His Vows, Her Pills, A Life Unraveled

My husband, Andreas, a brilliant architect, handed me a small bottle on our fifth wedding anniversary. He said they were custom vitamins for my health.

But a doctor' s appointment revealed a horrifying truth: they were potent birth control pills, making conception impossible. My world shattered when the doctor, a colleague of Andreas, revealed he had another wife, Annabelle, and they' d just had a baby boy.

Then, I overheard Andreas telling his best friend, Mark, that he loved me but couldn' t abandon Annabelle, his childhood friend, who was now the mother of his heir. He chillingly stated, "She gets me. And that's enough. I'll make sure she never has a child. Annabelle will have my heir. Jewel will have my love. It's the only way."

My five-year marriage was a lie. I was the other woman, slowly being erased. The thought was humiliating, absurd.

I stumbled out of the hospital, my mind reeling. I knew Andreas was possessive and wouldn' t let me go willingly. I needed help. My fingers, shaking, scrolled to a name I hadn' t called in ten years: Cassidy Farrell, my high school flame.

"That offer... to help me disappear... is it still good?" I whispered.

Chapter 1

It was our fifth wedding anniversary.

Andreas Cordova, my husband, handed me a small bottle.

"Your supplements, Jewel."

He smiled, a perfect, charming smile that had once made my world turn. He was a brilliant architect, a man everyone admired. To me, he was just my husband.

"Thanks, Andy," I said, taking the pills with a glass of water.

For the past two years, he had given me these "custom vitamins" every day. He said they were for my health, to keep me strong while I worked on my indie films. I never questioned it. I trusted him completely.

But lately, I'd been feeling off. Tired all the time, a strange ache in my stomach. So I made a doctor's appointment, bringing the bottle with me just in case.

Dr. Evans looked at the pills, then at the lab report from my bloodwork. Her expression was serious.

"Mrs. Cordova," she started, her voice gentle. "These aren't vitamins."

I waited.

"They're a very potent form of birth control."

The room went silent. The air felt thick, hard to breathe.

"What?" I heard myself say. "That's not possible. We're trying for a baby."

"These pills would make that impossible," she said, her eyes full of pity. "They're designed for long-term use, to ensure there is no chance of conception."

My mind went blank. It didn't make sense. Andreas loved me. He wanted a family as much as I did. We talked about our future children, what their names would be, what they would look like.

"There must be a mistake," I insisted, my voice trembling. "My husband wouldn't..."

Dr. Evans sighed. She seemed hesitant.

"Jewel... I know your husband. Andreas."

I looked up, confused.

"I'm a colleague of his. From the firm. Well, my husband works there. We attend the same company events."

A cold feeling started to creep up my spine.

"A few days ago, there was a celebration at the hospital. For the new pediatric wing his firm designed."

She paused, then took a deep breath.

"He was there. With his wife."

The word hung in theair. Wife. I was his wife.

"I don't understand," I whispered.

"His wife, Annabelle Downs," Dr. Evans said, her voice dropping lower. "They just had a baby boy. Andreas was holding him. Everyone was congratulating them."

She pulled out her phone and showed me a picture from a social media page. It was a group photo. Andreas was in the center, beaming. In his arms was a newborn baby. Standing next to him, her hand on his arm, was a woman I recognized. Annabelle. The "childhood friend" he sometimes mentioned, the daughter of a close family friend. He always said she was like a sister to him.

In the picture, she looked at him with an expression of pure adoration. They looked like a perfect family.

The world tilted. The doctor's words faded into a dull roar. A lie. My entire life, my five-year marriage, was a lie.

I stumbled out of the doctor's office in a daze. I don't know how I ended up in the hospital's quiet corridor, huddled on a bench. My phone buzzed. It was Andreas. I ignored it.

Then I heard his voice. Not from the phone, but from around the corner. He was talking to someone.

"Mark, you have to help me keep this quiet."

It was his best friend, Mark.

"Andreas, this is insane," Mark's voice was stressed. "You can't keep lying to Jewel. Annabelle had your child. You have to choose."

A long silence. Then Andreas spoke, his voice filled with a pain that I, for a horrifying second, believed was real.

"I can't choose. I love Jewel. You have no idea how much I love her. Being with her is like breathing. But Annabelle... she's been with me since we were kids. My family, her family... I can't abandon her. Especially not now."

"So what's your plan?" Mark asked. "Annabelle gets to have your child, and Jewel gets what? Nothing?"

Andreas's next words froze the blood in my veins.

"She gets me," he said, his voice turning cold and hard. "And that's enough. I'll make sure she never has a child. Annabelle will have my heir. Jewel will have my love. It's the only way."

The only way.

The casual cruelty of it, the calculated destruction of my dreams, my body, my future... it broke something inside me.

The air in my lungs turned to poison. I gasped, trying to breathe, but my chest was a block of ice.

My phone buzzed again. A text from Andreas.

Sweetheart, where are you? I'm worried. I love you.

I stared at the words, and a choked, silent sob ripped through me. Love. He didn't know the meaning of the word. His love was a cage. His love was a poison he fed me every day.

All the little inconsistencies, the sudden business trips, the times he was unreachable... it all clicked into place. He wasn't building a life with me. He was managing two separate lives, and I was the one kept in the dark, the one being slowly erased.

I was the other woman.

The thought was so absurd, so humiliating, I almost laughed. After five years of marriage, I was the mistress.

My mind felt like it was cracking open. I couldn't scream. I couldn't cry. The real collapse is silent. It's the moment you realize the foundation of your entire world is sand, and the tide is coming in.

Another text. This time, a picture. It was from an unknown number. It was Annabelle, holding her baby, smiling smugly at the camera. The caption read: He's with his real family tonight. Don't wait up.

I didn't delete it. I just stared.

He wasn't mine. The life I thought we had wasn't mine. The future I dreamed of wasn't mine.

Fine. He could have it. He could have all of it.

But I knew Andreas. His love was possessive. He would never let me go willingly. I needed help.

My fingers, shaking, scrolled through my contacts. I stopped on a name I hadn't called in ten years. Cassidy Farrell.

My high school flame. The one who had told me, the day before I left for college, that his offer would always stand.

The phone rang once, twice. He picked up.

"Jewel?" His voice was deeper, but I recognized it instantly.

Tears I didn't know I had left began to fall. My voice was a broken whisper.

"Cassidy... it's me."

I took a shaky breath.

"That offer... to help me disappear... is it still good?"