After He Betrayed Me, I Took My Empire Back

Chapter 2

In my past life, I waited and waited for Roldan to turn back and save me.

After all, he was the one who gave me the life ring. He was my husband. How could he just leave me to die?

But once Roldan and our son got to shore, they went straight home. Then he and that fake heiress put on quite a performance, breaking the news to my relatives with a gut-wrenching look of grief on his face.

"Trina's oxygen tank failed out of nowhere. She died saving the child. The baby and I are completely broken up over this."

And my sweet, precious son Jamie?

He was snuggled right up to that fake heiress, his soft, sweet child's voice ringing clear as he said, "I'm so sad that Mom's gone. Auntie came all the way back from the countryside just to take care of me."

How touching.

A grieving widowed father, a poor little boy who'd lost his mother, and a "kind auntie" who'd shown up right when they needed her most.

This whole act gave that fake heiress the perfect excuse to waltz right back into the Ashton family with a fully legitimate, unchallenged claim.

She'd marry my husband, and the two of them would split my entire billion-dollar fortune.

After I'd been floating in the water for an hour, I fished out my waterproof phone and turned it on.

The signal was barely there, but a handful of searing, infuriating, trending search notifications still popped up on the screen.

#BillionaireFemaleCEODrownsInMemoriam

#RoldanVowsNeverToRemarryWillDevoteHisLifeToRaisingHisSon

#HeartwarmingAdoptedYounger SisterReturnsFromTheCountrySideToCareForTheOrphanedChild

I tapped on the most popular post.

In the photo, Roldan was wearing a crisp black suit, his face twisted up in perfect, gut-wrenching grief.

Abby Ashton, that fake heiress, was draped in spotless white clothes that practically glowed, bending down to fix my son's collar.

And that boy I'd risked my own life to save? He was staring up at her, his eyes full of total, unreserved trust.

What a perfect, heartwarming little family scene.

I hit the screenshot button.

The sea wind was bitingly cold, but it was nothing compared to the icy fury coiling in my chest.

Another hour dragged by, and the sky grew darker and darker. I curled up tight on the life ring, every inch of skin under my wetsuit already numb with cold.

Even through the thermal insulation material, the biting chill seeped in from every direction, settling deep into my marrow.

Suddenly, my walkie-talkie crackled to life.

"Trina, can you hear me?" Warren's voice cut through the roar of an engine in the background. "A storm's coming, just hold on, okay? I'm taking the old man's submarine. I'll be there any second now!"

As soon as his words faded, a warm rush of relief flooded through my chest.

I had no clue where Warren was coming from, but I knew for a fact he was pulling out all the stops to get to me in time.

I wiggled my limbs that were slowly going stiff where I rested them on the life ring.

"I will. With you coming, I won't die out here. I need you to do me a favor... pull the security footage from the dive club over the past few days. Check if Roldan showed up there."

Back in my past life, I didn't find out until after I died that Roldan had been playing the perfect husband to my face while he and Abby had not only been cheating behind my back, they'd even had a kid together.

"Got it," Warren agreed immediately.

It didn't take long for his voice to come back over the line, dark and simmering with rage. "Can't find any trace of Roldan, but I spotted Abby. She was at the club yesterday. The footage shows that she went into the equipment room. Your oxygen tank malfunction? Odds are she's the one who tampered with it."

Only Roldan knew my son and I were planning to go diving.

I shut my eyes, the corner of my mouth twisting into a bitter, self-deprecating smirk.

So that was how it was. Not only was he head over heels with that fake rich daughter I hated more than anything, the two of them had plotted together to sabotage my oxygen tank and leave me to die stranded out here in the open sea.

Fucking perfect.

If that's the game they wanted to play, I didn't owe them a single drop of mercy.

From this moment on, it was kill or be killed.