The air hung thick with unspoken accusations and veiled contempt. Angeline Emmerson, her hand frozen on the door handle, overheard the venomous words echoing from inside: "Angeline is nothing but a fucking bitch who happens to be my ex." Ned Fletcher's voice, once a source of comfort, now dripped with disgust.

Zachary Stone's desperate defense of her, reminding Ned of her two-year coma and their shared past, only fueled Ned's fury. "She was the one who spiked my drink and fucked me against my will." His words were a knife, twisting in a wound Angeline had yet to heal.

She could almost see his impatient frown, the disdain in his eyes. The man who once loved and protected her was gone, replaced by a stranger who spread her nude photos and called her 'disgusting.' The world she’d known had shifted, and she, Angeline, was now the villain in her own story.

Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders, a soldier preparing for a battle she was already losing. She pushed the door open, stepping into the lion's den, her heart heavy with a pain that felt older than time.