The CEO's untamed wife

Chapter 2: Rebirth

Dawn seeped quietly into the room, light threading through the sheer curtains.

Elaine jolted from the bed, a sharp pain tearing through her lower body, her breath seized. She quickly lay down again, still this time, fearing even the slightest movement would increase the pain.

Silk. The sheets beneath her fingers felt cool, smooth, impossibly soft. For a moment, her thoughts scattered.

When was the last time she slept on silk?

Prison beds had been hard, scratchy, and unforgiving.

Her heart raced.

If this is a dream… Please let me stay. She whispered to no one in particular.

She turned slowly, cautiously, as if the room might shatter under her movement. Her gaze fell on the full-length mirror opposite the bed.

She froze.

The woman staring back was different. The face looked… smooth, her mind raced back to the fire, it had disfigured her face, and with Victoria making it even more unrecognizable with acid, hatred burned from her eyes at the thought of Victoria. She hoped she stayed dead this time. She stood up and walked to the mirror, the scar that ran from the corner of her eye to her jaw was gone, no hollowness in her cheeks, no lifelessness in her eyes.

It was her.

But younger, way younger.

Her hands flew to her face, smooth skin, clear hazel eyes, thick glossy hair instead of brittle and dull. She staggered, searching for proof of an illusion.

Her phone rang. It was an alarm, the sound was overwhelming. She grabbed it, her fingers trembling. She saw the date.

28th August, 2018.

The numbers burned into her vision.

2018 was five years ago.

She swayed, gripping the bedpost as reality crashed into her chest.

“No… no, this isn’t possible…”

But it was.

She had been reborn.

Back to five years ago, to the beginning. Back to the time before everything went wrong, before she heeded the wrong voice.

Victoria Lynn.

Her "best friend." The memory of two days ago hit her like a tide, with Victoria whispering poison disguised as concern.

“Just drug him a little. Catch him in the act. Then ask for a divorce, and you will finally get your happily ever after with Peter. Adrian can't risk a scandal coming out now, so he is guaranteed to agree to your request. She did exactly that, which clearly backfired. Her nails dug into her palms, anger flared, hot, consuming, almost blinding. Her chest tightened as the full memory surfaced. The drug had worked but not as she anticipated. Adrian hadn’t been powerless, she had been.

Her body remembered the fear, the helplessness, how he hadn’t let go even when she begged, even when darkness closed in, tears running down her face, silent and burning.

She laughed loudly and then cried next, curled up on the floor.

The door swung open, Elaine’s head whipped toward the sound.

And there he was. Adrian, he stood in the doorway, impeccably dressed even at this early hour. Standing over six feet tall with broad shoulders and a powerful build in a perfect suit, he looked down at her with his cold, emerald-green eyes, a small mole just below his ear, his sharp jawline and perfect face framed by neat black hair while his thin lips remained pressed in a line of total indifference. His sharp features carved from cold precision, his eyes unreadable. His presence filled the room, suffocating her. He looked at her.

She realized, almost in a daze, that she was sitting on the floor.

“Why are you on the ground?” he asked.

His voice was eerily calm. That usually terrifies her.

She stared at him, speechless. Tears welled up, streaming down her face.

He stepped closer.

“Crying?” His tone sharpened. “Because of last night”, because I touched you?”

The accusation struck like a slap.

“No” Elaine tried to speak, but her voice cracked, breaking under the weight of memory and fear. “I… I’m sorry.”

The word fell uselessly between them.

In an instant, his hand gripped her arm and yanked her up, forcing her to her feet.

“Is this another trick?” Your last trick didn't work and so you want to try another?he demanded, eyes darkening. “Do you want a divorce so badly?”

His fingers tightened around her neck, not enough to choke, but enough to remind her of her vulnerability, of who was in charge.

“Too bad,” he said quietly. “I don't plan on letting you go. Not in this lifetime.”

He hurled her onto the bed.

The silk sheets tangled beneath her as his weight pressed down, stealing her breath. Panic clawed at her throat, sharp and suffocating, but she suppressed it, barely.

She stilled.

Inside, her mind screamed.

His face loomed close, voice low and threatening.

“And if you ever pull a stunt like that again,” you know trying to send me to some other woman’s bed, he said, emphasizing every word, “I will f**k you senseless again and again and ensure you never leave this room.”

I am sorry, Elaine whispered, causing Adrian to freeze.

“What?” he asked?

Her heart pounded so loudly she was convinced he could hear it.

“I am sorry,” she said again, this time louder. Adrian looked at her deeply, his cold eyes reflecting her face as if trying to bore a hole through them, and then he pulled her face close, his thin lips almost meeting hers, their breath intertwined, and she could smell the pine-scented cologne he always used. Oh, how nice he smelt, she thought sheepishly as she closed her eyes in anticipation and maybe a slight fear of what was going to happen next.

Then…

He withdrew. She opened her eyes, confusion clearly swirling in them. He stood up, straightened his suit and looked at her deeply again. The absence of his weight felt as overwhelming as his presence. She lay frozen, staring at the ceiling, tears silently soaking her hair and then the sheets. This was just the beginning, she thought,

And this time, she was not the same woman anymore and she promised to make things right.