Most Hated Woman On Earth.

Calla's POV

The car was too quiet, despite the hum of the engine and the city flashing past the tinted windows. I kept glancing at him—the man beside me who hadn’t said a word since I got in.

He sat like a marble statue, one arm resting on the door, the other toying with the edge of his cuff. His expression was fixed. It was stoic, disgusted even and I could feel the fury simmering under his skin. Like he was restraining himself from saying something cruel.

Or maybe just waiting for me to explode first.

I cleared my throat. My voice felt too small in the space between us. This felt awfully wrong. “What’s your name?”

If I asked who he was, it wouldn't make sense.

He turned his head, his face reddening. I swallowed hard, staring at him unflinchingly although I was panicking inwardly.

“Cute.” His tone was mocking. “What’s next? You’ll ask where we met? What my favorite color is? Should I play along with the amnesia act or are we skipping to the part where you scream and throw something fragile?”

My lips parted. I blinked at him. “I just… I forgot. That’s all.”

He scoffed. “You forgot your own husband’s name?”

Oh.. he's my– I mean Isadora's– husband. Fuck.

The word thudded inside me like a gunshot. I looked down at the wedding band on her– my finger and I sighed out. Marriage? Why didn't I just wake up in a single woman's body?

“Yes,” I whispered.

His jaw tensed and for a moment, something flickered in his eyes—hesitation? Confusion? Pain? But it vanished too fast.“Madden,” he muttered finally. Madden Kane Blackwell. The poor bastard who made the mistake of marrying you.”

I stared at him. “So we’re married.”

He laughed bitterly. “Oh, we’re more than that. We’re a headline. Oh and a friggin scandal. A nightmare dressed in diamonds and designer rage, don't be too surprised.”

I didn’t speak. I didn’t know how to with this revelation. I'm still trying to process this rebirth thing. My fingers curled in my lap. “I’m trying,” I said quietly. “I don’t know what happened to me, Madden, but I’m trying to—”

“No, you’re not,” he snapped, turning toward me sharply. “You never do. You destroy things and call it expression. You humiliate people and call it power. You’ve driven away every person who ever gave a damn about you—including me. So please—” he leaned closer, voice low and dangerous, “—don’t you dare sit there and pretend you’re trying.”

His words hit like ice water.

Oh shit. He hated her. Hated me. But I could feel it—this man once loved her. Deeply. Violently, maybe. But it had died. Or maybe she’d killed it. I really don't know what type of bitch’s body I got reborn into.

I swallowed hard as my chest burned. This was real. All of it, there's no use denying. I have to adapt. I have to be this bitch.

I had died… and woken up in the body of Isadora Blackwell—a woman so hated, even her husband looked at her like she was a curse he couldn’t get rid of.

“I’m not her,” I whispered, resting on the car seat.

His head turned slowly, eyes narrowing. “No,” he said softly. “You’re not.”

Something in his voice had changed. He sounded almost… unsure.“You’re quieter. Slower. Your eyes don’t spit fire when I speak. You’re either putting on the performance of your life or…” He trailed off, looking away.

I turned to the window, heart pounding.

So this was my second chance.

Only I hadn’t come back as a hero. I’d been dropped into the body of a woman everyone hated. A woman who made enemies with her bare hands and loved no one—not even herself.

But maybe that’s why I was here.

Because no one would mourn her.

No one would expect her to change.

And no one would see me coming.

***

Few minutes later, we reached a house.

The house—or rather, the mansion—rose like a sleeping giant behind black iron gates.

I stared at it as the car rolled to a stop. For a second, I forgot everything—the name, the body, the man beside me—and just let myself admire it. It was the kind of place little girls dreamed of living in, before they understood that fairy tales sometimes had monsters living in the tower too.

The door opened, and I followed Madden out. We stepped into the marble foyer. A beautiful crystal chandelier hung like frost over the entryway.

But it wasn’t the opulence that stopped me in my tracks.

It was the little girl I spotted upstairs. She looked maybe three or four. She clutched a plush fox, wearing a yellow dress. Her curls were messy, her cheeks pink with sleep.

She stood at the top of the staircase, holding the hand of a tall, angry-looking woman in a stiff black dress.

The moment the girl saw him, her entire face lit up. “Daddy!”

Her tiny feet pattered down the steps so fast my heart clenched. She flew into his arms, and he—this cold, hateful man—melted. He scooped her up like she was the only softness left in his life.

“There’s my babygirl,” he murmured against her hair, kissing her forehead. “Did you miss me, Egi?”

Egi.

I stared, rooted to the floor. A daughter. I—Isadora—has a child. No one told me this. Oh God, this can't get any easier.

Then the child looked at me and all her smiles vanished.

She shrank against his chest, burying her face in his suit like I was a creepy monster. It made me heart crack into pieces. Why she's getting scared of her mother?

“Don’t frighten her, Isadora,” the woman said coldly, now walking down the stairs. “She had a good day. Let’s not ruin it.”

What's….what did she mean by that?

I opened my mouth to say I’m not trying to, but no words came. I could feel the child’s fear like a fog in the room. And the weight of it crushed something in my chest.

“She’s hungover and has been saying a lot of shits Give her something. We have to attend the Montclair event tonight.” He handed the woman the girl, who whimpered softly when she left his arms.

Then he looked at me, his gaze murderous. “Try not to embarrass me, Isadora. If you insist on living like a scandal, at least don’t look like one.”

He walked off before I could respond.

I stood there, hollow and hating every second of this. They all hate me with venomously and I don't know how I'll be able to handle it. Isadora must've been a real bitch.

The woman brushed past me with the child in her arms. “You know she cries when she hears you coming up the stairs at night, right?” Her tone was venom. “Let me guess—forgot you had a daughter too?”

I swallowed hard, tasting acid. My legs suddenly felt unsteady

*The moment you hired a nanny immediately you gave birth..I knew you were bad news!” She scoffed, walking off.

The little girl peeked over the woman's shoulder. Her eyes were round and wet.

I tried a smile.

She looked away immediately.

This wasn’t a second chance.

This was a battlefield.

And I’d just stepped onto it… in someone else’s ruined armor.

***

The kitchen smelled like rosemary and smoke. It was the only warm room I’d found so far in this museum of a house, and even then, the warmth didn’t reach me.

I sat at the marble island, staring at the mug in front of me. Steam curled from the top of it. It was some bitter-tasting herbal hangover cure the nanny had practically slammed on the counter for me. “Drink it,” she snapped without looking at me. “God knows your liver needs divine intervention at this point.”

I picked it up slowly. My hand trembled as I did so.

The nanny pulled out a phone. “You've got a lot of missed calls. It's probably important." She placed it on my hand rudely.

The passcode was already in and I exhaled in relief.

There was tons of messages but that's none of my business. I went to Photos , staring at the pictures of Isadora. On the beach. With different men, and Madden wasn't even one of them. Then I went to the headlines.

Everything poured out like venom. Tabloid stories of public meltdowns, broken champagne bottles, screaming matches at elite galas. They all made my stomach churn unpleasantly.

There were photos of her falling out of cars. Reports of her vanishing for days, leaving her daughter with strangers.

Social media clips where people called her "unfit," "heartless," "the monster in stilettos."

And the worst of it…

A leaked hospital report. Egi had been sick once with a fever. She was taken to the emergency room and… that bitch, Isadora never showed up.

I covered my mouth, my stomach twisting into knots.

What kind of woman was I living inside?

What kind of mother?

I scrolled until my thumb went numb.

One headline read:

“Ice Queen Abandons Daughter Again – Will Her Husband Finally Divorce Her?”

Another almost made me scream.

“Inside the Marriage From Hell: Blackwell’s Beauty Turns to Ashes.”

I looked up, unable to take it anymore.

She was hated. Not just disliked—despised.

And now… that hatred belonged to me.

I wiped my face with my sleeve, but the tears kept falling. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I tasted salt.

Then the nanny’s voice cut through the silence, disbelieving. “Fake tears.”

I froze.

She was leaning on the counter across from me, arms folded, that same cold smirk on her face. Her eyes were judgemental.

“Never seen you cry in years. Not once. Not when Egi cried herself to sleep. Not when your husband begged you to stop ruining him. You’re not the one who cries, Isadora. You’re the one who makes people cry.”

I opened my mouth. I could’ve told her she had no idea what was going on but I just couldn't say anything.

Instead, I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

She blinked, caught off guard. “What?”

I held her gaze, even though it burned. “I know I’ve been… cruel. But I want to change. I mean it.”

Her laugh was harsh and humorless. “Change?” She scoffed. “You say that every time. Every time you smash something or scream or disappear for days. Every time you wake up sober and decide to pretend you're human.”

I swallowed. “This time is different.”

She leaned in, smiling like it hurt her. “Oh, I know what makes it different.”

Her voice dropped, sugar-sweet and deadly. “Is it because your husband wants a divorce again? Is that what cracked the Ice Queen this time?” She tilted her head. “Let me guess… he finally had enough and you realized nobody else would love you the way he used to.”

I stared at her.

Because she wasn’t wrong.

Calla—I—had once begged for love and died for it. And now, in this cursed body, I was being begged to leave love behind and couldn’t stomach it.

“You’re right,” I said softly. “No one else would.”

She straightened, taken aback again. And I added, “Which is why I won’t let him go. Not this time.”

Let them hate me.

Let them mock my tears.

I would turn this life around, even if it broke me.

Because in this body, love was the only thing I hadn’t already lost. Maybe I wasn't just here for revenge but to save Madden's marriage.