Blurb：
Adelaide Beck’s fairytale wedding to renowned surgeon Dr. Phineas Holt turns to tragedy when she’s pushed off their yacht by his secret lover, **Magnolia Dubois**—the woman he *owed* a $5 million debt. But when Adelaide survives the icy Pacific’s grasp, she uncovers Phineas and her brother **Nathaniel**’s vicious plot: **faking her death** to erase their betrayal and protect Magnolia. Worse, Phineas *stole her kidney years ago*, and now uses his medical expertise to butcher her womb, framing her as a "promiscuous" liar to his elite family.
Locked in a Malibu attic during Phineas and Magnolia’s lavish wedding, Adelaide discovers decades of her love discarded like trash. With housekeeper **Maria**’s help, she learns the *bone marrow* and *kidney donations* saving Phineas and Nathaniel were **her own**—sacrifices they’ll never acknowledge. As Magnolia’s hired thorns close in to "taint" her permanently, Adelaide vows vengeance: **"I’ll burn their perfect lies to ashes."** But can she escape the ocean of secrets drowning her, or will Phineas’ scalpel silence her truth forever?
Content：
§PROLOGUEThe Pacific was a thief.
It stole the warmth from my skin first.
Then the air from my lungs.
Now, as my heirloom gown—the one I’d spent months lovingly restoring from my grandmother’s collection—dragged me down into the crushing dark, it was stealing the last of my life.
My gaze was fixed upward, at the shimmering surface I was sinking away from.
At the silhouette of the man I loved.
Phineas.
Dr. Phineas Holt. My fiancé. My husband, for all of three hours.
I saw him, a dark shape against the indifferent moon, his arm still outstretched.
Not toward me.
The life ring he’d thrown spun through the air, a perfect, mocking halo, and landed beside her.
Magnolia Dubois.
His childhood friend. The reason for the five-million-dollar “debt of gratitude” that had haunted our engagement. The woman who had, only moments before, tripped and pulled me over the railing of our wedding yacht with her.
One choice.
One life ring.
Wrong woman.
The last bubble of air escaped my lips, a silent scream into the abyss.
All his promises were scalpels, Phineas. You swore it just this afternoon. I see that now.
The cold was absolute.
Then, nothing.
§01
Consciousness returned as a brutal assault.
The stench of salt and decay.
The grit of sand scraping my cheek.
The raw, burning agony in my lungs.
I coughed, a wet, ragged sound that tore through my chest, and a torrent of seawater spilled from my mouth.
For three days and three nights, I had been the ocean’s plaything. A piece of driftwood in a wedding dress.
Now, I was washed ashore, a survivor spat out by the tide.
"Addie! My God, Addie!"
A voice, familiar and laced with panic.
My brother, Nathaniel.
Strong hands lifted me from the sand. His face, usually so composed, was a mask of terror and relief.
"I found her! Over here!" he yelled.
I sagged against him, my body a dead weight of exhaustion and pain. A sharp, cramping sensation seized my lower abdomen, a cruel reminder.
The baby.
My hand fluttered to my belly. A three-month secret. A life I had been waiting for the perfect moment to share with Phineas.
Was it still there?
Nathaniel wrapped me in a hotel blanket, his touch surprisingly gentle. "It's okay, Addie. I've got you. We're taking you back to the hotel. Phin is on his way."
Phineas.
His name was a shard of ice in my heart.
He’d left me to die.
I tried to speak, to warn Nathaniel, but my throat was raw, my voice a useless rasp.
He carried me into a lavish suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the opulence a sick joke against the backdrop of my near-death. He laid me on a king-sized bed with sheets so white they hurt my eyes.
"Phin's bringing his medical kit," Nathaniel said, pacing the room like a caged animal. "He said calling an ambulance would attract the press. We need to handle this quietly."
Quietly.
They wanted to bury their crime quietly.
The hotel room door burst open, and Phineas stood there, looking every bit the heroic doctor. His face was etched with worry, his eyes scanning my broken form.
For a terrifying moment, my traitorous heart leaped.
He came for me. He does love me.
Then I saw the look he exchanged with my brother. It wasn't love. It was something colder. Complicated.
"She’s hemorrhaging," Phineas said, his voice clipped and professional as he saw the blood staining the white sheets beneath me. He snapped open a black leather bag.
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