Deadly Devotion Betrayed by Love by Orange Iced Americano

A splash of ice-cold water shocked me awake, but the smell of stale takeout and cheap air freshener told me something was terribly wrong.

The last thing I remembered was a dark cargo container, the scent of the sea, and the chilling realization that my own brother, Liam, had sold me to human traffickers to pay off his gambling debts.

I was supposed to be dead, yet here he was, whining about co-signing a loan, completely oblivious.

Then I saw the date: three years ago. Three years before my life completely fell apart, three years before he' d betray me.

A cold, sharp rage drowned out years of guilt and my mother' s dying wish: "Always look after your brother, Chloe. Promise me." That promise had been a chain around my neck, strangling me until I lost my marriage, my savings, my home, and finally, my life.

Not again.

I looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time without the filter of sisterly obligation. I saw a parasite.