Trapped in the Don's Vow novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Five years after my firefighter husband died in a blaze while saving me, I accidentally walked in on a private

celebration for his newborn with his childhood sweetheart.

At the head table, Julian Hayes didn’t even have time to pull his hand back from playing with the baby, staring

at me in rigid shock.

The friends who had once cried with me and urged me to move on now panicked, instinctively stepping in

front of him, defensive and tense.

“Nina, don’t do anything rash. Julian faked his death back then for a reason,” someone said.

I looked at this well-rehearsed performance and spoke with unsettling calm.

“So when I swallowed a whole bottle of sleeping pills out of guilt and was rushed in for stomach pumping three times, all of you were just standing by and letting it play out, right?”

No one in the private room dared answer.

No one even dared meet my eyes.

Summer Lane clutched her postpartum belly, crying softly, tears streaking down her face.

“I’m sorry, Nina. The baby can’t grow up without a father. I’m begging you, please let us be together. I just loved him too much.”

I thought I would lose control. I thought I would scream and collapse.

But strangely, I felt nothing at all. I even wanted to laugh.

Five years. Whatever guilt and love I once carried had already died the moment the truth finally surfaced.

Behind Summer, a massive screen looped warm family photos of the three of them.

From pregnancy to delivery, from the baby’s first cry to today’s lavish celebration, every moment had been carefully documented.

One photo sat pinned at the top.

Summer wore a loose maternity dress while Julian knelt on one knee, pressing his ear to her swollen belly.

The caption read: [Finally, you’re here.]

0.88%

My eyes locked onto the timestamp in the lower-right corner.

July 23, 2019.

Seven days after the fire in which Julian was declared dead.

That day, everyone we knew said his death was my fault.

The fire department’s report stated that a family member had lost emotional control and rushed into the fire scene, causing firefighter Julian Hayes to die while protecting her.

The media headlines were even more brutal.

[Hero Dies Saving Reckless Wife, Body Never Recovered.]

My in-laws collapsed at the funeral, pointing at me as they screamed, “Why are you still alive? Why wasn’t it

you?”

Even my own parents pulled me aside and whispered, “Nina… maybe don’t come home so often. Miles still needs to get married, and people won’t stop talking.”

I truly believed I was unforgivable.

So on the seventh night after Julian’s death, I swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills.

A neighbor found me and I was rushed to the hospital.

As they pumped my stomach, I heard a nurse whisper, “That’s her… the one who got her husband killed.”

No one knew why I had rushed into the fire that day.

I had received a call from an unknown number, saying Julian was trapped in a second-floor storage room

and was about to die.

There was background noise on the line. I even heard Julian’s muffled groan.

I ran in without thinking, only to see a burning beam collapse.

Julian shoved me away, and the next second, he was buried beneath it.

The fire was too intense.

They told me nothing was left of his body.

I thought it was what I deserved.

I never imagined that at that exact moment, Julian was at the hospital with Summer, attending a prenatal

Chapter 1

088%

checkup and taking that photo together.

Taking a glass of champagne from a waiter, I walked straight toward the head table under everyone’s stunned gaze.

Summer instinctively pulled the baby closer into her arms.

Julian nearly jumped up, positioning himself in front of her.

“Nina, listen to me. I can explain…”

The friends who once comforted me all stood up at once, closing ranks in front of him.

“Nina, calm down. Let’s talk this through.”

“Julian had no choice back then. That fire was suspicious. Someone was targeting him.”

“He faked his death to protect you. We swear.”