All Chapters of After Rebirth, I Married My Ex-husband's Enemy : Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

**ATLAS**I did not know how much time had passed, only that my hands had vanished somewhere above my head and the blood running down my side had slowed to a lazy trickle, as if even my life's blood had grown tired of watching me suffer.My eyes opened and shut lazily, vision blurring and focusing on the small pool of red under my left foot and the stiff body of the man I suffocated. His eyes stayed glued to the ceiling, and I felt my skin crawl. At least, one of us had found peace. I had been holding my breath for so long now, surviving only on short gasps between hours…if I could even count. I had run out of saliva to wet my throat, and now it felt like it had been split open by the lingering image.I had expected torture. Hell, I had already mourned the possibility of parting wiith my skin, my bones, my sanity…until my mother showed up at the door in red heels and a smile that froze me to my cells. I sucked in a sharp breath, cursing myself for believing that for once, I might

**ATLAS**Pain had a voice, a rhythm, a pulse—and with every fresh slice of Lily's blade carving through my skin, it screamed louder for me to scream back.By the twentieth cut, I stopped counting the wounds and started counting the seconds between them, because anticipation hurt almost as much as the blade.Every new slice along my back felt like fire dragged through flesh, but if Felicia Kane wanted a scream, a grunt, or so much as a sigh, she was going to have to carve it out of my corpse.Through the blurriness in my vision, I made out my mother's frame just standing there, arms folded as the wet sound of skin tearing open filled the room.The cuts were not deep—no. My mother was not the type to cut to the bone, and from the nimble movement of Lily's hand along my back, it was obvious that she was no stranger to the Martyrs. I listened to the steady drop of my life's blood on the wooden floor and held my breath so I did not have to smell it.Darkness chewed at my vision, and I s

**ATLAS**I had spent so much time wishing for unconsciousness that I almost resented it for never staying.The first thing I noticed was that the pain never faded away. The second was that I was still unclad, save for my underwear. If I was grateful for anything, it was that my hand no longer hung above my head in chains—instead they rested on the metal armrests The darkness came and went, and every time consciousness dragged me back to the surface, I was reminded of the stinging at my back, my throbbing side, the metallic taste of my own blood…and the deep breathing of a man fighting to stay alive. I could not see him, but I could hear him—every ragged breath, every shift of his chains, every reminder that my last conversation with the woman who birthed me would not stay buried. Every time the darkness dragged me under, Ledger’s breathing dragged me back into the silence— so rough, so uneven, so…painfully human. I latched on to the sound like the last anchor in a raging storm,

**ATLAS**My mother used to measure my height against the kitchen doorframe, beaming with pride every time I outgrew the pencil mark she had made the year before. Standing before me now, wearing that same smile as she admired the chains biting into my wrists, I found myself wondering whether people truly rotted from the inside—or whether they simply woke up one morning and decided to bury whatever was left of their hearts.For my mother, it must have been the latter. And sitting in this chair, I found it almost ironic that I had run so far from this place only to be dragged right back in chains. Maybe we never really outrun our demons. We just ran in circles around them until they reached out to grab us. But my bones had grown weary from running, with every word Ledger said still clouding my mind even as his face paled and the smell of his blood hung in the air. I did not flinch under her stare, meeting it with all the anger that I could muster. “Do you ever get tired of playing

**ATLAS**I never flinched when I saw the gun. Lily was left handed, finger already on the trigger.Too far to disarm.Calista was standing behind my right shoulder.If she fired center mass, I would fall backwards onto her.I kept her behind me, telling myself that if she was still alive, that was more than enough for now.“Going somewhere, dear?” My mother's voice cut through my mind. I turned my neck to find her hand still firm on Ledger's shoulder. His lips had turned a bluish purple, and it dawned on me just how much was at stake.“I did not put it past you to have a backup plan, but this?” I waved a hand, turning my glare to Lily's form, “... this is just pathetic.”“Whatever gets the job done, love. Kill them.” She nodded to Lily, voice sounding almost bored.My body tensed as Lily stepped forward, but I did not move back, did not give her the satisfaction of watching me cower like an animal. I stared into her dark grey pools, but I was not searching for the woman I used to