Too Late For Regret, Mr. Preston

After being acquitted of murder, Emilia stepped out of the courthouse, only to be publicly condemned by her fiancé, Knox Preston.

In front of the flashing cameras, he accused her of cheating and dragged her into his car. Ignoring her desperate pleas, he viciously kicked her in the stomach. As she bled out, losing their unborn baby, he forced their diamond engagement ring onto her finger as a twisted brand of ownership.

"You wanted to be Mrs. Preston so badly? Fine. I'll grant your wish."

He then blackmailed her into silence and locked her away in a brutal psychiatric facility. While Knox announced his new engagement on live television, the asylum guards demanded a protection fee. When the penniless Emilia couldn't pay, they pinned her down and used heavy-duty medical shears to brutally sever her ring finger, taking the diamond and leaving her mutilated in a pool of blood.

She survived that hellhole, living as a traumatized, invisible librarian for two years. She couldn't understand how the man who once promised her forever could strip away her child, her dignity, and her body so mercilessly, without a single shred of doubt.

But fate was cruel. During a charity gala at her library, Knox accidentally recognized her signature on a sketch. He hunted her down, cornered her in a staff elevator, and furiously ripped off her glove, completely unprepared for the gruesome, puckered stump where her ring finger used to be.