Chapter 1

Eight years into our marriage, Jace cheated on me.

But it wasn’t a simple affair.

He had hidden another woman away as if she were something precious, someone he had to protect from the world—and from me.

Her name was Allicent Delacroix.

When I found out, I didn’t scream. I didn’t throw anything. I didn’t even confront him.

I just sat there, strangely numb.

The next morning, I made a decision.

I arranged for Allicent to leave with an elderly businessman from New York. He was rich, influential, and powerful enough that no one would dare question what happened behind closed doors.

She went with him willingly.

I never asked why.

At the time, I simply didn’t care.

When Jace came home, he acted as though nothing had happened.

As though he hadn’t betrayed me.

As though he wasn’t the kind of man who could order someone’s death with a single phone call and go back to dinner without blinking.

He was gentle with me again.

He asked if I was tired. Sat beside me during meals. Sometimes, he would rest a hand on my shoulder with such tenderness that I almost believed he still loved me.

I convinced myself it had only been a mistake.

A stupid mistake.

Something powerful men did and eventually moved past.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

A month later, my entire world came crashing down.

My family’s company went bankrupt almost overnight. Deals disappeared. Accounts were frozen. Business partners who had once surrounded my father suddenly stopped answering his calls.

It was as if everyone had been waiting for the right moment to abandon us.

My father couldn’t survive the humiliation.

He jumped from a building.

He left behind nothing but debts, blood, and a family that had no idea how to keep standing.

My mother suffered even worse.

Creditors came after her relentlessly. They took more than money. They stripped away everything she had until there was almost nothing left of the woman I once knew.

She died screaming.

Then came my little sister.

She was kidnapped, brutally assaulted, and left by the roadside like she was nothing.

By then, there was barely anything left of me either.

I broke.

My body eventually gave out. I became too weak to walk, too exhausted to even lift myself from the bed.

All I could do was stare at the ceiling and wonder what I had done wrong.

What had I missed?

What mistake had I made?

Why had everything I loved been taken from me?

On the day I died, Jace stood beside my bed.

The man I had once loved more than my own life.

But there was nothing warm in his face anymore.

His expression was cold. Cruel.

I barely recognized him.

“Do you remember what you did?” he asked quietly.

I stared at him.

“You gave Allicent to that old bastard. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out what happened to her?”

My fingers trembled against the sheets.

“She died in that bed, Elena. Bruised from head to toe, begging someone to save her.”

My breath caught.

“I didn’t know**”

“Stop lying to yourself.”

His voice hardened.

“You knew enough. And now you’re paying for it.”

I could barely breathe.

“Everything that happened to your family?” His lips curled into a smile. “I did it.”

My eyes widened.

“You** destroyed them?”

He gave a humorless laugh.

“Who else could have done it so thoroughly?”

He listed them one by one.

My father.

My mother.

My sister.

Every tragedy. Every loss.

Every broken piece of my family.

“You touched what belonged to me,” he said coldly. “So I took everything that belonged to you.”

My heart felt like it was being crushed.

“Why?”

The word barely escaped my lips.

“I loved you. Wasn’t that enough?”

He looked at me as though the question itself disgusted him.

“Love? Don’t pretend you understand love.”

His eyes were empty.

“Allicent was mine. You took her away from me. I took everything from you. Seems fair.”

Fair.

That was what he called it.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to tear his face apart and demand to know why he had married me if he had always hated me.

But my body was too weak.

No words came.

And in the end, I died with the same question haunting me.

Why did you choose me if all you ever wanted was to destroy me?

**

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing outside Jace’s study.

My body felt strangely light.

My heart was pounding so hard it hurt.

Then I heard his voice from inside.

Jace.

Alive.

“Yeah. Thanks, brother.”

He was speaking on the phone.

“Transfer the suburban villa to Allicent’s name for now. I owe you one. And keep it from my wife. I don’t need unnecessary drama at home.”

My entire body went cold.

This moment.

I knew it.

This was the day I had discovered Allicent in my previous life.

My hands slowly curled into fists.

Was this a dream?

Had I really been given another chance?

Then Jace spoke again.

His voice softened, almost fond.

“Allicent’s different. When I’m with her, I can actually breathe. She’s warm. She makes everything feel easy.”

He paused.

“But Elena**”

There was a trace of irritation in his voice.

“She’s always so serious. Always watching me. Being around her feels suffocating.”

My throat tightened.

“I’m not leaving my wife,” he continued. “Don’t misunderstand me. I just need somewhere to go when I can’t stand the silence at home.”

A bitter laugh escaped him.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t love her. I just can’t be around her all the time.”

Every word cut deeper than the last.

So that was how he saw me.

A cage.

A burden.

Something he needed to escape.

I pressed my lips together and swallowed the tears burning behind my eyes.

No.

Not this time.

I would not break for him again.

I quietly returned to the living room and sat on the sofa, placing my hands in my lap as though I hadn’t just heard my entire marriage reduced to a few cruel sentences.

A few minutes later, the study door opened.

Jace walked out.

Tall. Calm. Immaculately dressed in black.

He looked like the ruler of an empire built on fear and blood.

His eyes landed on me.

He stopped.

“Honey? When did you get back?”

I looked at him.

The same face.

The same voice.

The same man who had destroyed my family.

“I just got home,” I said calmly. “I’ve been sitting here for a while.”

His eyes lingered on my face, as though searching for something.

For one brief second, I wondered if he could tell.

Then his expression changed.

“There’s a problem with one of the shipments.”

He picked up his coat.

“I need to handle it. Don’t wait up.”

The same excuse.

Exactly the same as before.

But this time, my heart didn’t ache.

“Okay.”

I looked away.

“Go.”

He hesitated.

Perhaps he had expected questions. Anger. Tears.

I gave him none of them.

“Get some rest,” he muttered before walking out.

The door closed behind him.

And just like that, Jace didn’t come home that night.

Again.

I stayed awake until morning, sitting alone in the dark and staring at nothing.

Waiting for the pain to come.

It never did.

When the first rays of sunlight slipped through the curtains, they felt strangely cold against my skin.

I rubbed my eyes.

They were dry.

Of course they were.

I had cried every tear I had in my previous life.

I got up, forced myself to eat breakfast, and behaved like an ordinary wife.

Then I left the house.

My first stop was a law firm.

I didn’t allow myself to think too much.

Because if I stopped, I might hesitate.

And I couldn’t afford to hesitate anymore.

From there, I went straight to Cole Group.

Jace’s empire.

The top floor.

Naturally.

Jace had always enjoyed being above everyone else—both literally and otherwise.

When the elevator doors opened, I stepped into an eerily quiet hallway.

Then I heard something from inside his office.

A woman’s voice.

Soft.

Playful.

Far too intimate.

“Mr. Cole, you’re too naughty! Ugh!”

My footsteps stopped.

I stared at the closed office door.