The Ex-con Queen Strikes Back novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Betrayed And Broken

In the dingy prison bathroom, a towering inmate with a nasty grin grabbed Skylar Stone’s hair, jerking her head toward the toilet.

“Say you’re sorry!” the woman barked, her voice thick with spite.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” Skylar’s voice cracked, barely a whisper, her pride gone as she pleaded, “Please, don’t hurt my baby.”

Tears rolled down her neck, pooling on the red birthmark that looked like a fresh wound.

The woman’s eyes narrowed, her lip curling. “Hurt you? I’m doing you a favor, honey.”

She glanced at the other inmates hovering behind her, their faces stone-cold. “You’re so ungrateful, you probably don’t even deserve to walk out of here. Ladies, let’s show her what’s what.”

With a nod, the group moved in, fists and boots hammering down on Skylar.

“No… please…” Skylar’s cries faded as her vision blurred, the world slipping away.

The attackers stopped, already bored as she lay motionless on the floor.

One of them snorted, nudging Skylar’s limp body with her foot. “What a weakling. A couple of kicks, and she’s out.”

Then someone gasped, noticing blood soaking through Skylar’s prison jumpsuit.

“Oh​ no,” she yelled, “sh​e’s bleeding bad! Someone get help!”

The ringleader’s smug look vanished as she saw the red staining Skylar’s clothes.

A shiver hit her. The guy who paid them only wanted Skylar roughed up, not dead…

A loud crash rang out as the bathroom door burst open. Doctors in white coats and bodyguards in crisp black suits stormed in.

The inmates backed off, their toughness gone.

“It wasn’t us!” one blurted. “Someone paid us to…”

Before they could say more, the bodyguards slammed them face-first into the toilets, cutting off their excuses.

Skylar was lifted onto a stretcher and rushed to the prison’s medical ward.

The harsh surgical lights cut through her fog, pulling her back to a faint thread of consciousness.

With every bit of strength left, she grabbed the doctor’s coat. “Save… save my baby…” she whispered hoarsely.

The doctor’s eyes were ice-cold.

“Mr. Campbell’s orders,” he said, his voice sharp. “We’re taking the umbilical cord blood for Miss Elianna Stone.”

He leaned in. “He says it’s what you owe her. Even if it kills you.”

Hope crumbled in Skylar’s chest.

Taking the cord blood now would end her life, and her baby’s.

The child she’d fought to protect through nine months in this awful place, so close to being born.

Tears streamed down her face.

“No… please…” Her voice shook, barely a sound. “I’m begging you…”

But the doctor didn’t budge. The scalpel flashed as it cut into her, pain burning through her like wildfire.

The physical pain was nothing compared to the ache in her heart.

The man she’d loved for ten years, married for three, had tossed her aside for his old flame.

“Skylar, you’re just the Stone family’s fake heiress,” Yosef Campbell had snapped, his voice full of disgust. “You stole Elianna’s life for years, and nothing you do can fix that!”

“You tried to kill her in that car crash!” he’d yelled, pacing angrily. “She’s pregnant, and you knew it!”

“You’re toxic,” he’d growled, his eyes burning. “Grandpa made me marry you, but I’d never pick someone like you.”

“You drugged me to sleep with you,” he’d sneered, leaning close. “I can’t stand the sight of you.”

“Being Elianna’s replacement is more than you deserve,” he’d said, his words hitting like a punch.

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