Chapter 1: Die, Ella!

Darkness was all that Ella could see.

And pain was all she felt.

It had been two months, four days, and who-knows-how-many hours since she had been locked in this dark cell where sunlight never seemed to reach. It was difficult to even distinguish day from night.

The high-pitched squeaking of the mice constantly reminded her of the company she had inside the cell. They felt tiny to the touch, but they were vicious. When they dug their large teeth into her already brutalized skin, a chunk of flesh would tear off.

It was painful at first. It still was. But to some extent, she had grown numb to it.

Whoever locked her in the cell had left her in the company of those mice and a dagger stating coldly that she should end her life when the pain became unbearable.

She had picked up the knife and slashed it across her thigh, where now multiple cuts lined her pale skin.

Two months and five days.

She would not die here. Not in this place.

Even if the whole world turned its back on her, there was one person who would never let her die.

The sound of footsteps snapped her out of her thoughts.

“She hasn’t died yet?” a familiar voice echoed.

This voice wasn’t the same as the one who had handed her the knife. It was different.

“What is she thinking? She’d rather torment herself than take her own life?” the woman said with a mix of disbelief and amusement.

“Never knew my elder sister had such perseverance.”

Ella’s body turned cold. The wounds on her skin suddenly tingled and burned like someone had rubbed salt into them.

“Esther…?” her voice croaked.

“It’s me, sister,” the woman giggled, as if she could see her shock despite the darkness.

“Ah, tell me why aren’t you dead yet?”

Tears welled in Ella’s eyes. Betrayal stabbed her heart like a thousand poisonous thorns.

Inhaling a sharp breath, she mustered all her strength to mutter four words:

“He will save me.”

The words tasted foreign on her own tongue.

“You’re counting on Mr. King?” Esther scoffed.

“Haven’t you always shunned and hated him? That husband of yours was indeed obsessed with you at one point, but that’s just the nature of men. What they can’t have, they must possess. They love the chase. But eventually… the chase loses its thrill.”

Ella almost laughed.

The man she had spent a lifetime running away from was now the one she longed for on the edge of death.

Because when the entire world abandoned her, Adrian never did.

He was crazy, yes. But she had been his only obsession.

He had proven it for over a decade now.

“Let me tell you this, sister,” Esther continued with a venomous smile.

“Your man is getting married to me in two days. So, you can die in peace here while I please him on our wedding night.”

Silence filled the cell for a moment.

Then, maniacal laughter echoed through the dark space.

“You… what are you laughing at?!”

Ella gasped for breath. Her vocal cords were damaged from screaming under torture her voice was now nothing but a grating rasp.

“How desperate are you for Adrian, Esther?” she coughed.

“In two days, it’ll be his grandfather’s death anniversary. You think he’ll marry you on that day? In your dreams.”

“You—! Even like this, you still want to humiliate me? DIE, ELLA!”

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three consecutive gunshots rang through the darkness.

Ella’s body collapsed.

A peaceful smile was etched across her face.

No more pain. Finally.

Yet… her heart was filled with regrets.

Must I die like this?

If… if there is a next life, I must avenge myself. I must live well.

But… is there even a next life?

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Ella gasped, her eyes flying open.

The familiar scent of cedar and wine flooded her lungs. She felt the press of his body on hers, the roughness of his breath against her skin.

No. No, this isn’t happening.

Not again.

She had to be dreaming. She had to.

Hadn’t this already passed?

Wasn’t she… dead?

Then why was she here?

And why was he on top of her?

Her vision blurred, a strange mix of pain and pleasure coursing through her body.

In her daze, she tried to push the weight off her.

“It couldn’t… be…” Her old and broken mind must be fabricating this.

A rough hand clamped over her mouth.

“Shh. Don’t ever forget who you belong to.”

Those words dipped her into ice.

She froze heart, soul, and bone.

The man who had buried his face in her neck now lifted it…

And she stared into a pair of bloodthirsty eyes.

“Why… why must you keep me?” Ella whispered, her voice barely holding together from the whirlwind sensations running through her broken frame.

“Because I promised.”

His deep voice was like a cold chamber isolating her from the entire world and locking her in a cage.

If she hadn’t realized it before, she did now.

She had returned to the past.

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