The Altar, The Lies, His Penance

Five years ago, my fiancé, Carter, left me at the altar. My sister, Camilla, framed me, and my own parents helped brand me a promiscuous woman who got pregnant by a stranger.

Abandoned and shamed, I was left to raise my son, Leo, alone, surviving three suicide attempts and a complete mental breakdown.

Now, Carter is back. He's obsessed, convinced Leo is his son, and is trying to take him from me. He even used a DNA test to prove Leo isn't my biological child, pushing me back to the edge of insanity.

When my sister tried to disfigure me with acid, I finally fought back. I slapped my parents, severing ties with the family that used and abused me.

But the truth was far more twisted than I ever imagined. Carter's mother confessed everything-the lies, the manipulation, the real reason he abandoned me.

He destroyed his own career in an act of penance, but it was too late.

Because the man who saved me, the man who stood by me through it all, had loved me in secret for years. And I was finally ready to see him.