After My Death, I Became His Queen.

Chapter- 2

I had stopped questioning whether I was truly alive and started questioning what I would do with the life I had been given. The answer was simple, even if carrying it out would not be. I could not change the past by screaming at it or mourning everything I had lost. If I wanted justice, I needed patience, information, and a reason to stay close to the people who had destroyed me.

And the first person I needed to understand was Adrian Vale.

Three years before Emily entered his life, Adrian had been different. At least, that was what I had believed. He had been charming without being cruel, attentive without being possessive, and gentle enough to make me believe that I had finally found someone who would never abandon me. I remembered every conversation, every promise, and every look he had given me before our marriage, but now I wondered how much of it had ever been real.

My phone vibrated on the desk.

I looked at the screen and saw his name.

Adrian.

For several seconds, I simply stared at it. In my previous life, seeing his name had made my heart race with excitement. I used to smile before answering his calls, sometimes even checking my reflection first because I wanted to look beautiful whenever he saw me.

This time, I felt nothing but caution.

I answered after the third ring.

"Hello?"

"You're awake."

His familiar voice traveled through the phone, warm and calm enough to make my stomach twist. I closed my eyes briefly, forcing myself to remember the ballroom, the divorce papers, Noah calling Emily Mommy, and the moment Adrian had watched me die without moving.

"Yes, i guess." I replied.

There was a short pause.

"Great, let's meet today."

My fingers tightened around the phone.

Three years ago, I would have immediately asked when and where. I would have spent hours choosing an outfit and wondering whether he would finally say the words I had secretly hoped to hear.

Instead, I asked, "Why?"

He laughed softly.

"Because I have something important to tell you."

I already knew what it was.

The proposal.

The same proposal that had once made me believe I was the luckiest woman alive would become the doorway into the family that eventually destroyed me.

"Where?" I asked.

"Our favorite café. Two o'clock."

I looked at the clock.

"I'll be there."

When the call ended, I remained seated for a long moment. My hands were perfectly still now, but my mind was moving faster than it had all morning. I had expected this moment to feel satisfying, almost victorious, but it did not.

Adrian was not yet my enemy.

That was what made him dangerous.

At two o'clock, I walked into the café wearing a simple cream dress and carrying the small handbag my mother had given me years ago. Adrian was already sitting near the window, exactly as I remembered him. He wore a dark blue suit, his hair neatly styled, and that effortless confidence that had once made every woman in the room look twice.

When he saw me, he smiled.

My heart should have fluttered.

It didn't.

"Hannah."

He stood and pulled out the chair for me.

"You look beautiful."

The words were ordinary, but hearing them again felt strangely painful. I remembered another night when he had whispered the same thing while holding my face between his hands. Back then, I had believed his words were permanent.

Now I knew better.

"Thank you," I said as I sat down.

He took the seat opposite me and studied my face.

"You seem different."

My heartbeat skipped.

"Different how?"

"I don't know." He smiled slightly. "You look calmer."

I lowered my eyes toward the menu.

"Maybe I finally learned not to worry about everything."

He laughed.

"That's not like you."

No, I thought.

It wasn't like the old me.

The old Hannah worried about everything because she cared about everyone. She trusted easily, forgave quickly, and believed that if she loved someone enough, they would eventually love her the same way.

That woman had died in the Hawthorne estate.

I had no intention of bringing her back.

Adrian reached across the table and placed his hand over mine.

The touch made my entire body stiffen.

I forced myself not to pull away.

"I've been thinking about you a lot," he said.

I looked into his eyes.

"Have you?"

He smiled.

"Of course."

I almost wanted to ask whether he had thought about me while Emily held our son in her arms. I wanted to ask whether he remembered the way I begged him not to leave me. I wanted to ask whether he had felt anything when my body hit the floor.

Instead, I remained silent.

Adrian reached into his jacket.

My breath caught.

He placed a small black box on the table.

"I know this might be sudden."

I stared at the box.

"But I've never been more certain about anything."

He opened it.

A diamond ring caught the afternoon sunlight.

For one brief moment, I was back in my first life.

I remembered the excitement.

The tears.

The way I had hugged him so tightly that my hands trembled.

The way I had believed that ring represented forever.

But now I saw something else.

A trap.

Not because Adrian knew what I knew, but because accepting him would eventually place me inside the very family that had destroyed me.

"Hannah," he said softly, "will you marry me?"

The café seemed to become strangely quiet.

I looked at the man across from me.

This was the moment I had once dreamed about.

This was the moment that had led me toward five years of misery.

If I refused him, I would lose access to the Vale family before I even understood what had happened. I would have no reason to enter Hawthorne Holdings, no reason to become close to Eleanor, and no reason to uncover the secrets surrounding my death.

But if I accepted him, I would be walking directly toward the people who would eventually kill me.

I smiled.

"Yes."

Adrian's face immediately brightened.

He took my hand and slipped the ring onto my finger.

"It fits."

I looked down at the diamond.

"It does."

He leaned forward and kissed my knuckles.

"I promise you, Hannah, I'll make you happy."

I met his eyes.

"I hope you do."

He smiled, completely unaware of the promise hidden beneath my words.

I was not going to marry Adrian Vale because I loved him.

I was going to marry him because three years from now, someone inside his world would try to kill me.

And this time, I intended to find out who.

After we left the café, Adrian offered to drive me home. I accepted, watching the city pass through the window while he talked about our future. He spoke about the wedding, the house, his family, and how happy his mother would be once she heard the news.

I listened carefully.

Every word gave me another piece of the puzzle.

"Eleanor will probably want a huge wedding," he said with a small laugh. "She has already mentioned several times that the Vale family name needs to be represented properly."

I turned toward him.

"Your mother doesn't like me."

He glanced at me.

"She doesn't dislike you."

I almost laughed.

In my previous life, Eleanor had spent years reminding me that I was beneath her son. She had called me ordinary, inexperienced, and unworthy of the Vale name. She had blamed me for every disagreement between Adrian and her, even when Adrian was the one causing them.

But three years from now, she had stood on the staircase and watched me walk toward my death with satisfaction in her eyes.

"She'll accept you," Adrian continued.

I looked out the window.

"I hope so."

He reached over and squeezed my hand.

"You worry too much."

I looked at his fingers resting over mine.

No.

I thought.

I didn't worry enough.

When I arrived home, I went straight to my bedroom and locked the door.

The engagement ring sat on my finger, sparkling beneath the light.

I removed it and placed it carefully on the desk.

Then I opened the notebook I had started that morning.

At the top of the first page, I had written three names.

Adrian Vale.

Eleanor Vale.

Emily Laurent.

I stared at Emily's name.

She had not entered my life yet.

I did not know where she lived, who her friends were, or how she would eventually become close enough to my family to manipulate my own son.

But I knew one thing.

She would eventually appear.

And when she did, I would be ready.

I turned the page and wrote another name.

Noah Vale.

My hand stopped.

He did not exist yet.

The thought hurt more than I expected.

Somewhere in the future, there was a little boy who would call another woman Mommy because I had failed to protect him from the people around us. A child who would love me but be manipulated into believing that someone else belonged in my place.

I pressed my fingers against the page.

"I won't let them take you from me this time."

My voice trembled despite my determination.

Then I wiped my eyes and continued writing.

I needed to know everything.

Adrian's finances.

His family.

Hawthorne Holdings.

Eleanor's relationships.

The people who worked for them.

The people who hated them.

Every business deal Adrian had made.

Every person who could benefit from my death.

And most importantly, whatever secret I had discovered before I died.

That secret was the reason they had silenced me.

It was the missing piece.

I knew that because of the fear in Adrian's eyes when I asked what I had discovered. A man who felt nothing for his dying wife would not look terrified unless he believed she knew something capable of destroying him.

I closed the notebook.

The woman who had once loved Adrian Vale would have trusted him completely.

The woman I had become would trust no one.

Not Adrian.

Not Eleanor.

Not the friends who would eventually betray me.

And not even the people who claimed to love me.

I looked at the engagement ring lying on the desk and slowly picked it up.

I slipped it back onto my finger.

If becoming Adrian Vale's fiancée was the first step toward discovering the truth, then I would play the part perfectly.

I wasn't afraid of Adrian anymore.

I was afraid of the woman I was about to become.

I would smile when they expected me to smile.

I would trust them when they expected me to trust them.

I would let them believe I was the same innocent woman they remembered.

But behind that smile, I would be watching.

Waiting.

Learning.

Because this time, I knew how the story ended.

And I had no intention of letting it end the same way.