, Victor caught me in my room, drugged my IV, and had the mutilating surgery forced upon me while I lay unconscious. Waking up hollowed out, facing Victor's crocodile tears and Celeste's mocking bedside visit, I vowed to swallow my agony, play the shattered, compliant wife, and uncover every dark secret behind their conspiracy until I tore their empire apart.
