I Set You Free

Chapter 1

**Prelude**

Three days before the wedding, my spine was shattered in a car accident.

Lily made sure the driver who did this to me ended up behind bars.

I lay there in the hospital bed, barely able to comprehend the gravity of it all. I was paralyzed.

Half-conscious, I overheard Lily talking to the doctor, her voice cold and calculating.

"Ms. Parker, there's still time to save him. If we wait, he'll be permanently disabled. Do you really want to ruin this man's life just so Ryan can be your groom?"

"Let him be crippled. I'll take care of him. If he recovers, he'll just mess everything up for the wedding."

"I promised Ryan a grand ceremony to bring our child into the Parker family. Jack needs to be fully incapacitated for Ryan to accept the baby as his own. Disabled is better, at least he won't hurt the child."

A single tear slid down my cheek, unnoticed.

The wedding I'd been dreaming of? A lie.

The love I thought was real? My death sentence.

If that's what she wanted, I'd give it to her.

**Prelude ends**

"Keep quiet and stick to the plan. The vasectomy needs to be clean, and he can't find out."

"When he wakes up, I'll take him to the orphanage to bring the child back. Without the ability to have kids, he'll love Emma like he's supposed to."

The doctor wiped the sweat from his forehead, his discomfort palpable.

"Ms. Parker, please think this through. Mr. Carter is already paralyzed from the waist down. If you go through with this... you're destroying his life. How will he face the Parker family? He's still a man, after all..."

"And your child with Ryan is already three. That girl looks just like you. If Mr. Carter finds out..."

Lily casually wiped my chapped lips with a damp cloth, her voice dripping with a kind of sad, regretful longing.

"He won't find out. As long as he's disabled, he'll be stuck at the Parker estate, unable to leave."

"I promised Ryan a big wedding. I promised we'd raise our child together. Even if he's marrying someone else now, I won't let him have any doubts."

The doctor sighed, his eyes lingering on my motionless body.

"Jack is a good guy. You two grew up together. Why do you insist on holding on to this...?" He trailed off, clearly struggling with his own conscience. "Never mind. If this is what you want, let's just do it."

"Get the surgery ready," Lily ordered. "Make sure it's clean, no trace left. I don't want him to suffer more than necessary while he's still unconscious."

The doctor left quickly, and Lily, looking calm and composed, sent a voice message to her assistant.

"Did the driver say anything he shouldn't have? As we agreed, give his family two million, get them out of the city. Make sure Jack never finds out."