My Husband Turned My Madness Into a Live Show Chapter 01

My Husband Turned My Madness Into a Live Show Chapter 01

It was the fifth year of my confinement in the mental institution when my husband finally agreed to come pick me up.

But when the ward door swung open, a sea of cameras immediately pointed straight at me.

“Congratulations, Ms. Bennett! The five-year reality show Inside the Asylum is officially over!”

A reality show?

Amidst my stunned silence, Nolan Farley—who was supposed to rush over and wrap me in his arms—stepped forward.

His voice was emotionless.

“Josette, this is a reality show Winona put together. You’re just the test subject I picked to help her film it.”

Three milli0n viewers tuned into the live broadcast and voted.

Winona Johnson became the hottest new director in reality TV.

Meanwhile, I’d been treated so many times my whole body trembled constantly.

Drooling uncontrollably and losing my grip on reality had become the norm for me.

Nolan unlocked the handcuffs that had bound me for five years with his own hands.

“The show’s over. You can go home now.”

…

The chains that held me captive for five years came off, but my legs felt like they were filled with lead.

My palm was still crumpling the last handwritten letter he’d sent me—he’d written that he was finally going to take me home.

Right now, that paper felt like it was burning into my skin.

Nolan shook his head, helpless.

“Those letters were part of the experiment too. It was Winona’s idea—she wanted to test if you could survive on love alone.

“Looks like it worked pretty well, actually.”

After countless rounds of harsh treatment, there wasn’t an inch of unmarked skin left on my body.

Locked in that pitch-black ward, I’d swallowed thousands of antidepressant pills.

And there was the baby I’d carried—he didn’t make it because of the experimental dr//ugs, and was stillborn.

The only thing that ever kept me going was his handwritten letters. But they were nothing more than props for the experiment.

I pressed my hand to my flat stomach, and overwhelming tears burst from my eyes.

“How could you bear to kill our baby?”

When our eyes met, there was no guilt in Nolan’s gaze—only pride for Winona.

“That new dr//ug was Winona’s first big ad campaign. No real pregn@nt woman would volunteer for the trial, so I had to sacrifice one baby to help her achieve her dream.

“But don’t be too upset. At least you contributed to medical science.”

Every careless word that fell from his mouth felt like a knife stabbing straight into my heart.

I looked around frantically, then crawled forward like a broken, ashamed dog, craning my neck up to him. “What about Andy? Why isn’t he here to pick me up?”

Nolan jerked back a step, like I was something dirty and contagious.

But what he said next was even more devastating than that gesture.

“Andy isn’t your son anymore.”

Before I could process what he’d said, the brand-new phone I’d just gotten rang.

A young boy’s voice came through on the line.

“Are you really my mom? I don’t want a mom who’s crazy. I want Winona, she’s a successful big director. Can’t you just die?”

When I heard those words from the son I’d missed every single day for five years, my mouth hung open in shock, unable to close.

My son hung up impatiently, and Nolan kept explaining.

“This was part of the experiment too. For the show’s drama, I gave Andy to Winona as her son. We just wanted to film your reaction for the finale.”

Reporters slammed their shutters nonstop, greedily capturing every bit of despair on my face.

I’d gotten postpartum depression after giving birth to Andy. The day they dragged me away to the asylum, I’d screamed and cried until my chest split open.

I’d been terrified my baby would hurt without a mom, terrified Nolan would miss me every day.

I’d truly believed today would finally bring our family back together, that I’d escape this five-year nightmare for good.

But on this exact day, every single one of my hopes turned into the cruellest joke I’d ever known.