Chapter 3

Sarah cried out, clutching her ankle. The snake, disturbed, quickly disappeared into the hay.

Brenda gasped, feigning shock. "Oh, my goodness! Sarah, are you alright?"

Pain lanced through Sarah, but a cold fury cut through the haze.

"Stop it, Brenda," Sarah hissed, her voice trembling. "Stop your disgusting act."

Brenda' s sweet expression vanished. Her face hardened into a sneer.

"Act? Oh, darling, the act is over."

She stepped closer, her voice low and venomous. "I spread the rumors about you and Liam. Every last one. And that 'cleansing tonic'? A little something special from my own garden. Strong herbs. You' ll never carry another child, Sarah. Never."

Sarah stared, horrified.

Brenda' s eyes glittered with malice. "And your precious little 'removed' babies? I have keepsakes. Little photos, a lock of hair. Something to remember them by."

A tidal wave of rage, grief, and despair crashed over Sarah. Her vision tunneled.

She saw a broken piece of a rusted metal tool lying in the dirt – sharp, jagged.

With a guttural scream, she lunged, grabbing the metal, aiming for Brenda' s smug face.

"Ethan! Help me!" Brenda shrieked, stumbling back.

Ethan stormed into the barn. He saw Sarah, wild-eyed, the metal in her hand. He didn't hesitate.

He violently shoved Sarah to the ground. Her head hit the hard-packed earth.

"What the hell are you doing, you crazy bitch?" he roared. "She was just checking on you!"

Sarah tried to speak, to explain, but the snake venom was working fast. Her tongue felt thick, her vision blurred. A wave of nausea hit her.

Ethan looked down at her, and for a fleeting second, a flicker of something – hesitation? Doubt? – crossed his face as he saw her pale, clammy skin.

Brenda seized the moment.

"Ethan, look!" she cried, pulling a folded paper from her pocket. "I found this! It' s a letter... from Liam to Sarah."

She thrust it at him. "They were planning to meet! To run away together!"

Ethan snatched the letter. His eyes scanned the forged words, detailing a secret rendezvous, filled with false endearments.

His face, already grim, became a mask of pure fury. He crumpled the letter and threw it at Sarah.

"So, it's true," he hissed, his voice dangerously low.

Sarah, delirious from pain, venom, and despair, could only mutter, "Might as well... go meet Liam... make it true..."

Ethan' s eyes blazed. He misinterpeted her desperate, broken words as defiance.

He grabbed her hair, yanking her head back.

"Tell me the truth about you and Liam!" he snarled, his face inches from hers. "Or tell me what you really did with those babies! Maybe you got rid of them yourself to be with him!"

His breath was hot on her face. He reeked of rage. "Or I swear, Annie, I will take you right here, right now, until you scream it!"

"You' re a beast!" Sarah screamed, a last vestiges of strength fueling her voice.

He recoiled as if struck, disgust twisting his features. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"If you don't tell me by the day of that supposed meeting," he threatened, his voice deadly calm, "I will hunt Liam down. And I will kill him. Slowly."

Sarah could only weep, her body wracked with pain and poison. "I'm innocent... Liam is innocent..."

"You tricked me into marriage," Ethan said, his voice flat again, cold as the Montana winter. "You never loved me. It was always him."