LOGINTHEA’s POVMeanwhile, inside the sunlit drawing room of the main Vane estate, time seemed to stand completely still.I stood frozen beside Elias, his strong arm wrapped securely around my waist. The warm, comforting scent of his cologne filled my senses, but my heart was pounding against my ribs like a trapped bird.All the color had drained from my face. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move a single muscle. Standing just a few feet away from us, holding a sleek black medical bag, was Doctor Jocelyn.She looked polished, professional, and entirely calm. Her gray suit was immaculate, her dark hair pulled back into a tight, neat bun, and a polite, professional smile rested on her lips. To Elias, she looked like a top-tier private physician sent by the city’s premier medical board to take care of his wife.But to me... she was a monster from my nightmare past.Memories of my first life rushed back with violent, terrifying clarity.In my past life, when my health began to fail during the f
The luxury suite at the city's finest five-star hotel was filled with the sound of breaking glass.Serena threw a crystal glass against the marble wall, watching it shatter into a hundred tiny pieces. Her face was red, her blonde hair messy, and her eyes swollen from crying all the way from the Vane estate. Two heavy leather suitcases sat near the door, freshly delivered by Elias’s security guards.She paced back and forth across the plush carpet, her hands shaking with rage as she held her phone against her ear."Dad! Did you hear what I just said?" Serena screamed into the phone, her voice high and sharp. "He threw me out! Elias had his guards practically carry my bags out to a car like I was some common criminal! In front of his mother! In front of everyone!"On the other end of the line, thousands of miles away in Europe, a heavy, calm sigh echoed over the speaker."Serena, calm down," her father, spoke in a low, stern voice. "You are making a complete scene. I told you before you
ELIAS’s POV The memory flashed instantly in my head.Maya had arrived at the Vane estate with a troupe of paid paparazzi hovering outside the gates. She had carried a stack of forged medical papers, loudly claiming that Thea was mentally unstable and needed to be forcibly checked into a psychiatric facility for her own health. It had all been a desperate, dirty ploy because Thea had blocked a major Sterling stock transfer that would have lined Arthur's pockets.That afternoon months ago was the very first time I had actively stepped in. I had torn up the papers, threatened Maya with legal ruin, and chased the paparazzi off my property, keeping Thea safe inside my home."They used hospitals as weapons against her for years, Elias," Liam said softly over the phone. "Every time she went near a clinic, it meant isolation, fake diagnoses, and being controlled by people who hated her. To you, a hospital represents safety and family planning. To Thea, a hospital represents a cage."I close
ELIAS’s POV The master bedroom was completely quiet, save for the soft, steady rhythm of Thea’s breathing.I sat on the edge of the mattress, my hand lightly resting over hers. She had finally fallen asleep, her pale face relaxed against the white pillows, her long dark eyelashes casting faint shadows on her cheeks. The intense, terrified trembling that had taken over her body at the hospital gates had entirely vanished, replaced by the peaceful stillness of rest.I pulled the duvet a little higher over her shoulders, leaned down to press a quiet kiss against her temple, and carefully slipped my hand out from hers.Stepping as softly as I could, I walked out of the bedroom and pulled the heavy wooden door shut until the brass latch clicked into place. I walked down the carpeted hallway and descended the marble staircase, my mind heavy with a dark, suffocating cloud of worry.In all the months we had spent together, I had never seen Thea look at anything with such pure, visceral terro
THEA’s POV The sudden realization hit me like a physical blow.The gray stone exterior, the sleek tinted glass doors, the manicured private driveway, everything about the building in front of us screamed cold, clinical memories I had tried so hard to leave behind.I sat completely frozen in the front passenger seat of the SUV. My breathing turned shallow and fast, my chest constricting as if the air had been entirely sucked out of the cabin. My fingers dug deep into the soft leather of my handbag, trembling so violently that I could barely keep my grip.In my first life, this was where my body had slowly given up. This was where the endless sterile hallways, the quiet whispers of nurses, and the cold indifference of doctors had marked the final chapters of my existence. Five years of marriage, five years of overworking myself to exhaustion, of trying to be the perfect, silent wife while being drained by Arthur, Sherry, and even Elias, it had all ended right behind those heavy glass
THEA’s POV The gentle morning light filtered softly through the sheer white curtains of our master bedroom, painting warm golden streaks across the duvet.I opened my eyes slowly, feeling a deep, cozy warmth wrapped around my body. My head rested comfortably against the soft pillows, and a peaceful quiet filled the room. For the first time in what felt like forever, the sharp, anxious tightness in my chest was completely gone. The constant dealing with legal files, court dates, and my situation with my former family had finally lifted, leaving behind a lightness I hadn't felt in either of my lives.I shifted slightly under the covers, a small, involuntary smile stretching across my lips as memories of the previous night flooded back into my mind.It had been... passionate. Adventurous. Beautiful.After we returned home from the High Court, the heavy walls between Elias and me had crumbled entirely. All the lingering doubts, the foolish misunderstandings, and the painful silence from
THEA’S POV Elias leaned in until I could feel the ghost of his breath against my lips. He was waiting for me to flinch. "You think you’ve grown claws, Thea," He murmured, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous vibration. "But you’re still in my house. You’re still wearing the ring I bought you. An
THEA’s POV Elias was still leaning over me, his face so close I could see the dark blue flecks in his eyes.I looked at him, and for a split second, I didn't see my husband. I saw a jailer. In my last life, I would have cried. I would have begged him not to say such scary things. But that Thea die
THEA’s POV The morning news was a bloodbath. I sat at the long, marble breakfast table, sipping my coffee and watching the television mounted on the wall. The headline scrolling across the bottom made the bitter caffeine taste like nectar: "STERLING ARCHITECTURE DROPS 40% AS MAJOR INVESTORS PULL
THEA’s POV In my first life, that voice would have made me jump. My father had a way of making me feel like I was five years old and failing a test. I used to spend my allowance buying him expensive watches just to get a "thank you" that never came. "Thea!" My mother’s voice joined in, high-pit







