1 PROLOGUE

Fairytales always have a happy ending. Girls are taught that love is beautiful and magical from an early age: everything will always be like a fairytale... Unfortunately, real life is not so magical and beautiful and not all fairy tales end with a happy ending.

“Mgh, agh.”

A woman with messy auburn hair was bidding in a latrine, a huge pain in her stomach was killing what little strength she had and sweat was pouring down her forehead as result of the effort.

“Collette, are you still there?” asked a young woman with black curls and honey eyes through the curtain that separated one latrine from another.

Collette answered with another moan of pain, digging her fingernails into her legs. She didn't know how much time had passed, but it felt like an eternity. The dampness of the putrid place coupled with the dim lighting made Collette more nervous.

“I told you that you should have taken that infusion; if you had listened to me, you wouldn't take as long to shit as you do now,” complained Bibi with a grimace.

“Shut up... and give me your hand... Agh!” she murmured weakly.

“Just because I agreed to be your friend doesn't mean—”

“Bibi!” she shouted desperately, scaring her cellmate. She rolled her eyes and pulled the curtain between her and her friend to see Collette squirming. Bibi grimaced, saving her scolding, and took her friend's hands.

“Okay, Collette, breathe, relax and concentrate.”

It was common for Bibi that many girls had problems defecating, so she always ordered artichoke tea every month. However, Collette's situation was not normal, her legs were too wide open, and she was sweating too much. The emerald-eyed young woman gave one last scream, cutting off the circulation from Bibi's hands, feeling the thing that had been torturing her for hours coming out of her entrails.

Neither of the two young women imagined what was happening.

“It's a baby!” Bibi screamed in horror, suddenly dropping her hands and pulling back, seeing the terrified face of her friend, who rushed to take the child in her arms.

The bathroom burst into high-pitched cries from the new creature, frightening the girls in the room. Collette looked at the child dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.

She had been pregnant all this time and never found out, never even had symptoms, or had her period cut off. In the seven months she had been in that prison, no one had ever touched her; it was impossible that...

Collette opened her eyes enormously as she concluded that the only person with whom she had shared intimacy was her great love Donnell Dunn, a mercenary who came unannounced into her life. She immediately cleaned the baby with her worn clothes, looking for some glass to cut the umbilical cord.

“Bibi, I need something sharp,” she whispered. Tiredness was getting the better of her. “Bibi.”

The mentioned one was still in shock on the dirty floor, looking at the whole scene with her mouth open; she couldn't understand how a living being had come out of her friend's body that, instead of gaining weight, was only losing it.

Collette found a small glass near the latrine and shakily picked it up, cut the cord, and tried to control the baby's crying by lulling him in her arms. The heavy military boots could be heard nearby, creating a more tense atmosphere. Bibi got up quickly and pulled the curtain to hide them while Collette hurried to breastfeed the newborn to quiet him.

“Shhh, baby, be quiet,” she murmured, pressing the tiny, squealing infant more against her breast.

“Bath time is over,” a guard with a dry voice spoke from the other side, making Collette's heartbeat faster. If he found out that she had given birth to Donnell's child, she wasn't sure what atrocities he would do.

“I know, I've only had a few problems.”

Bibi was a good liar compared to Collette, who wouldn't fool a fly.

“The boss will be here soon, and you of all people know that he doesn't like to wait.”

He stepped forward to intimidate the twenty-two-year-old, taking a head's height from her. The shadows made that frightening guard's face a hideous work of art; Bibi forced herself to hold his gaze for a few seconds, lowering it like an obedient submissive.

“I won't make him wait; I swear.”

“You have five minutes, and so does your friend,” that giant, with a cold look, took the curtain, intending to pull it. Collette stopped breathing; her whole body became so tense that it hurt.

The girl with auburn curls interposed herself between the guard and the curtain, standing very close to that demon. Bibi was a beautiful woman, large and hypnotizing eyes the color of honey, small and pointed nose, fleshy and pink lips with a slightly sweet taste, that, despite the poor diet she had, kept a little of her attributes, making her more irresistible. Bibi was the temptation in person, more than one guard had been lost in her gaze.

Without permission or authorization, the guard grabbed the young woman by the cheekbones joining her lips in a salivating kiss that only provoked disgust in Bibi.

“Don't be long.”

Collette wept with anger and gratitude as darkness took over her body. She hated that her parents objected to the fairytale love she had with Donnell and forced her best friend, Elliot Craig, to marry her. She hated Elliot's sick jealousy and all the barbarities he had done to her.

“Collette, I need you with me, conscious, please.”

The begs of her only friend in that hell sounded far away; she had lost a lot of blood, the effort of pushing for hours and not having taken a single drop of water was taking hers and the baby's life away, and with that, the last gift that Donnell had left her.

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When Collette woke up, she was lying in her cell with a wet gauze on her forehead. She sat up abruptly, remembering what had happened in the bathroom, dizzy due to the little strength in her system.

“M-My baby- she stammered, tugging at the rocky floor.”

“Shhh, it's okay, you need to calm down,” her friend tried to calm her down unsuccessfully.

“My baby.”

“He's alive, by miracle,” murmured the black-haired woman, “and so are you, so try to calm down and drink this.”

Bibi handed her a glass of hot tea and then took the baby wrapped in old blankets out of the shadows.

“It's not long since he fell asleep again; he's been banging these days,” she complained in a low voice, looking at the mother and child.

“What happened?”

A small part of Collette wished it was all a horrible nightmare.

“You fainted, and as best I could, I hid the child and took you to the nursery. You were dying.”

“Does Elliot know?” she asked fearfully, finishing her tea.

“Not yet, but he suspects something. He asked to see you once you woke up.”

Bibi shrank a little as she talked about the head of that prison; only Collette dared to call him by his name.

Once Collette finished her tea and sat leaning against the wall, Bibi passed her son, who was more tender in his asleep than awake. Silence reigned in the cell; neither knew what would happen next but trouble.

“You must get rid of that child,” said the black-haired girl a few minutes later.

“I won't do it it's a gift from heaven,” she smiled fondly at the little boy.

“A gift from hell,” Bibi corrected, annoyed, “do you realize that this child will bring you a lot of problems? And me too. If he finds out—”

“He's not going to find out,” she interrupted abruptly.

“I told you he suspects something, and as conspiracy-paranoid as he is, he can imagine anything, Collette.”

“I'm not going to kill a human being; he's my son.” Bibi rolled her eyes, snorting in annoyance. “I'll find a way to get him out... and if Elliot finds out, I won't say you were involved. It will all be my fault.”

Life was not as rose-colored as the young emerald-eyed girl believed, love was more dangerous than she imagined and more treacherous than any movie or her parents could have taught her. Her best friend had gone mad, and after Donnell's death, she no longer had the will to live. That's why Collette so admired the helpless little creature in her arms, because it was the only light in her life, and she would not let anything, or anyone, extinguish the only reason to keep her going.

“No one will hurt you as long as I’m here, my brave little Oliver.”