CHAPTER 1: Death and Rebirth

The rain was so heavy. It poured from the night sky, soaking Aria Whitmore to the bone as she stood frozen on the marble steps of the Blackwood Estate.

Her fingers trembled around the divorce papers, their edges now soft and ruined from the downpour. Yet, the storm outside was nothing compared to the one tearing through her chest.

Inside the gala, it blazed with life, crystal chandeliers casting golden light on women in silk gowns and men in tailored suits. And at the centre of it all stood her husband, Ethan Blackwood.

Her heart tightened as she watched him slip his arm around Selena Hart, the woman everyone knew as his mistress but no one dared to confront. The cameras loved them. The society elites toasted to them. And Ethan?

Ethan smiled for them.

He smiled for her.

“Ethan,” Aria’s voice cracked as she stepped into the hall, ignoring the looks that followed her soaked figure. Her eyes met with his.

His smile didn’t fade. “Aria,” he greeted, as if she were nothing more than just a friend. “You should’ve stayed home.”

Her throat burnt, but she swallowed the lump forming there. “You brought her here? To our anniversary gala?”

Selena’s maroon lips curved in triumph. “Why not? I mean… you’re practically invisible to him these days.”

Aria looked back at Ethan, desperately searching for a flash of remorse. “I gave you six years of my life. I stood by you when you had nothing. When your company was collapsing, when no one else believed in you. I was there!”

A whisper echoed through the crowd. But Ethan simply adjusted his cufflinks. “You were useful, Aria. I won’t deny that.”

Useful.

The word sliced through her like broken glass.

Selena laughed softly, curling her fingers around Ethan’s arm muscle. “It’s time to stop living in the past.”

Aria could feel the sound of her heart beating in her ears. She brought out the squeezed divorce papers from her purse and placed them against his chest. “Sign them. I’m done.”

Ethan’s brows lifted slightly, as if the sight amused him. He didn’t reach for the papers. Instead, he leaned in, his voice low but sharp as a blade.

“You can leave… but only when I stop loving you.”

Her breath stopped a bit.

“I won’t keep you in chains, Aria,” he whispered, his gaze cold and unreadable. “But don’t expect me to let you go.”

Her eyes were filled with tears, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Not here, not tonight.

Without another word, she spun on her heel and walked out of the hall, ignoring the look and the whispers popping at her back.

She aimlessly drove past the city with blurry eyes, hands tight on the steering wheel.

How did it come to this?

Six years. She sacrificed six years building his empire, standing in his shadows, and enduring his cold distance while he lavished another woman with the warmth she once knew.

Her mind flashed back to their early days. The nights they stayed up building business proposals in their congested apartment. The meals she skipped to help him pay for office space. The dreams they shared when all they had was each other.

And now?

Now she was nothing but a discarded accessory in his perfect life.

A tear slipped down her cheek.

“Enough,” she whispered, her grip tightening. “You’ve broken me for the last time, Ethan Blackwood.”

The traffic light turned green.

“I’ll start over. I’ll build my life again. Without you.”

But just as she crossed the intersection, a flash of blinding headlights screamed from her right.

A truck, coming too fast and too close.

Time slowed.

Ethan’s last words echoed in her mind.

“You can leave… but only when I stop loving you.”

Bang!

The impact shattered the world around her. Glass, metal, screams—everything spun, everything faded.

Silence.

When Aria opened her eyes, the rain was gone. The scent of lavender drifted through the air, strangely familiar. Her head ached as she pushed herself up, finding herself wrapped in soft, lilac sheets.

Her old sheets.

Confused, she swung her legs off the bed and staggered to the mirror. The girl staring back at her wasn’t the woman who had just faced her husband at a gala.

Her hair was longer, darker, and untouched by the expensive dyes she’d grown used to.

Her face, softer, rounder, still bearing the innocence she’d lost.

The silver wedding band? Gone.

Her eyes went to the calendar on her desk.

March 18th.

Her heart pounded against her ribs.

This was… This was three years ago. Before the marriage. Before the betrayal. Before it all.

Her knees collapsed, and she gripped the edge of the desk to steady herself.

“This… This isn’t possible,” she whispered, breathless.

A loud knock at her door, followed by a familiar voice, one she hadn’t heard in years.

“Aria! We’re going to be late for the Whitmore Corporation interview! Hurry up!”

Her blood ran cold.

That voice. It belonged to Mia, her best friend who’d cut ties with her after the divorce. Mia, who hadn’t spoken to her in years.

Aria staggered to the door and flung it open.

There stood Mia, young and smiling, just as she had before everything went wrong.

“What’s with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Mia laughed, tilting her head.

Aria couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. “I… I…”

She reached out and hugged Mia tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Mia stood in surprise. “Whoa, okay! What’s this about?”

Aria pulled back, her mind racing. “Nothing. I just… I’m glad you’re here.”

Mia gave her a strange look but grinned. “Come on, drama queen. If we don’t leave now, you’ll miss the interview with Ethan Blackwood’s company.”

The name hit Aria like a punch.

Ethan.

This was the day she first met him.

Her heart was beating fast.

This was her chance to rewrite everything, to choose differently, and to never let him in.

Aria’s lips parted as the realisation set in.

She had been reborn.