Chapter One; The Set-up
1322 Words
Anna woke up with a pounding headache and a strange heaviness in her body.
For a few seconds, she couldn’t move. Her head felt foggy, her throat dry, and her stomach twisted in a knot. She blinked slowly, trying to focus on her surroundings.
When her vision cleared, her heart nearly stopped. This wasn’t her room, and then it hit her suddenly.
She was naked!
Anna gasped and sat up instantly with her heart pounding. She looked around wildly, clutching the sheets against her chest.
Panic flooded her as she saw her clothes scattered on the floor. Her dress, her underwear, and everything were thrown carelessly around.
“What the hell…” she whispered with her voice trembling.
Her mind raced, replaying the last thing she remembered. Chloe is smiling.
The wine and the laughter, then dizziness… and nothing.
“Oh my God,” Anna muttered with her breathing turning sharp. “Oh my God, she drugged me!”
Her heart clenched as the truth sank in. Chloe had planned something. This wasn’t a dream. It was real… horribly real.
“Chloe!” she shouted with her voice breaking. “Chloe, where the hell are you?”
No reply came.
She threw the sheets off and rushed to the floor, grabbing her clothes in a panic.
Her hands shook as she struggled to put them on. She didn’t even care if they were wrinkled or backward… she just needed to get out.
Her skin crawled, and tears filled her eyes.
She pulled on her dress with her heart racing faster than ever.
“What did you do to me, Chloe?” she whispered, her voice cracking.
When she finally managed to get dressed, she looked toward the clock on the nightstand and froze.
“Four fifteen?” she gasped.
It was already past 4 PM.
“What the f**k…” she whispered again, clutching her phone.
She pressed the power button, but it didn’t come on immediately. It had been turned off.
“Oh, no,” she whispered with panic rising again.
She turned it on, waiting impatiently for the screen to light up. When it finally did, a flood of messages popped up, all from Dennis, and her stomach dropped.
“This can’t be happening,” she said with her voice trembling.
Anna dashed through the house, calling for Chloe again, checking every room… the kitchen, the living room, and the bathroom, but Chloe was gone.
Completely gone.
Tears threatened to spill as she grabbed her purse and bolted out the door.
She waved down a cab, frantically climbing in without even catching her breath.
“McKenna Mansion,”
she said quickly.
The driver nodded and drove off.
Anna sat in silence the whole ride, staring out the window with her hands trembling on her lap.
She felt dirty, used, and humiliated. Her mind was spinning and trying to make sense of what had just happened.
By the time the cab pulled into Dennis’s driveway, her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears.
His car was parked outside, and her breath caught in her throat.
“Oh no…”
She paid the driver quickly and ran inside. Dennis was in the living room, sitting on the couch with a glass of wine in one hand and a half-empty bottle on the table.
His jaw was tight and his eyes dark and cold.
“Dennis…” she started softly.
He looked up slowly.
“Hi…” she said again, taking a cautious step forward.
Before she could say another word, his hand came flying across her face.
SLAP!
Anna gasped, stumbling backward. The pain stung instantly, spreading across her cheek. She could taste blood on her lips.
“Dennis!” she cried, clutching her face. “What the hell…”
“Where the hell have you been?!” he shouted, slamming his glass down on the table.
Anna froze.
“I…” she stammered. “I went to see Chloe. She…she wanted to apologize.”
Dennis laughed bitterly.
“Apolog: That's what you call it?”
“What are you talking about?”
He picked up a remote and pointed it at the television. A second later, a video he had cast from his phone to the TV began to play on the big screen, and Anna’s eyes widened in horror.
It was her! Her body... Naked... On a bed. moving, but it wasn’t her moving.
She was limp, unconscious, and there was a man.
A total stranger at work overheard her as sounds of moaning filled the room.
Anna’s hands flew to her mouth as she stared with her breath caught in her throat.
“No no, no, no!” Her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor. “This isn’t real. This isn’t real!”
Dennis stood up with fury in his eyes.
“So what the hell is this then?!”
“It’s not what it looks like!” Anna cried. “Dennis, please, I swear to you… I didn’t do anything! Chloe drugged me!”
“Drugged you?” Dennis repeated with his voice dripping with disbelief. “That’s your excuse?”
“It’s not an excuse!” she shouted desperately. “She drugged me! I don’t even know who that man is! Please, you have to believe me!”
He scoffed and walked toward her with his face inches from hers.
“Believe you? You’ve been married to me for barely a day, and you’re already in another man’s bed!”
“I wasn’t!” she screamed with tears spilling down her cheeks. “I didn’t even know what happened until I woke up! Please, Dennis, you have to believe me!”
He turned away, shaking his head.
“You disgust me.”
Anna sobbed harder.
“Dennis…”
“Don’t call my name!” he roared, slamming his fist against the wall. “You think I’m stupid, huh? You think I don’t know your type?”
“What type?!”
“The type that sleeps their way around!” he snapped. “You’re nothing but a cheap w***e with a pretty face!”
Anna’s breath hitched.
“How could you say that to me? I’ve done nothing but…”
“Nothing but what? Lie?”
“I’m telling the truth!” she pleaded, grabbing his arm. “Please, you have to believe me. Chloe did this! She set me up!”
He yanked his arm away violently.
“Stop saying her name!”
“Dennis…”
“Enough!” he shouted with his voice shaking with anger. “You’re a liar and a harlot, and you fooled everyone, including me!”
Anna stood there, trembling with tears running freely down her face.
“Please, just listen to me.”
But Dennis wasn’t listening. His jaw tightened as he reached for a file on the table and threw it at her feet.
“Here,” he said coldly. “Since you love to play innocent, maybe you can explain this, too.”
Anna hesitated before picking it up. She flipped it open, and her world fell apart all over again.
It was a hospital document with her name and her details. It was a diagnosis.
Her eyes ran over the words…multiple abortions... severe damage to the uterine lining... unlikely to conceive naturally.
Anna’s blood ran cold.
“What is this?”
Dennis laughed bitterly.
“Don’t act surprised. It’s your record, isn’t it?”
“My record?” she repeated with her voice barely a whisper. “I’ve never had an abortion in my life. I’ve never even been pregnant!”
He glared at her.
“So the hospital’s lying now?”
“Yes!” she cried. “This isn’t real! It’s fake! Chloe must have…”
SLAP.
Another blow landed hard across her cheek, knocking her sideways, and she tasted more blood this time with the sting burning her skin…
- Writer
