Anna took the fall for her husband, Michael, after a car crash and spent three years in prison. After many life-saving acts inside, she was released three months early, eager to surprise him and their daughter.
She walked in on Michael kissing her best friend, Sofia, and learned their child had died from their neglect. Then the truth surfaced: the “accident” had been Michael’s staged murder, and he’d insured Anna, planning to end her for the payout.
Anna’s world shattered completely. Backed by a billionaire she once saved, Anna claimed a new identity, entered high society, and turned revenge into justice, love, and an empire.
Three Years In Chains, A Lifetime Of Vengeance Chapter 1 Betrayal
When my fingertips touched the half-open door, my heart pounded hard in my chest.
I spent three years in prison after taking the blame for my husband, Michael Rivera. The sentence was reduced by three months because I saved people three times while I was in prison.
The freedom I received just before Christmas felt like a beam of light. It lit up the world that had stayed dark for two years and nine months.
With that surprise in my heart, I hurried home from prison. I imagined the smile Michael would show when I opened the door. I also imagined my daughter, Lily, running into my arms while calling out, “Mommy” in her soft voice.
That hope was the reason I traded nearly three years of prison. It was the belief that carried me through the cold nights. My home, my husband, and my daughter were all safe and waiting for me.
No. 18 on Central Avenue in Kregan was the home I missed for nearly three years.
I slowly pushed the door open. The scent in the entryway made me stop where I stood.
The smell was not jasmine.
Before I went to prison, Michael gave me a bottle of jasmine diffuser oil. He said the smell was as fresh as I was. I always placed it on the shelf in the entryway.
Now the air held a sweet perfume. The smell was strong, like an overripe apple giving off its last burst of sweetness before it began to rot. The scent made my nose itch.
The bottle of jasmine diffuser oil was gone.
My eyes moved across the entryway wall. My heart sank.
The family photo of the three of us at the beach was gone. Lily’s picture in her princess dress from her first birthday was gone as well.
Faint marks stayed on the wall where the photos once hung. Those marks looked like scars, reminding me that something had changed.
There was also no Christmas tree in the living room.
A sense of foreboding filled me. Breathing suddenly felt difficult.
“Michael?” My voice came out careful and uncertain as I called into the living room. The sound carried through the quiet house, and the echo only made the emptiness feel heavier.
No one answered.
Even so, the house didn’t look empty. Signs of life surrounded me, yet none of them felt like they belonged to me.
Two wine glasses with stems rested on the table. Faint lipstick stains marked the rims. The shade was a deep red I had never used.
A black silk nightgown hung loosely across the sofa. The design showed too much skin, and the size was larger than anything I wore. The same strong perfume still clung to the fabric.
Slow steps carried me toward the sofa. As my hand brushed across the surface, I noticed a fresh scratch.
Without pausing to think, I crouched down and slid my fingers into the narrow space beside it. My fingertips touched something small and hard beneath the sofa.
I carefully pulled it free. A small box rested in my palm.
It was Lily’s word puzzle box. One corner had already broken.
For a brief moment, shock hit me. Then everything inside me fell silent.
That box was Lily’s favorite birthday gift. I was the one who gave it to her when she turned three.
Word puzzles always made her happy.
She wrapped her arms around my neck that day and spoke in her soft little voice. “Mommy, this box is so pretty. I want to be a puzzle master.”
The day they took me to prison, she held the same box tight in her arms. Tears streamed down her face while she grabbed the hem of my clothes and refused to let go.
I remembered every bit of it. To Lily, that word puzzle box was a treasure. She would’ve never left it forgotten under a sofa.
Yet now it sat in a dark corner, tossed aside like trash. Dust covered the surface.
Where was Lily? Where was my little sweetheart?
Then a sound reached me from upstairs. A man and a woman laughed together in the bedroom above. Their playful voices drifted down the staircase and landed clearly in my ears.
Those voices were familiar.
I knew them the moment they reached my ears. Michael was the man speaking. My husband. The one I had spent three years missing. The woman laughing with him was Sofia Nelson, the friend I trusted more than anyone.
Rage rushed through me without warning. Then just as suddenly, everything inside me went still.
Without making a sound, I slipped Lily’s word puzzle box back beneath the sofa.
My feet carried me toward the stairs before I even realized what I was doing. Each step felt heavier than the last as I moved upward.
The bedroom door upstairs hadn’t been fully closed. A small gap remained. Through that opening, the scene inside came into view.
Three years ago I went to prison in Michael’s place. Now the man I protected lay naked in bed with Sofia, the woman I once called my closest friend.
Sofia’s arm rested across his chest. Satisfaction showed on her face while Michael leaned down and pressed a kiss against her neck. The way he moved with her made the meaning clear.
With a playful tone, Sofia spoke first. “Tell me something, Michael. When Anna learns Lily is dead, do you think she’ll lose her mind?”
Lily… dead?
The words hit me like a blow. The warmth drained from my body, and for a moment I almost lost my balance.
My teeth clamped down hard on my lip to stop any sound from escaping. The taste of blood spread across my tongue.
“If she does lose her mind, even better,” Michael said coldly. “She’s a problem as long as she stays alive. She’s the only one who knows how I got her to take the blame for that car accident. And don’t forget something else. The insurance policy I bought for her lists me as the only beneficiary. Once she’s gone, that $500, 000 payout comes straight to me. After that, nothing will stop us from staying together.”
Insurance?
Fragments of memory rushed back all at once.
Back then Michael told me he had hit someone with his car. He cried while begging me to take the blame for him. He promised it was only accidental and said the sentence would be short. I trusted him. In court, I accepted every charge so he could stay free and raise Lily.
Before the accident, he had insisted that I sign a high value personal accident insurance policy. At the time I believed it meant he cared about my safety. Now the truth finally showed itself. From the very beginning, he had planned to kill me.
My daughter was dead. My husband wanted me dead. The woman I trusted had betrayed me.
The three years I spent in prison had only led me into a lie that had been planned from the start.
The family I once believed in had been destroyed by them.
For a moment, the urge to burst into that room and kill them both with my own hands almost took control of me.
But I forced myself to stop.
My jaw tightened while my hands curled into fists.
I couldn’t stay there any longer. Without making a sound, I turned away and walked downstairs.
Just as I reached the front door, someone appeared outside. It was my neighbor, Mary Harris.
Her voice rang out the moment she saw me. “Anna? You’re back?”
“Yeah,” I answered.
The laughter from upstairs stopped at once.
Footsteps rushed across the floor above. By the time I looked back, Michael and Sofia had already pulled on their clothes. Both of them ran downstairs barefoot.
Michael saw me first. Shock flashed across his face. Then panic replaced it.
Three Years In Chains, A Lifetime Of Vengeance Chapter 2 Fury
Michael stood there with his shirt half fastened, the buttons uneven. His hand had been resting around Sofia’s waist, but the moment he noticed me, he pulled it away.
Right beside him was Sofia. She had wrapped herself in my silk robe.
That cream-colored robe had always been my favorite. Now it clung to her body. Red marks showed faintly along the collar. Her damp hair fell over her shoulders, and the same heavy perfume from the entryway followed her.
Watching the way they stood close together twisted something sharp inside me.
The air seemed to freeze. Silence stretched tight between us.
My eyes stayed fixed on them.
Michael took a step forward. “Anna?” he said, but there was no happiness in his voice. His eyes studied me carefully. “How did you end up getting out early?”
I said nothing. Instead, my eyes shifted past him and landed on Sofia.
She laughed softly, and the mockery in her tone wasn’t even hidden. “Well, look at you. Prison life must’ve agreed with you, Anna. You actually look better than I thought you would.”
I pulled in a slow breath and swallowed the tightness in my throat. Then I stepped inside the house. Each step felt heavier than the last.
My voice came out rough when I finally spoke. “Where’s Lily?”
For a brief moment, Michael and Sofia looked at each other. The understanding that passed between them hurt more than anything else.
Their eyes held the same cold malice.
Michael lowered his gaze and sighed, though the sadness looked forced. “Lily…” he said slowly. “Something happened. About two months ago she caught a cold, and it turned into acute pneumonia. We couldn’t save her. We planned to tell you the next time we visited you in prison.”
Lies.
Every word he spoke was part of a lie he had prepared.
Since the day I was sent to prison, Michael had never visited me once.
Before prison took me away, I brought Lily to the hospital for a complete checkup. The doctor told me she was healthy and rarely even caught a cold. Because she was allergic to penicillin, I kept the right medicine at home and reminded Michael again and again to store it carefully. If Lily ever became sick, he had to be careful and never give her the wrong medication.
Something else didn’t make sense. If Lily had really died, why was I never informed? Even if I was still in prison, why didn’t anyone allow me to see her one last time?
A quiet laugh slipped from my mouth. “Is that how it happened?” While speaking, I bent down beside the sofa and pretended I had just discovered something underneath.
Then I lifted my hand. The puzzle box rested in my palm. Its broken corner faced them clearly. “Why did Lily’s puzzle box end up under the sofa?”
The color drained from both of their faces.
My eyes stayed locked on Michael while I spoke slowly. “She never brought this into the living room. Lily only used it in the bedroom when we worked on word puzzles together. Michael, tell me what really happened. Did you pull her out of the bedroom and hit her in the living room?”
Michael froze. He swallowed and turned his eyes away from mine.
Sofia reacted first. She stepped forward quickly and reached toward the box in my hand. Concern appeared on her face, but the expression felt forced. “Anna, you just came out of prison. Your emotions are all over the place right now. Please don’t imagine things like this. Lily’s death hurt us too. Let’s slow down and talk calmly.”
Before her fingers could reach me, I stepped back.
Just the thought of her touching me made my stomach turn. Her hand carried a cold feeling that made me feel sick.
Without warning, memories flooded my mind. That rainy night from three years ago appeared clearly again.
Michael had stumbled through the door that evening. The smell of alcohol surrounded him. His face looked pale and his whole body trembled. “Anna, I drove while drunk and hit someone. They’re dead. If this goes to court, I’ll be convicted of murder. I’ll spend the rest of my life in prison.”
At that moment he looked completely helpless. Seeing him like that made my chest ache. I even wished the mistake had been mine instead of his.
I told him to go turn himself in. Instead, he collapsed and grabbed my arm.
“You’re the only one who can help me,” he begged. “You’re a nurse. You can say you were the one driving and that you failed to save the injured person. That would only count as negligence, and the sentence would be much shorter. I’ll take care of Lily while you’re gone. I’ll wait for you to come back home.”
I trusted him.
Ten years of love stood behind that trust. For his sake, I had even gone against my parents and followed him overseas so we could marry.
Back then I believed what we had built together could survive anything. I also believed he would keep the promise he made to raise Lily while I served my sentence.
When the trial began, my lawyer tried to stop me. His advice meant nothing to me. Inside that courtroom, I accepted the entire blame.
The judge questioned me during the hearing. “Why didn’t you stop and report the accident to the police?” I answered that I panicked.
When the final decision came down, my eyes found Michael in the gallery. His eyes were swollen and red from crying. Through trembling lips, he silently murmured, “I’ll wait for you.”
In his arms, Lily reached toward me. “Mom!” she cried. That voice stayed with me through three years behind bars, and that moment remained the clearest memory.
Then there was the insurance.
Only a few days before the accident, Michael returned home carrying an insurance policy. He placed the document in front of me and urged me to sign it.
“If anything ever happens to you,” he told me, “this will protect you financially.”
At first I refused. Money was already tight, and I didn’t want to add another payment to our lives. He reached out, held my face gently, and kissed me. “This is just a safety measure, baby,” he said softly. “The premiums are nothing for me. Just sign it so I can stop worrying.”
So once again, I trusted him.
Now that I think back on it, that document was never meant to protect me. It was a trap.
The beneficiaries listed on the policy were Michael and Lily. Now Lily was gone. That left only one person to receive the money.
The reason he wanted me dead was pretty obvious. It was the insurance payout waiting for him.
Three Years In Chains, A Lifetime Of Vengeance Chapter 3 I’m Divorcing You
“You two are responsible for Lily’s death!” I shouted, anger pouring out of me.
The forced smile on Sofia’s face stiffened instantly, and a trace of panic flashed in her eyes.
Michael reacted at once. “Anna, what are you saying? Have you lost your mind after spending time in prison?”
“Lost my mind?” I stared straight at him while a cold smile formed on my lips. “Two months ago, Lily had pneumonia. Which hospital treated her? Who was the doctor? Where is the death certificate? Show it to me!”
My questions left him silent, and his face shifted between anger and embarrassment.
“You never brought her to a hospital, did you?” I moved closer step by step. The anger in my voice could no longer be held back. “You were too busy enjoying your own lives. To you, Lily was only a burden. You didn’t even allow her to stay in the bedroom. When she became sick, you ignored her. You left her there until she died, and afterward you tried to hide the truth!”
Each word cut through me as I spoke, yet the pain did not break me apart. Instead, my thoughts became clearer than ever.
Their shifting eyes and rigid posture told me everything I needed to know. My suspicion had been correct.
Michael’s expression turned completely dark. The last hint of the gentle act he used to show disappeared, leaving only the cruel look beneath it.
“So what if you’re right?” His voice dropped as he stepped closer. Threats were clear in his eyes. “Anna, what do you think you can do now? You’re a convicted criminal. You just walked out of prison. You’re unstable. Who would believe anything you say?”
His hand suddenly clamped around my wrist. The pressure was so strong that it felt as if my bones might break.
The bag on my shoulder slipped down and hit the floor.
I winced in pain while trying to pull myself free.
“If you know what’s good for you, leave right now and never return,” he said coldly. “I’ll even give you some money so you can disappear somewhere far away.”
His voice lowered near my ear, carrying a chilling tone. “But if you insist on causing trouble, an ex-prisoner ending her own life out of guilt and following her daughter to the grave isn’t something unusual.”
I stared at the clear intent to kill in his eyes. Then, without warning, a cold laugh escaped me.
The sound of my laughter rang out so loudly that he froze for a moment and loosened his grip on my wrist.
“You’re absolutely right, Michael,” I said. “I just walked out of prison. I have nothing now, and people see me as a criminal. That’s the situation you created for me.”
I glanced at the red marks forming on my wrist and rubbed it slowly. Then my arm lifted without hesitation, and my hand struck Michael across the face.
The sound of the slap echoed sharply.
Michael had never imagined someone like me would dare to hit him.
He stood there in shock. One hand pressed against his cheek while the other reached for the wall to steady himself.
“Have you lost your mind?” Sofia cried out in disbelief. She hurried over and tried to grab me.
My left arm pushed her aside while my right hand swung toward her face.
That single strike did not satisfy the anger inside me. I hit her three more times without pause.
Red handprints appeared immediately on her delicate skin. She stumbled backward, lost her balance, and collapsed onto the floor.
“I’m not insane,” I said in a cold voice. “Those slaps were for Lily. And this is only the beginning of what you’ll face.”
Both of them groaned as they clutched their faces. Pain twisted their expressions, leaving them unable to respond.
I leaned down and picked up my bag from the floor before placing the puzzle box inside it.
The bag held very little. Only a few sets of clothes were packed inside, along with a worn piece of paper that had a phone number written on it.
Eight years earlier, an elderly man had given me that note after I saved him in Kregan Central Park.
Bale Smith was his name, a billionaire who kept a low profile.
While jogging that day, he had suffered a heart attack. My first-aid training allowed me to save his life.
Out of gratitude, he told me, “Anna, if you ever need help someday, you can call this number.”
Back then, I believed he was only being polite. I never imagined those words would one day become my last hope.
At that moment, I had no way to deal with those two shameless people.
Still, I would find a method eventually.
My thoughts turned to Bale. Perhaps he would be able to help me.
“I’m divorcing you,” I said as I turned toward the door. Each step I took was steady. “The divorce papers will reach you soon.”
I paused at the door, then added, my voice carrying through the quiet living room, filled with bitter anger, “I will make sure both of you pay for what you’ve done. You will end up exactly where you belong!”
Without turning back, I walked straight to the door. I opened it and stepped outside without a moment of hesitation.
Night had already settled over the city.
The cold wind of winter cut sharply against my face. It made me shiver, yet it also cleared my thoughts.
From my pocket, I pulled out my phone along with the old note. Then I dialed the number written on it.
After the line connected, Bale’s warm and steady voice answered, “This is Bale Smith speaking. Who am I talking to?”
“Mr. Smith,” I replied. The cold air made my voice shake slightly, though it wasn’t from fear. What filled me now was a firm and growing resolve.
“Anna? Is that really you?” Bale recognized me immediately and sounded surprised. “You finally called! I keep this phone with me twenty-four hours a day because of you!”
Hearing that, I felt a quiet warmth spread through my chest. “Yes, it’s me. You once told me that if I ever needed help…”
“Of course,” Bale said at once, and his tone softened with concern. “You can reach out to me anytime. What’s going on? Tell me what happened.”
“I need your help,” I said after drawing a deep breath while the urge for revenge burned inside me. “The two people who caused my daughter’s death and even tried to kill me must face the consequences.”
Bale did not hesitate for even a second. His voice returned steady and decisive. “Tell me where you are. I’ll send someone to bring you here. Once you arrive, we will discuss everything else.”