After Rebirth, I Married My Ex-husband's Enemy のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

**CALISTA**The moment my eyes opened, I knew the house was already moving without me—and if I did not act first, I would lose control of everything.I blinked and lifted my palm to shield my eyes from the harsh light that flooded the room.A dull ache bloomed in my temple, and I fell back into bed with a sigh, burying my head between the pillows.I tried to push last night from my mind, to tell myself that everything I heard was a lie…a cruel joke. I did not go to the hospital. How could I? I already understood the chaos inside me, the nausea and the smarting pain that would not go away. My hands skimmed down my body, searching for stains on the mattress. I found none, so that had to mean that I was fine…right?I wanted to lie still and pretend that the world did not exist, but the world was knocking at my door, coming in uninvited and handing me a steaming mug of greenish liquid. “How are you feeling?” Mother kept her voice low and her gaze lower, watching my belly like it was Pa

**ATLAS**Merrick Fairfax was a poser, a man who walked straight into doom with an untouchable air, but flinched in the face of consequence. It was no surprise that he answered my call so quickly, that my offer of a drink had his voice lifting. Merrick would never say no to a drink, much less one from the devil whose brain he intended to pick. I let him choose the place—a hotel bar in a discreet nook of town, shielded from the public eye in case he swung another punch and missed again. I sat at the high stool at the far end of the empty bar, nursing a brandy while I waited. The bar was discreet indeed, and Merrick had rented the whole place for this meeting. If I did not know better, I would have thought that he had some sort of plan. But Merrick had always loved power, and tonight, he was making me wait.“Can I get you anything else?”I looked up at the bartender.“What?”“I said,” her voice lowered, “can I get you anything else?” “Oh, I am alright, thank you.” I looked down

“In the event that the marital union is dissolved due to proven financial misconduct, coercion, criminal fraud, or material concealment by the spouse, the Winslow beneficiary shall retain full succession rights and may seek restitution for all resulting losses.” ~The Last Will and Testament of Victor Winslow.*ATLAS**I had imagined ruining Merrick Fairfax in a hundred different ways, but somehow, none of them involved hauling his drunk body through the front door of the penthouse he kept hidden from his wife.It certainly did not involve tucking him into bed, but there I was, throwing the covers over his mumbling body.I stood there for a long moment, staring down at his form and wondering how a man could sleep in the presence of his enemy. I could kill him, put a pillow over his head and make sure the bastard never took another breath. But that would hurt the will. So I took a giant step back and stalked towards the door, but something caugh

**ATLAS**I did not say anything—not because I did not have a response, but because none of them felt right.The silence that followed settled between us like something alive, broken only by the steady beep of the cardiac monitor and Calista's shaky breath.I was a lot of things, but there are foundations that I did not build my life on—the same foundations on which I now stood rooted.I would have given anything to hear her take her words back, but the hunch of her shoulders told me everything I needed to know.Yet, I was adamant. I glanced at the door again, gripping the side rails of her bed. “Did that woman blackmail you into saying this? Do I need to—”“No, Atlas.” She shook her head wearily. “As a matter of fact, that woman used to be my best friend…Evie.” She said the name like a painful memory, and it all made sense why I thought that her auburn hair was eerily familiar.Everything in me ached to leave, to walk away from this mess and never look back. “I need to know somethi

**ATLAS**I never had to question the kind of man I was until I was standing in my home office, peering at the images projected on the wall in hopes of freeing the woman sleeping under my roof.My thumb tapped against my lips, and I shut my eyes, feeling the delicious burn of fatigue pulsing through me.I could chastise myself, question my decisions and what exactly I had done—but I did not think. I just…brought her home. Now, the noose wrapped tightly around my neck, and it dawned on me by the complexities projected on the wall that Calista was in deep trouble. I should not have been so harsh with my words, or judged her for wanting to go back, to disappear into her old life in an attempt to keep the company.So what did I do? I threw myself right in front of the gun, and the noose tightened around my neck, for I did not even know what to say when she asked how long I planned on keeping her here.With a deep sigh, I reached for the whiskey decanter and poured myself another glass.