Web Fic
Novel info
Some Days Begin With Rain, Mine Ended in Light
Drove Drunk
The Price of Betrayal
Seven years ago, Rowan Monroe’s entire life was destroyed by the people she trusted most — her family and her fiancé. Her parents’ foster daughter, Raina Monroe, who was also Rowan’s middle sister, drove drunk one night, crashed into someone, and fled the scene. The family knew that Raina’s fragile health and emotional instability wouldn’t survive prison. Instead of facing the consequences, they begged Rowan to take the blame, to sacrifice herself for Raina’s sake. Rowan refused at first, shocked that her own family would even suggest such a thing.
But the unimaginable happened — her parents betrayed her. One night, without warning, they handed her over to the police themselves. Everything had already been arranged behind her back by Rhett Sterling — Rowan’s fiancé, a powerful and wealthy man in New York’s financial world. He promised her, “Rowan, when you get out, I’ll marry you. Just bear with it for seven years.”
For seven long years, Rowan endured life in Red Pines Correctional Facility. Days blended into nights — 2,589 days of loneliness, silence, and pain. When her sentence finally ended, she walked out of the prison gates with a limp, her body and spirit scarred beyond repair. The correctional officer handed her a faded cloth bag — the only possession she had left. As she stepped outside, she saw an armored Mercedes G-Wagen waiting for her. Inside sat Rhett Sterling, her past and her promised future.
Rhett still looked exactly the same — handsome, calm, and composed. But Rowan wasn’t the same girl who went to prison for someone else. Her reflection in the car mirror told the truth: hollow eyes, thin cheeks, and faint scars that spoke of seven years of suffering. Rhett reached for her hand, promising again to keep his word and marry her. But Rowan’s heart no longer responded. Her eyes were cold, her voice detached. She had spent those seven years realizing a painful truth — neither Rhett nor her family ever loved her.
When Rhett noticed her distant demeanor, he tried to justify himself. He explained that Raina had fallen into depression again after hearing that Rowan was being released. Their parents and youngest sister, Luna, were with Raina in the hospital. As always, everything revolved around Raina.
Sitting silently beside Rhett, Rowan reflected on the twisted history of her family. Twenty-five years ago, when she was only two, she had gotten lost in a shopping mall. Her grief-stricken mother, unable to cope with the loss, adopted a girl from an orphanage who looked just like her — Raina Monroe. Years later, when Rowan was fifteen, her parents finally found her. But instead of joy and reunion, what she found was rejection. Her parents loved the girl they had adopted more than their real daughter.
Since then, Rowan had been forced to yield to Raina in everything — love, attention, opportunities, even her place in the family. Raina was always the center of affection, while Rowan became invisible, unwanted, and blamed for everything. Seven years ago, when Raina committed a crime, they decided Rowan’s freedom was the price Raina’s happiness was worth.
When Rhett’s car finally reached the Monroe family estate, the feeling of estrangement only deepened. The grand house, once her home, now looked cold and hostile. The butler and servants greeted Rhett with respect but looked at Rowan with disdain. They didn’t see her as the Monroe heiress — she was the unwanted daughter, a stain on the family’s reputation. The butler relayed a cruel message from Rowan’s mother: “Now that you’re back, please stay out of sight so you don’t bring shame on the family.”
The words cut deep. Rowan had gone to prison for them, yet she was the one considered a disgrace. But she didn’t argue — her heart had long stopped expecting love or fairness from them.
Rhett’s phone rang again. He looked apologetic and said Raina was having another mental breakdown. He needed to go to her immediately. Without even staying for dinner or checking if Rowan was okay, he left in a rush, leaving Rowan to fend for herself.
Dragging her tired body through the house, Rowan went to the storage room — the same dusty little space that had always been her “bedroom.” Everything inside was covered in a thin layer of dust, as if frozen in time. She didn’t bother to clean up. Exhaustion weighed her down, and she collapsed onto the old bed, slipping into a restless half-sleep.
Late at night, voices drifted into her room from the living area. It was her youngest sister, Luna, talking to their parents. Luna’s voice was anxious but practical: “Dad, Mom, Raina’s not doing well. Maybe we should let our oldest sister move out. If Raina sees her, she’ll spiral again.”
Her father sighed. Her mother’s reply was cold and self-serving: “She’s still a Monroe. If we kick her out, people will talk.”
Luna pressed again, frustrated. “So what? Are we just going to let Raina stay in the hospital forever?”
Finally, their father spoke, making the cruel decision sound calm: “When Raina comes home, keep Rowan out of her sight. She stays in her room.”
Listening from her bed, Rowan’s eyes filled with silent tears. Even after seven years in prison, nothing had changed. She was still the unwanted one — a shadow in her own home.
But fate had one more twist waiting for her.
At that very moment, her phone buzzed. It was an email — marked confidential. When she opened it, her heart skipped a beat.
[Rowan Monroe, congratulations on your admission to the National Secure Science Institute (NSSI).]
[If you accept this assignment, you will depart in ten days under a new identity to join a research team in Dominica.]
[From that day forward, your identity will be classified. For five years, you may not contact anyone outside.]
The message was official, precise, and life-changing. NSSI — the mysterious government-backed scientific institution known for recruiting the brightest minds for secretive, high-level projects.
Rowan read every rule carefully — no outside communication, no family contact, no traceable identity. For five years, she would vanish completely from the world she knew.
For most people, this might have felt terrifying. But for Rowan, it was liberation. After years of being betrayed, imprisoned, and humiliated, she finally had a way out — not just from her family, but from her entire past.
Without hesitation, she took a deep breath, picked up the digital pen, and signed the document with her trembling hand:
“Rowan Monroe.”
As the screen flashed “Signature Confirmed,” a quiet smile appeared on her lips — faint but real.
For the first time in her life, she wasn’t sacrificing herself for anyone else. This time, she was choosing freedom.
And as the night wind brushed through the open window, carrying with it the scent of distant rain, Rowan closed her eyes — not in defeat, but in rebirth.
In ten days, Rowan Monroe — the forgotten daughter, the scapegoat, the prisoner — would cease to exist.
And someone new would rise in her place.
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