Chapter 1 The Dive

I’m Wren Hale. I thought I was born cursed. Snatched by traffickers at three. Lost my legs by seven. Half-deaf by ten. And by fourteen, I was blind in one eye and branded like cattle.

But I was the only kid who survived the fire that destroyed the ring. The others pushed me from the flames, and I swore to make our monsters pay.

Now, at twenty, a DNA test dumped me at the Hale Oil Ranch in Texas. My blood family.

The fake heiress, Brynn Hale, was leaning against the wooden railing, polishing a leather riding boot. She looked me up and down, then scoffed. She crossed her arms.

"Don't think for a second that just because your last name is Hale, you can take what's mine. I run things around here. You try any tricks, and I swear to God, I'll break your legs."

I just looked at her. It felt like a waste of breath. 

I unhooked the straps, letting both metal legs fall away. The heavy prosthetics clattered against the wood, leaving my empty pant legs pooling around my stumps. 

Mother and Father, who had just walked toward the front door, stopped dead in their tracks. The blood drained completely from their faces.

Beau Hale, my twenty-six-year-old biological brother, shoved open the door. He planted himself right in front of Brynn, and glared at me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Beau barked, his voice thick with disgust. "Dropping your fake leg to play the victim? If you want pity, you better find a new trick!"

I tilted my head. I tapped my fingers hard against my right ear. I pitched my voice loud.

"What did you say? This ear got beat deaf a long time ago! I can't hear you!"

Beau froze. His jaw tightened as he stared at my unmoving right eye and the stench of my dirty clothes. A visible shiver ran up his spine.

In the corner of the porch stood Hank Colter, the ranch foreman. He was thirty-eight, with a meaty, scarred face. He didn't speak. He just stared at my stump with cold, dead eyes.

That evening, the ranch hosted its annual oil and cattle barbecue.

Strings of yellow bulbs lit up the massive barn. Pickup trucks lined the dirt driveway. Guests drank cold beer and ate brisket around open fire pits.

I stood near the wooden stairs, staying out of the way. Brynn walked past me. Without warning, she pitched herself backward down the stairs.

As she fell, her hand shot out and hooked the collar of my flimsy cotton shirt.

Riiiiiiiip.

The cheap fabric tore clean down the back. The cold wind hit my bare skin.

Brynn landed on the dirt with a loud cry.

The floodlights hit my exposed back. Conversations died instantly. Dozens of guests froze, their eyes fixed on me.

My back was a map of nightmares. Overlapping, raised whip scars. White clusters of cigarette burns. And the dark, jagged brand burned permanently into my shoulder.

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Beau sprinted across the yard. He caught Brynn, pulling her up against his chest. He snapped his head up and screamed at me.

"You pushed her?! Are you out of your damn mind?"

Brynn pressed her face into Beau’s plaid shirt. Her shoulders shook violently. She looked up at Father and Mother standing near the grill, her eyes bright red.

Mother and Father rushed over. Mother’s hands shook as she hovered over my ruined back, tears immediately shining in her eyes.

"Good God, Wren... who did this to you?" Mother cried out, her voice trembling. "Tell us! We’ll take care of them!"

Seeing the horrific scars, Brynn realized she had pushed things too far. She scrambled up from the dirt, hastily trying to backpedal.

"I didn't do that to her! Don't try to pin that on me!"

I nodded slowly. She was right. The traffickers did this.

"I swear it wasn't me," Brynn sobbed, looking frantically at Beau for help.

Beau immediately stepped in front of her, pointing an angry finger at me.

"Mom, Dad, come on! Wren is just playing the victim to set Brynn up! You know Brynn would never do something sick like that!"

The butler hurriedly wrapped a heavy wool shawl around my shoulders. I pulled it tight, covering the scars. I was trembling all over, but I forced a small, practiced smile at my parents.

"Mother, Father, Beau is right," I said softly. "Brynn has nothing to do with my injuries. I hurt myself just to play the victim and frame her."

Seventeen years of abuse had hammered one rule into my skull: surrender instantly. Confess to whatever false charges they throw at you, and maybe you avoid a worse beating.

I fully expected to be punished. But instead, Father's face turned purple.

Smash.

He hurled his copper cup onto the stone patio. It shattered.

He pointed a shaking finger straight at Beau, then at Brynn. "Bullshit! Look at what you two are doing to her! You’ve got her so terrified she’s spitting out crazy nonsense!"

A heavy silence fell over the yard. Beau looked completely stunned.

Before the narrative could flip, a girl in a leather jacket—Brynn’s friend—marched out of the crowd. She pointed straight at me.

"You can look into her scars later, Mr. Hale!" she yelled. "But I saw it with my own eyes! I saw her kick Brynn! She used her left leg and shoved her right down those stairs. Plenty of us saw it!"

Beau snapped out of his shock. He grabbed onto the accusation immediately.

"Yeah! She's right. I saw it clear as day. She planted her foot and kicked her with that left leg!"

The crowd began to mutter, glaring at me.

I stood there in silence. I gripped the wool shawl with my right hand. With my left hand, I slowly reached down and pinched the fabric of my left pant leg.

I pulled the denim fabric slowly up toward my thigh.

Nothing. Just empty air beneath the severed stump.

Violent gasps echoed around the yard. Beau's mouth fell open, his face turning an ashen gray. Brynn’s friend choked on her own breath, stumbling backward like she had seen a ghost.

I looked up at Mother and Father, my voice trembling pitifully.

"Mother, Father..." I stammered, twisting the fabric of the shawl. "Even though my prosthetics were sent into town for maintenance today... if Beau and this girl both said they saw me kick Brynn... then... then it must have been me. I did it."

Then I spun around, locked my hands onto the wooden railing. I hopped aggressively, step by step, tearing up the stairs, ten feet above the hard dirt ground.

I didn't hesitate. I pushed off my single leg and threw myself off the ledge.

I plummeted toward the ground.

Absolute dead silence gripped the ranch for a split second.

Then, chaos erupted.

"Wren!!!"