She Died Unforgiven

She Died Unforgiven

Coralie Sullivan · Completed · 14.8k Words

1.2k
Hot
2.8k
Views
12
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

I woke up and my husband hated me. My daughter was afraid of me. Everyone said I caused the accident.

But I remember the truth. Marcus was driving, not me. When that truck hit us, I threw my body over Iris to protect her. Yet when I woke from three months in a coma, everyone believed I was the criminal.

To save Marcus's life, I donated my liver. Now my body runs on an artificial system while he lives with my organ inside him and slaps me across the face.

My four-year-old daughter calls me "the bad woman."

My husband says I don't deserve the Sterling name.

And my "sister" Jade, she orchestrated everything, yet became the one they love.

In the end, I died in the desert.

When they find out, will they grieve or celebrate?

Chapter 1

Zara's POV

I stood at the front door with my hand on the handle. The afternoon sun was too bright and it made my head pound.

"Mrs. Wilson, you really need to stay another three months. The artificial liver system is still stabilizing. Your body hasn't fully recovered from the donation surgery."

Dr. Morrison's voice kept playing in my head. I'd interrupted him, told him I had to go home. He'd stared at me like I was signing my own death warrant.

Maybe I was.

I pressed my palm against my stomach where the scar lived now, this massive thing that ran almost the full width of my abdomen. Under the skin, the artificial liver support system hummed quietly. This machine was doing what my body couldn't anymore. I'd given part of my liver to Marcus, and afterwards, things went south. My remaining liver just gave up on me, so now I need this artificial liver to survive.

I have to know. I took a breath and steadied myself. I have to understand why they hate me now. Why my husband can't even look at me. Why my four-year-old daughter is scared of me. What the hell happened in these six months? Everything changed since the accident.

I rang the doorbell.

Mrs. Adams opened it. Not Marcus. Not Iris running to throw her arms around me the way she used to.

Just the housekeeper with her blank face. "Mrs. Wilson." She took my bag without any warmth in her voice.

"Thanks, Mrs. Adams."

I walked inside and the house looked exactly the same. But something felt dead about it now.

Marcus sat in the living room with his laptop. Iris was next to him coloring. My family was right there, ten feet away from me.

"Marcus, I'm home."

He glanced up for half a second. "Go upstairs and rest. Don't walk around."

That was it. No hug, no "how are you feeling," nothing. Just an order.

Iris looked at me over her coloring book and then ducked her head down fast. I caught her whisper. "The bad woman is back..."

The bad woman. My daughter called me the bad woman now.

"Zara!" Jade came out of nowhere with this huge smile. "You're finally home! God, you look awful. Come on, I already got your room ready. You really need to lie down."

"Thanks." I could barely get the word out. The device attached to my waist started beeping quietly, a warning tone. My stress levels were spiking and the machine knew it.

I headed for the stairs and every step hurt. The incision pulled and burned.

Walking up those stairs, I couldn't stop thinking about before. When Marcus used to look at me like I was the only person in the world. When Iris would run to me yelling "Mommy!" and tackle my legs.

When I was still a person to them instead of something disgusting they had to tolerate.


Six years ago.

Two weeks before my wedding, a woman named Jade showed up with DNA test results proving we'd been switched at birth, she was the real Sterling heiress, and I was nobody.

Everyone started whispering about how the engagement was based on bloodline and family merger. But Marcus didn't care. He said he loved me, not my last name, and we were getting married no matter what. We did get married, had Iris, built this beautiful life together. I really thought nothing could destroy us.

Six months ago.

"You've been up for twelve hours straight." I looked over at Marcus from the passenger seat. "Seriously, let me drive. You're exhausted."

"We're almost home." He gave me this tired smile. "I'm okay."

Iris was singing to herself in the back seat, playing with her stuffed rabbit. Just a normal drive home from Marcus's office.

Then a truck came out of nowhere and smashed into us.

The impact was instant. Metal screaming, glass exploding everywhere, the smell of gasoline and blood filling the car.

"Iris!" I ripped my seatbelt off and twisted around toward the back. "Baby, Mommy's here—"

She was limp. Blood on her face.

"No no no—" I climbed over the seat, every instinct focused on getting to my daughter. I pulled her against me and covered her body with mine as the car kept spinning.

Everything went black.

Three months later.

I woke up in a hospital bed and the pain in my stomach was unbearable. Like someone had cut me open and forgotten to put me back together properly. I tried to sit up and couldn't move.

"Don't move." A nurse appeared next to me. "You had major surgery. You need to stay still."

"Where's Marcus?" My throat was raw. "Where's Iris?"

"They're both recovering. They're stable."

Thank God. The relief almost made me pass out again.

"I need to see them."

The nurse looked uncomfortable. "Let me get your doctor first."

But I didn't wait. I pulled the IV out of my arm, forced myself out of bed. My legs were shaking and my stomach was screaming at me but I didn't care. I saw Marcus's room number on a chart, three doors down the hall.

I pushed his door open.

Marcus was sitting up. Jade was next to his bed holding a folder. They both turned to stare at me.

"Zara." Marcus's voice was ice cold.

"Marcus—" I took a step toward him. "Are you okay? Is Iris okay?"

"Stop." He put his hand up. "Jade told me what happened. You were driving. You were on your phone. You ran the red light and caused the accident."

The words didn't make sense.

"No. No, that's wrong. You were driving. I was in the passenger seat—"

"Enough!" His yell made me flinch backwards. "The evidence is right here. You were distracted and you almost killed our daughter. Iris could have died because of you!"

My legs gave out and I grabbed the doorframe to stay upright. "I don't understand. I wasn't driving. You were—"

"The doctor said you might have memory problems." Jade's voice was so gentle. So understanding. "From the surgery. Your brain didn't get enough oxygen. It's affecting what you remember."

"I don't have memory problems!" I was crying now. "I remember everything exactly—"

"You're confused, Zara." Marcus wouldn't look at me. "Jade was here the whole time. She explained what happened. You've been stressed for years about the whole fake heiress situation. The pressure finally got to you and you made a horrible mistake."

Fake heiress?

"I want to see Iris." My voice came out as a whisper. "I need to see my daughter."

"She doesn't want to see you. She's terrified of you. She remembers you and me fighting before the crash. She remembers you demanding to drive even though I said no."

"That never happened! Marcus, please, you have to believe me—"

"Get out." He turned his face away from me completely. "Go back to your room. I can't stand looking at you right now."

Jade stood up and put her hand on my arm, steering me toward the door. "Sister, you need to rest. Your body is still healing. We can figure this out later when you're stronger."

I let her walk me out because I couldn't think straight. Nothing made sense. I wasn't driving. I wasn't on my phone. I remembered everything so clearly.

So why did everyone believe I was guilty?

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

The Dragon's Last Fae Queen

The Dragon's Last Fae Queen

6.6k Views · Ongoing · Sylvia Sylvester
Hidden all her life in the slums of Emberveil, Aerith has one rule: never let the dragons see her eyes. Fae are extinct, hunted, burned, and erased from the kingdom. Or so everyone believes. But on the night of her eighteenth birthday, when her forbidden magic stirs awake and her grandmother falls deathly ill, Aerith breaks the one rule meant to keep her safe. She enters the royal dragon pharmacy… and collides with a werewolf princess who drags her straight to the dungeon. There, in the deepest shadows of the palace, the youngest dragon prince sees her glowing eyes and instantly knows what she is. A fae. A secret the entire kingdom would kill for. What would be her fate? Another dead Fae? Or the Last Dragon's Fae Queen?

“Prince? Dickhead? Asshole? Or stalker?” A slow, dangerous smile curved his lips. “Maybe I should show you the one title I want you to use.” Before I could react, his hand closed around my chin, tilting my face up. His lips crashed into mine, hard, claiming, breath-stealing. When he finally pulled back, his voice was a rough whisper against my lips. “You could call me yours… because you are mine.”
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

2.1m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
Let Them Kneel

Let Them Kneel

234.9k Views · Ongoing · My Fantasy Stories
Kaelani spent her life believing she was wolfless.
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.

But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.

Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.

When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.

For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.

Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.

But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.

And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.

Especially him.

She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.

Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
Goddess Of The Underworld

Goddess Of The Underworld

896k Views · Completed · Sheridan Hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her.

When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armour, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of an orphan pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to be better. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a reverse harem, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride

The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride

51.4k Views · Ongoing · Riley Above Story
As a wolfless orphan, Joanne had been abused by Alpha Anthony ever since she was a child. She devoted her entire life to surviving in his pack—until one day, she returned home to find an injured vampire lying in her house, his whole existence luring her in. Taking the risk of bringing him in, Joanne never expected Alpha Anthony to discover it the very next day and finally seize the chance to kill her. Just as Joanne was about to be executed, the vampire she had saved arrived, with his army. And Joanne realized that he was the Prince Alexander, heir to the vampire throne…..
Reborn To Rule: I Will Seize The Throne!

Reborn To Rule: I Will Seize The Throne!

1.5k Views · Ongoing · Khira
"Aveline Ashkaar." Rhaedon's voice was low as his golden eyes held mine. "The moment you offered yourself to become my Luna, everything about you became mine. Your life, your obedience, your blood... including the abilities that flow through it."

He paused, his gaze never leaving mine.

"And I don't share what's mine."



I died on my son's death anniversary, betrayed by the man I'd devoted my entire life to, and the woman who stood by, smiling as I took my last breath… was my very own sister.

When I opened my eyes again, I was five years in the past—before the betrayal, before my death and before the beginning of it all.

This time, I refused to marry the man who destroyed me.

Instead, I walked straight into the arms of the only man the entire Empire feared—Crown Prince Alpha Rhaedon Ashkaar.

Rhaedon was everything Lucien wasn't.

Dangerous. Competent. Powerful.

And the perfect weapon for my revenge.

He wanted the throne. I wanted vengeance.

It should have been the perfect alliance, but revenge was never that simple.

With every step I took toward my revenge, another secret from my first life came to light. The deeper I dug, the more I realized I wasn't the only one playing this game.

And by the time I uncovered the truth...

Walking away from Rhaedon Ashkaar was no longer an option.
Bound By Power, Torn By Love

Bound By Power, Torn By Love

2.1k Views · Ongoing · Cynthia Adama
She is the only daughter of a notorious mafia boss, but she is forced by her father to marry a hateful bastard in a contract marriage. To avenge her father, she has a one-night stand with a charming man, but unexpectedly falls into the trap of another terrible man, who is her father's enemy and another mafia boss. His mission is to make her father disappear.
She regards him as her only salvation, but he regards her as a pawn for revenge. When two enemies dance on the sharp knife, what will be the final outcome?
The CEO's Unspoken Love

The CEO's Unspoken Love

308.5k Views · Completed · Lily Bronte
"You want my forgiveness?" he asked, my voice dropping to a dangerous timbre.

Before I could answer, he moved closer, suddenly looming over me, his face inches from mine. I felt my breath caught, my lips parting in surprise.

"Then this is the price for speaking ill of me to others," he murmured, nipping my lower lip before claiming my mouth in a real kiss. It began as punishment but quickly transformed into something else entirely as I responded, my initial rigidity melting into compliance, then active participation.

My breathing accelerated, small sounds escaping my throat as he explored my body. His touches were both punishment and pleasure, drawing shudders from me that I thought he felt reverberating through his own body.

My nightgown had ridden up, his hands discovering more of mine with each caress. We were both lost in sensation, rational thought receding with each passing second...

Three years ago, to fulfill the wish of his grandmother, I was forced to marry Derek Wells, the second son of the family that had adopted me for ten years. He didn't love me, but I had secretly loved him all along.

Now, the three-year contractual marriage is about to end, but I feel that some kind of sentiment has developed between Derek and me that neither of us is willing to admit. I'm not sure if my feelings are right, but I know that we can't resist each other physically...
Where The Ice Gives Way

Where The Ice Gives Way

29.1k Views · Ongoing · Sheridan Hartin
Charlotte Pierce is used to surviving in motion. New towns, new schools, the same old house on the edge of nowhere, and the same rule that keeps her standing. Keep her twin brother, Charlie safe. Keep his hockey dream alive. Keep her own needs quiet. She works too much, sleeps too little, and saves the one thing that still feels like hers for the middle of the night, when she can lace up her worn skates and carve freedom into dangerous frozen ice. Charlotte and Charlie shifted once, years ago, and never understood what it meant. They had no pack, no guidance and no protection. Just two twins clinging to each other and pretending the voice in their heads was stress, imagination, or loneliness. Then they move to Wellington.
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)

Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
The Spy Who Left

The Spy Who Left

1.3k Views · Completed · Orion Vale
"She's naive. A pretty little socialite who got lucky marrying above her station."
"I still can't believe she actually did it. Aria Hart, filing for divorce. Who saw that coming?"
"How long do we think it'll take before she comes crawling back?" Another voice joins the conversation.
"Three days," Victoria declares. "Five at most. She has no money, no skills, no family. Where's she going to go?"
When Aria Chen divorced billionaire Leon Hart, New York's elite sneered, betting she'd crawl back within days. She never did.
Three years later, the world is rocked when Dr. Aria Vale, CEO of a revolutionary cybersecurity empire, steps into the spotlight. The mysterious genius who built a billion-dollar company from nothing is none other than Leon's discarded wife, the woman everyone thought was just a pretty ornament.
Now, every powerful man wants the queen Leon threw away a renowned scientist seeking partnership, a financial titan proposing an empire, and an actor offering devotion. Each sees the brilliance Leon ignored.
Then Leon discovers the truth: Aria's sacrifices, her secret double life, and the daughter she's been raising without him. For the first time, the man who once took her for granted must fight for her love. But can he compete with men who valued her from the beginning?
A story of love, betrayal, and power where the king must kneel before the queen who never needed saving.
Bound by Fate, Freed by Choice

Bound by Fate, Freed by Choice

5.3k Views · Ongoing · Nafisatuu
When Lyla's fated mate is revealed as Alpha Kaiden—her sister's ruthless ex-husband—the only thing he offers her is public humiliation and a brutal rejection. Heartbroken and branded as unworthy, she flees her pack, determined to uncover the truth behind her sister's mysterious disappearance.

Her escape leads her to Alpha Rowan, the commanding leader of the Blackwood Pack, who offers shelter, protection, and an unexpected chance at a new life. But Rowan’s fierce and jealous fiancée sees Lyla as a threat, and the pack’s charming Beta is drawn to her quiet strength.

As a dangerous attraction simmers between Lyla and Rowan, they begin to unravel a dark web of secrets that implicates Kaiden and threatens both their worlds.

With her hidden power awakening, Lyla must navigate treacherous loyalties, face the alpha who shattered her, and decide: Will she follow the destiny fate forced upon her, or claim the love and strength she has chosen for herself?
Protectors Of Her Warrior's Heart

Protectors Of Her Warrior's Heart

1.3k Views · Completed · arianniahrain
Tali had spent her entire life in hell.

Rescued by men who call themselves Protectors—warriors from another realm who embody the legends of angels and vampires—she is thrust into a world she never knew existed. For the first time, she experiences freedom, safety, and the possibility of a future.

But freedom comes with a price.

Tali is forced to face the father she believed abandoned her and a powerful council determined to use her for their own ends. Stranger still are the abilities awakening within her—powers no one understands, yet everyone seems desperate to control.

As she learns to trust, she chooses the mates destined to stand beside her. In their arms she finds love, devotion, and a family worth fighting for. But not everyone wants their bond to survive.

When the council betrays the Protectors and attempts to steal her newborn son, it ignites a war that will shake every realm.

Now Tali stands at the center of a conflict far greater than herself. The answers to ancient mysteries, the fate of her child, and the future of countless worlds all rest on her shoulders.

Surrounded by mates who love her fiercely and refuse to leave her side, Tali will battle enemies old and new, forge powerful alliances, and discover just how strong she truly is.

Because this war won't be won for her.

It will be won with her.

And together, they will fight for their future, their family, and a love worth crossing realms to protect.