PRESENT DAY

“Oh God.” Selene groaned as she opened her eyes, once again in a hospital room.

What-“ the words caught in her throat as saw who sat next to her.

Ronan Blackwood was sitting there, leaning back in a chair beside the bed. His pose was composed, calm and controlled, the calm that might be frightening. He was smartly dressed, clean, and slightly scented with cologne. His eyes were fixed, and he stared at her, and Selene felt, as she had not felt in months, a kind of recognition, not fear.

Ronan Blackwood bent a little, and put both his hands on his knees. Selene, he said in a low voice, his voice was measured. "You're awake."

Selene attempted to move, attempted to push herself up, but her weakness pulled her down at once. "Wh... why..." Her voice was sharp and jagged, as metal rubbing metal together. The words were hardly discernible.

Ronan Blackwood held up a hand. "Relax. You're safe. I came to see you."

Selene's eyes widened. She remembered him. Her husband's best friend. The individual who never appeared to be reachable, not besmirched by the lies, the betrayals. And now he was there--composed, in her hospital room.

“Not fine I Never... had drugs... police... lied..." Her ravaged voice broke once more. She gulped, attempting to force the words down her throat, though they did not seem to come out as words at all, but as a scratching motor.

Ronan Blackwood's gaze softened. "I know," he said firmly. "I know you didn't carry drugs. I know you were framed. I have been following it since the day it occurred. They have put those drugs in your car. They set you up."

At his words Selene turned her stomach. "Who... did it?" whimpered she, the rasp scarcely intelligible. "Why...?"

Ronan Blackwood sat back a little, examining her. “That is what I have come to tell you, and in the first place I am going to give you something. An opportunity. A chance to get your life back."

The eyes of Selene were flickering with doubt and desire. "Opportunity? What... what do you mean? she managed to rasp.

Ronan Blackwood exhaled slowly. "I can get you out of jail, Selene. You don't have to stay there. You do not need to suffer any more. He stood still and looked at her. “I possess sufficient influence and funds to make it happen. You'll be free. One word from me, and all these gaurds would open those prison doors and escort you out.”

Selene sighed and shook her head. “Free? After everything? Years of mistreatment, months of being deprived of her life , months of the agony of being confined in that institution and tortured there? Could it really be possible?”

He went on, speaking in a calm and firm voice. “You will not only be free but you will have a new life. You will be a different person, different documents and nobody will be aware of your history. Your countenance will be rebuilt. The harm of the past, all that had made you feel inferior to yourself, can be repaired. Your voice... I'll get the best specialists. You will be able to talk and sing once more.”

Selene's hand shook on the bed. The cuff was biting into her wrist as she pushed it down. "Face... voice..." she rasped. The idea was nearly too many to think. Her chest tightened. She had a desire to weep, but the tears could not come easily. They were caught, as was her broken voice, in pain and fear.

Ronan Blackwood shook his head, feeling her indecision. And, he said to himself, you will avenge.

Her head lifted slightly. Her heart beat in her breast. "Revenge?" she mumbled , with her broken voice shaking.

"Yes," Ronan Blackwood said. “Your husband, and your best friend they both cheated you. They gave evidence against you in court. They framed you. They destroyed your life. And I can help you fix it."

Selene shut his eyes, and attempted to believe him. Her throat was on fire and she rasped, “Why... you?”

Ronan Blackwood smiled a little and his eyes remained alert. “I know both of them well, that is why. I was still faking that I was the friend of Garrick Thorne. I made him believe that I was on his side. But the truth is... I have been waiting to have the right time to ensure he is made to pay with what he has done.”

Selene's mind spun. She desired to put ask questions, so many questions, but her throat would not cooperate. Every word was broken, rough, painful. Rather, she gazed at him and his words sunk in.

Ronan Blackwood leaned back slightly. “I am giving you this not because I feel sorry about you, not because I think you are the one who needs to be pitied, but because you are the only one who can stop them. You have talent. You have skill. You have the drive. And you can bring them down with my aid, get all they took away out of you, and get your life back together again. You can make them pay for what they did to you.”

Selene's heart raced. Free. A new identity. Her face fixed. Her voice repaired. Revenge. Everything she had desired for years, all the things she had envisioned when she sat in that prison cell, when she was called 1165, when she was beaten, humiliated, and broken--could come to pass.

Ronan Blackwood stood by her, watching her, and his face was composed, but resolute. “I understand it is a lot to digest, Selene,” he said. "But I need your answer. Will you do this? Will you risk your life, to reclaim your life and have justice?”