Chapter 4A Love Made of Scars

I screamed, a raw, primal sound, and threw the bodyguard off me with all my strength. Blood from my forehead streamed into my eyes, turning the world red.

But I could still see it. The face in the reflection. It was monstrous, unfamiliar, the face of a hardened criminal.

I stumbled out of the room, my voice tearing from my throat. “Give me back my face! Give it back!”

Patients in the hallway stopped and stared. It wasn't until I heard a terrified shriek that I instinctively covered my face.

“It’s her! The fugitive! The one who killed her whole family!”

My nails dug into my palms. “I’m not a killer!” I shrieked, losing control. “This isn’t my face!”

I had thought the worst-case scenario was that Alistair would give me a plain, unremarkable face. I never imagined he would have me surgically altered to look like a wanted murderer.

Did he hate me that much? He had killed our child, and now he was trying to utterly destroy my life.

I collapsed, sobbing, clutching my head.

Someone threw something. Scalding soup splashed across my face, followed by a plate of greasy food. My vision blurred, and I fell.

“Call the police! Get her before she hurts someone!”

Fists and feet rained down on me. Someone stomped on my stomach. My fingers were crushed under a heavy boot. I curled into a ball, a warm liquid spreading between my legs.

The scent of my own blood filled the air, followed by the wail of sirens.

An officer pulled me to my feet, the cold metal of handcuffs snapping around my wrists.

I coughed up more blood, shaking my head. “I’m not a murderer… I’m Seraphina Ashworth… they changed my face…”

The officer frowned, looking around. No one stepped forward to defend me.

Despair was a spider’s web, thick and suffocating. I used my last ounce of strength to scream in the direction Alistair had gone. “Alistair, it was me who was with you! You promised you would protect me! You promised to make me the happiest bride in the world…”

People looked at me like I was insane. Everyone in the city knew that Alistair Vaughn loved the younger Ashworth twin but had been forced to marry the elder. Two identical faces, yet his heart belonged only to one.

The officer pushed me forward, studying my new face intently. “Save it. You’re the woman on the wanted poster. You can tell your story down at the station.”

As we reached the hospital entrance, I saw Alistair helping Sabrina into his car.

Like a drowning woman grasping at a straw, I broke free and lunged towards him. “Tell them! Tell them I’m Seraphina Ashworth! I’m not a killer!”

Alistair gave me a fleeting, indifferent glance before addressing the officer behind me. “I’m sorry. I don’t know her.”

A murderer gets the death penalty. Was my life really worth so little to him?

A bloody laugh tore from my lips. My heart shattered into dust. “Alistair Vaughn, I hope you live to regret this.”

Sabrina trembled in his arms, her eyes red, the picture of a frightened rabbit.

I closed my eyes, all the fight gone out of me. I let the officers lead me away.

As Alistair settled Sabrina into the car, he felt a strange, sharp pain in his chest, as if he’d been stabbed. He looked down to check on Sabrina, but his eyes were drawn to the bracelet on her wrist. To a tiny, almost invisible ‘S’ engraved on the charm.

At the same moment, his phone buzzed violently. A new message popped onto the screen.

Mr. Vaughn… the one who was with you when you were blind… it was your wife…