After my death, I chose Vengeance

Prologue I’ve always thought all breakups hurt equally until I met him. I just couldn’t move on. It would have been better if he cheated or I did. That would’ve made moving on easier. But no—when you break up because of misunderstandings, you just… sit there, stuck. Stuck on what-ifs. What if I had a loving mother and father who wouldn’t constantly belittle me and always tell me to be grateful they brought me into this world? What if I had a big sister who would love me with all her heart instead of plotting schemes behind my back? What if I never introduced him to my family? Would we still be together? I walked down the street, my hands shoved into the pockets of my faded pants, the shirt I wore soft and worn like it had absorbed all my sadness. People passed me in waves, bright and alive, and I felt invisible. The wind tugged at my hair, the streetlights flickered above, and the world moved on without me. Every step was heavy. Not just with the weight of my body, but with the endless spiral of what-ifs that refused to let go. And then—I didn’t even hear it. The screech of tires, the blinding flash of headlights. My body jolted, the air ripped from my lungs, and the world turned upside down. In that suspended second between pain and nothing, my heart clenched on one last thought. One last prayer. If time could just go back… I promise not to lose you again, my love. Then the last light faded, and I was gone. ************** Chapter 1 Heat was the first thing Tiana felt when her eyes snapped open. Her head throbbed as she took in her surroundings—the oversized mattress beneath her, the glaring lights above, the unfamiliar silence. The ceiling looked familiar. Too familiar. She blinked hard, trying to focus. Her vision remained blurry, her body heavy and weak. The mattress, the curtains, even the faint scent in the air—she knew this place. But that was impossible. The last thing she remembered was dying on a cold street. So why was she here? Was she in heaven? A warning bell rang in her mind. Fighting the dizziness, she forced herself up and stumbled toward the door, her legs unsteady. She yanked it open—and froze. Three men were heading straight for the room. Instinct took over and she ran in the opposite direction. “Catch her” one of them yelled and they started running after her. She glanced back and saw the men were closing in fast. Just then the door to the VIP elevator in front of her suddenly opened. A group of people walked out. The man who was being escorted at the front of the crowd was dressed impeccably in a custom-made suit. Feeling muddle headed and desperate,she ran into him,her nose hit his chest so hard that it made her tear up immediately. “Please help me,” Tiana gasped. “Why should I?” The moment his voice reached her ears, her heart skipped. That tone.That calm, cold indifference. Her breath caught. It was familiar—so painfully familiar that it made her chest ache. She lifted her head, trying desperately to see his face, but her vision remained frustratingly blurred. All she could make out was a sharp silhouette, dark eyes she couldn’t fully focus on, and something else she couldn’t quite understand. Up close, his skin looked… off. Faint. Barely noticeable for Tiana to make sense of what's wrong with him. What should I do?The men were almost on her. Out of options, Tiana rose onto her tiptoes and kissed him. The instant her lips touched his, his entire body went rigid. Up close, she felt how tense he became, how his breathing turned uneven and strained. Through her blurred vision, she thought she saw the faint redness on his skin deepen. But there was no time to question it. Pulling back slightly, she whispered, “Now you have a reason to help me.” Behind them, the guards gasped in shock. Never in their lives had they imagined their boss would be kissed so boldly especially not by a stranger. He smirked. No one in the whole city dared to approach him, let alone touch him. Fine. He would deal with this woman in his own way. He stared at her taking notice of her hazed eyes and her flushed face.Without a word, he scooped her up and headed straight for his private suite. Tiana felt it again, that unsettling sense of déjà vu—but her mind was too clouded to grasp whatever was going on. Inside his room, he sent her into the bathroom and turned on the faucet drenching her immediately. “What is wrong with you?” Tiana yelled and screeched like a cat that had fallen into water. “You asked for help and I'm giving it” He replied nonchalantly,one hand in his pocket and kept spraying water on her. Tiana cried out as the icy water drenched her, hair plastered to her face, yet she held her ground. “Stop it! What are you doing?!” she yelled, waving her arms like a windmill. He just smirked, eyes dark and calculating. “Just making sure you’re awake enough to understand what you did wrong” Her chest heaved, partly from fear, partly from… adrenaline, and from shame. She couldn't believe she threw herself at a stranger. “I didn't do anything wrong!” she spat out, glaring at him through her dripping hair. He raised an eyebrow, tilting his head just slightly. “Really? Because last I checked, you kissed me in the middle of a VIP lobby….” “I don't remember doing that” Tiana interrupted him, unable to meet his gaze due to guilt. “I could still throw you back to the men” he challenged. “I remember” she said in panic “but shouldn't you be grateful to be kissed by a woman” “Woman?” He chuckled “You look barely eighteen” Right she didn't really look her age because her family barely gave her proper food and she was deeply malnourished. She only got her period after turning eighteen. “Why are you making comments on my body” She snapped. “You're drugged” he threw her a towel “You should be grateful I saved you not arguing with me instead. You can sleep on the couch” She wanted to argue that a gentleman should offer the bed to a lady but then again this was better than spending the night with her family. After changing into the bathrobe,she sat down on the couch to analyze the situation. Why was everything feeling like a deja vu and why did this stranger seem so familiar that it made her heart ache?If she remembered clearly she was walking down on the street after her family tried to frame her for something she didn't do. How in the world did she end up here? Everything felt hazy and she couldn't tell you whether it was from the d**g or something else. “Tiana, let's do this tomorrow” she sighed and laid on the couch. Within minutes she was fast asleep. “If time could just go back,I promise not to lose you again” As if in a loop,these words kept repeating in her head and she kept dreaming of her past life and moments before the accident. She woke up with a gasp. She quickly sat up lost in thought. If her guess was right “I've been reborn?” She wanted to yell excitedly but didn't want to wake up the sleeping figure on the bed. She glanced up at the bed only to find out he was not there. She searched through her memories to find out what happened here but everything still felt foggy.After a while she remembered, this was when her big sister Stella had called her out for drinks. Foolish her was so happy back then to spend time with her not knowing Stella had planned on drugging her. Now that she has been given a second chance in life she planned on getting back on every single person who harmed her in her past life. “And most importantly I'm winning Fred back” She said determinedly. The door to the bathroom opened. Speaking of the devil.She saw him walk in with only a towel wrapped around his waist.She gulped. Her gaze lingered a bit too long on the towel “Stop staring” he glared. Tiana’s eyes unwillingly moved from the towel to his face, almost tearing up immediately.She would never tire of this face, no matter how many times she had seen it. She got up wanting to hug him but she halted in her steps. Fredrick was still allergic to women in this particular year and didn't want to have anything with any woman. She remembered arguing with him on this matter this particular morning. Out of frustration she touched him all over but to her bewilderment she saw rashes appear all over his skin. It only subsided after he took his drugs. Tiana stared at him intensely and said “Now that time has given us a second chance,” she whispered, staring into his eyes, “I promise not to lose you again.”