THE EX WIFE’S REVENGE

CHAPTER:6

When I felt the poison take over my body, I knew. I knew they’d won, it was really obvious….

The burning started in my throat, then spread through my chest like wild flames. My hands trembled as I staggered from the dinner table, the laughter behind me echoing like distant mockery. Victoria’s eyes met mine for a fleeting second, cold, amused, satisfied like she had won a trophy.

That was the moment I stopped being their pawn.

And became their target.

******

I blacked out before I could scream.

When I came to life, I was weightless floating, not flying, not dreaming, just… cold. My head was heavy, my limbs numb. Voices drifted through the haze, it felt like I was in a lucid dream.

"She’s not breathing. Just throw her in."

It was Josh. My husband's best friend. The same man who once toasted to our wedding.

Someone else grunted. “Are you sure she’s dead?”

“She will be in a minute.” Then, splash.

The river swallowed me whole.

I sank fast, dragged down by a dress that suddenly felt like chains. Water filled my lungs before I could hold my breath. My body convulsed. My mind screamed. Darkness closed in like an old lover.

So this was it. This was how I died.

Alone. Betrayed. Forgotten.

Fate had other plans.

Just before everything went still, I felt hands, strong, warm, alive pulling me up. Through the water. Through the pain. Through death.

I burst to the surface, coughing, retching, crying, clinging to life like a child to a mother.

“You’re okay. I’ve got you,” the voice said, deep and steady. “You’re safe now.”

I couldn't speak. I couldn't even look at him. But I knew, deep in my soul, he wasn’t one of them.

He carried me, yes, carried me like I weighed nothing up a steep hill, into a car that smelled like leather and money, and wrapped me in a thick blanket.

“You’re going to be alright,” he whispered as I faded into unconsciousness.

I didn’t believe him then. But he was right after all , maybe that is all I needed at that moment.

******

I woke up two days later in a bed far too luxurious for a lady who’d just been dumped like garbage in a river.

The room was huge. Gold trim. Velvet curtains. Art on the walls. The sheets were silk.

For a terrifying second, I thought Xavier had found me. That he brought me back just to kill me slower.

But then the door opened, and he walked in.

Tall. Dark-skinned. Sharp jaw. Eyes that could cut glass. Not Xavier.

“You’re awake,” he said, setting down a tray of food. “I was starting to think you’d given up on life.”

I blinked, confused. “Who… are you?”

He smirked. “Your second chance.”

I stared, unsure if I should run or cry. “Why did you save me?”

“Because I hate Xavier Blackwood,” he said plainly, “and I don’t believe in coincidences. Finding his half-dead wife in my river? That’s the kind of thing fate sends you when it wants to make a deal.”

I sat up slowly, every muscle aching. “You know Xavier?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he said, voice cool and smooth like expensive whiskey, “Xavier knows me. I’m the man he couldn’t buy out, threaten, or break.”

“What’s your name?”

He looked at me, something unreadable in his gaze.

“Daniel Black..…”

Over the next week, Daniel nursed me back to health, not just my body, but my soul. He didn’t ask questions at first. He gave me space, fed me, clothed me, protected me.

Then, one rainy evening, he said, “I need to know the full story.”

And I told him. Everything.

The poisoning. The lies. How Victoria and Josh were always around, whispering in corners. How Xavier betrayed me by sleeping with Victoria on our matrimonial bed, started coming home with blood on his hands and no explanations. How I was isolated. Silenced. Erased by his mom, and how I also caught both of them red-handed sleeping with his friend.

Daniel listened without interrupting. No judgment. Just this slow, burning fury rising behind his calm eyes.

When I was done, I felt naked. And for once, I wasn’t met with pity.

Just a single, piercing sentence:

“Let’s burn them.”

I looked at him. “What?”

“You want justice, Isabella?” he asked. “Or do you want revenge?”

I swallowed hard. “Both.”

He leaned forward, eyes locked on mine. “Then marry me.”

My breath hitched. “What?”

“Marry me,” he repeated. “Let the world see that the woman Xavier tried to kill is now sleeping in the bed of the man he hates most." You want to destroy him? This is how we start.”

“But….” I shook my head. “I don’t even know you.”

He shrugged. “We don’t need to be in love to make a powerful alliance. We need motive. Pain. Strategy. And fire. I’ve got plenty of that.”

I stared at him. In his hands, his jaw, the veins in his arms. Power. That’s what he was. Raw, silent power. And maybe, just maybe, a shield I never had.

“You saved me,” I whispered. “You didn’t have to.”

“I didn’t do it for charity,” he said, standing. I did it because I saw what they were trying to destroy. And I’m not going to let them win.”

He walked to the door, but paused before leaving.

“Sleep on it,” he said, his voice softer now. But don’t take too long. War waits for no one.”

That night, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Was it madness? Marrying a stranger to take down the man who tried to kill me?

Or was it salvation?

I remembered Xavier’s voice whispering promises that tasted like honey and burned like acid.

I remembered the river. And I remembered Daniel’s hand pulling me out. Just before I drifted off, I whispered into the darkness:

"Maybe it's time they feared me too."