Reborn For Revenge

CHAPTER FOUR

My eyes flew open with a violent gasp.

I sat straight up, clutching my throat, my lungs screaming for air. The phantom feeling of Daniel’s fingers crushing my windpipe was so real I could still taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth. I was trembling, waiting for the dark bathroom walls, the cold tiles, and his twisted face to appear.

But they didn't.

The air around me was warm, smelling faintly of lavender and vanilla. I blinked, wiping away the tears blurring my vision, and looked down. I wasn't on the bathroom floor. I was sitting in an oddly familiar bed with crisp white sheets and a plush, pink velvet headboard.

I looked around the room, my heart hammering against my ribs.

This wasn't Daniel's house.

I looked to my left. On the white nightstand sat my old polaroid camera, right next to a half-empty bag of strawberry candies. Across the room, a massive gray beanbag chair sat in the corner, and a silver high school graduation trophy gleamed on the shelf above it.

This was my room. My childhood bedroom in my father’s mansion.

What was happening? Had I survived? Did someone save me and bring me back to my dad's house?

But that was impossible. This house no longer existed. This was the first property Daniel sold after he took over my father's wealth.

Before I could process anything, the bedroom door burst open.

"Celene! Thank goodness you're awake!"

Maya, my personal maid and housekeeper, rushed into the room. She was holding a clipboard, her hair tied up in its usual messy bun.

She walked straight to my pink windows and yanked the curtains back, bringing the bright sun straight into my eyes.

"Fuck! My eyes!!" I hissed, closing my eyes.

"Language, young lady... How on earth will you cope as a married woman if you talk like that?"

Huh?

"You completely overslept," Maya scolded playfully... "The designer is already on her way. If you don't get up right now, you are going to be completely late for the final fitting of your wedding dress!"

I froze.... My what?

My voice felt trapped in my throat as I replied "My... wedding dress?"

Maya turned around, a teasing smirk on her face as she rested her hands on her hips. "Yes, your wedding dress. Don't play dumb with me. Did you oversleep because of that romantic dinner date Daniel took you on last night? I swear, you two act like teenagers."

My blood ran completely cold.

My hands shook as I pulled down the collar of my shirt, staring at my reflection in the full-length mirror. My skin was smooth and pale, but completely clear. No handprints around my throat. No yellowing bruises on my collarbone. Nothing...

"Honestly, I was going to have to throw cold water on you if you weren't awake...you're a lucky girl, Celene...You're going to be a married woman in a week, Celene. Start acting like it!"

A heavy weight slammed into my chest, stealing my air.

Maya was talking to me normally. She was smiling. She didn't know about the miscarriages. She didn't know about the bruises. She didn't know that Daniel had just choked me to death a few minutes ago.

She doesn't know because it hasn't happened yet.

She didn't look at me with pity. She didn't know about the three empty cribs. She didn't know about the screams behind closed doors.

Because none of it had happened yet.

A second chance. The words echoed in my mind, sharp and electric. My frantic prayer in the dark hadn't fallen on deaf ears. I wasn't dead. I was back. One week before the wedding.

A single tear spilled over my eyelashes, followed by a sudden, violent sob. I covered my mouth to hide the sobs,as the tears poured down my face... the tears kept coming, soaking through my fingers.

Maya’s teasing smile instantly vanished, replaced by pure worry.

Her clipboard clattered to the floor, as she rushed to the side of the bed. "Oh my god, Celene? What's wrong? Are you hurt? Is it cold feet? Look at me, sweetie, it's just stress, I promise..."

I didn't hear the rest of her words. My brain was busy calculating my dates...

If this was one week before the wedding, then the private nurse hadn't been bribed yet. The insulin dosage had not been tampered with yet.

My dad.

I threw the duvet off my legs, my knees trembling as my feet hit the floor.

"Celene! Wait! Where are you going in your pajamas?" Maya cried out, reaching for my arm, but I twisted out of her grip.

I sprinted.

I tore out of my bedroom, my bare feet slapping against the polished floors. I sprinted down the long hallway of the west wing, ignoring the tears drowning my vision. I hit the top of the grand staircase, taking the steps two at a time, nearly slipping at the bottom.

"Celene! Stop!" Maya’s voice echoed from behind, her footsteps chasing after me, but I didn't slow down.

I turned the corner into the ground-floor corridor, my heart hammering so loudly it drowned out the entire fucking world. I lunged toward the heavy, double oak doors at the end of the hall and threw my entire weight against them.

The doors slammed open with a deafening crash.

The scent of peppermint and expensive tobacco hit my senses first.

My father was sitting upright in his massive bed, reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, the morning newspaper spread across his lap. He jumped at the noise, his head snapping toward the door in complete confusion.

Right beside the mattress stood a woman in a crisp, white medical uniform. Her fingers were wrapped around a glass vial and a gleaming syringe, her hand freezing mid-air just inches from the port in his arm.

"Stop! Get the fuck away from my father!" I shrieked, my voice filling the entire room.

The nurse gasped, dropping the small plastic needle cap onto the nightstand.

I ran across the room, jumping straight on the mattress. I scrambled over the covers and buried myself into my father's lap, wrapping my arms around his neck so tightly my knuckles turned white.

I pressed my face into his neck, sobbing violently, inhaling his deep, familiar scent. He was warm. His chest was rising and falling. His heart was beating right against my cheek.

"Whoa, whoa, princess," my father’s deep voice rumbled. He sounded completely startled, but his strong arms wrapped around my back, patting me with steady strokes. "What on earth is all this? Did you have a nightmare? You're a bit too old to be tackling your old man like this."

"You're here," I choked out, gripping his shirt like a lifeline. "You're actually here."

"Of course I'm here," he chuckled softly, kissing the top of my head. "Where else would I be? Look at you, you're getting dirt on my papers. What's wrong, Celene? Talk to me."

I didn't answer. I couldn't even think passed the fact that he was really here... I just held him tighter, my eyes slowly opening as I looked over his shoulder.

The nurse was still standing by the nightstand, smoothing down her uniform, her lips pressed into a tight, annoyed line. She looked completely ordinary. Innocent, even. But as I stared into her cold eyes, I saw the woman who would pocket Daniel's money and inject a lethal dose of insulin into my father.

The warmth of my tears dried instantly. A freezing calm settled over my skin, turning my spine to ice.

I pulled back from my father slowly, wiping the wetness from my cheeks. My breath evened out, my gaze never breaking away from the nurse's face as a small, dark smile crept onto my lips.

This was it. This was my second chance. Daniel thought he had won, but he had no idea that the weak, submissive girl he killed was gone. I was going to protect my father, reclaim my life, and run straight into the arms of the one man who could help me burn Daniel's entire world to the ground.

I wasn't going to waste a single second.

"Dad," I said softly, my voice completely steady as I stared directly at the woman with the syringe. "I think it's time we hire a new medical staff. Starting today."