The Bride's Return

Let Me Live

The violent impact threw her body forward with terrifying force as metal crushed against metal. Glass exploded everywhere while the sound of twisting steel echoed through the stormy night.

Pain shot through Ashley instantly. Her head slammed hard against the window before the car spun uncontrollably across the rain-soaked road.

Then silence, for several seconds, Ashley could hear nothing except rain. Her entire body felt numb.

Warm blood slowly slid down the side of her forehead while smoke rose faintly from the damaged engine. The steering wheel had crushed painfully against her ribs, making every breath feel impossible.

Ashley tried to move her hand, she couldn’t.

Outside the shattered windshield, blurry figures moved through the rain. Voices echoed faintly somewhere nearby, but Ashley could no longer understand what they were saying.

Her vision faded slowly in and out. She thought she heard someone shouting then darkness swallowed her completely.

✦✦✦

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Ashley slowly regained consciousness to the sharp smell of antiseptic and the steady sound of hospital machines surrounding her. Her eyelids felt unbearably heavy, and the moment she tried breathing deeply, pain exploded through her chest so violently that a weak cry escaped her throat.

“She’s waking up.”

A nurse’s voice sounded nearby. Ashley blinked weakly against the bright white lights above her. Her body felt broken, every inch of her ached.

Fragments of memory returned slowly. The rain, Francis, Cynthia, the divorce papers.

Ashley’s breathing became shaky again.

A doctor stepped closer carefully. “Miss Bennett, you were involved in a serious accident. You suffered internal bleeding and multiple fractures, but the surgery went well. You’re safe now.”

Safe. Ashley stared blankly toward the ceiling, nothing about her life felt safe anymore.

The doctor continued speaking softly while checking her monitors. “You need to rest. Your condition is still critical.”

Ashley turned her head weakly toward the glass window beside the hospital room door. Several figures stood outside–all three of them were there.

Ashley’s chest tightened immediately.

Francis stood beside Cynthia while she held onto his arm softly. Emily appeared frustrated rather than worried, speaking sharply with one of the doctors in the hallway.

Ashley’s father stood nearby looking emotionally absent as always.

Nobody looked devastated and nobody looked relieved that Ashley survived. Ashley suddenly felt colder than before.

The nurse adjusted her IV gently. “Your family’s been waiting outside all night.”

Family.

Ashley almost cried at the word. The doctor eventually left the room, and silence settled around her once more. Ashley closed her eyes weakly, exhaustion dragging heavily at her body.

A few minutes later, the hospital room door opened quietly. Ashley looked up slowly. Emily walked inside alone, elegant as always.

Perfect makeup and perfect posture–not a single sign that her adopted daughter had almost died hours earlier.

Ashley swallowed painfully. “Mother…”

Emily closed the door behind her before turning toward the bed with an unreadable expression.

For several long seconds, she simply stared at Ashley lying there bruised and pale beneath the hospital blankets.

Then she sighed. “You really are a burden.”

Ashley froze, the words hit harder than the pain in her ribs.

Emily walked closer slowly, her heels clicking softly against the hospital floor. “Do you know what people are saying about this family right now?” she asked coldly. “The auction scandal has already spread everywhere. Reporters are attacking our company. Investors are furious and now there’s news about your accident too.”

Ashley stared at her weakly. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Emily laughed softly. “That’s the problem with you, Ashley. You still don’t understand your place.”

Tears slowly gathered in Ashley’s eyes.

Emily continued speaking without mercy. “Cynthia spent years building her reputation carefully, and in one night you ruined everything with your pathetic emotional breakdown.”

Ashley’s breathing shook painfully. “Francis cheated on me with Cynthia.”

“And?” Emily replied immediately.

She looked stunned. Emily folded her arms calmly beside the hospital bed. “Did you honestly think Francis would choose you over my daughter?”

The question sliced straight through Ashley’s chest.

“He stayed with you because it was convenient,” Emily continued coldly. “But my daughter Cynthia was always the better match.”

Ashley felt tears slide silently down her face.

Even now, even after almost dying…Emily still decides to rub it on her face in this condition.

Ashley’s voice trembled weakly. “Why do you hate me so much?”

For the first time, Emily’s expression darkened completely. “Because the moment you entered this family, everything became complicated,” she said quietly. “Your father insisted on bringing you home. He pitied you and suddenly I had to watch him care about another child that wasn’t mine.”

Ashley’s chest tightened painfully.

“I was just a child…”

“Yes,” Emily snapped sharply. “And even then, you kept taking things that belonged to Cynthia. Attention, sympathy, praise. Do you know how exhausting it was pretending to care about you all these years?”

She looked at her in complete heartbreak. Every insecurity she carried since childhood suddenly made sense. Emily never loved her, not even a little.

“You should’ve died tonight,” Emily said bitterly. “It would’ve solved a lot of problems for this family.”

She stopped breathing for a second. The room became unbearably quiet.

Emily stared at her coldly before turning toward the door. “Rest well, Ashley. The doctors already said your condition is unstable anyway.”

Then she walked out, just like that leaving her shattered completely.

She stared toward the ceiling while tears slipped endlessly into her hairline. Her chest hurt so badly she could barely breathe through it anymore.

She had spent her whole life begging for scraps of love from people who secretly wished she never existed. The realization broke something deep inside her.

Minutes passed slowly. The hallway outside eventually became quieter, night deepened around the hospital.

Ashley drifted weakly in and out of consciousness, her body exhausted from pain medication and emotional devastation.

Then suddenly–the hospital room door creaked open softly again.

Ashley’s eyes fluttered weakly toward the entrance. A figure stepped inside quietly wearing dark clothing and a face mask.

She frowned slightly in confusion. It wasn’t a nurse. The stranger closed the door carefully behind them before slowly walking toward the bed.

Fear crept instantly into her chest.

“W-Who…” Her voice barely came out properly.

The person said nothing. Ashley’s heartbeat quickened painfully as the stranger approached the machines beside her bed calmly and deliberately.

Then Ashley watched in horror as gloved fingers slowly reached toward her oxygen tube.

"No, Somebody help....." she screamed.

Fear exploded through her entire body. Ashley tried moving desperately, but pain shot violently through her ribs. Her body was too weak.

The stranger leaned closer and in a low voice, barely above a whisper, the person finally spoke.

“You should’ve died in the accident.”

Ashley’s eyes widened in terror. The oxygen tube was suddenly pulled loose.

Instantly, Ashley began struggling for air.

Her chest tightened violently while the machines beside her started beeping faster. Panic consumed her completely as she clawed weakly at the bedsheets, desperate to breathe.

The stranger watched her calmly liike this meant nothing. Ashley’s vision blurred rapidly.

"No…No…I don't want to die, not like this. Not after everything." She said as tears streamed down her face while darkness slowly closed around her vision again.

Her lungs burned painfully as the sound of the machines became distant and through the fading darkness, only one thought screamed inside her mind.

Please…

Please let me live.