All Chapters of After Rebirth, I Married My Ex-husband's Enemy : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

**ATLAS**There was a long, deafening silence after I said those words, the kind that usually followed explosions and funerals.Judging by the horrified look on Ledger’s face, I probably should not have said it out loud.He blinked once, slowly, like he was deciding whether to punch me or drag me to a psychiatrist. I would have preferred the former, but nothing would be enough to take back the words…not even if my mind was stabbing at my heart, trying to kill the damn thing.“Okay…I have so many questions,” Ledger dragged a hand over his face, glancing up the stairs, “first of all…why?” “It is complicated, Ledge.”“Yeah? From where I'm standing, it seems pretty fucking simple to me.”“I am not in the mood for a fight,” “And neither am I,” he sighed, and I wished that he would just go away right now.“But I'm just confused. One moment, you're talking about how you can't wait for this to be over so you can let her go. Now, you're talking about marrying her?” A vein ticked in his fore

**ATLAS**For one terrifying second, I thought that grief had finally driven me insane.I had survived bullets, betrayal, and watching the woman I loved choose another man, yet nothing—absolutely nothing—prepared me for Calista Winslow asking me to marry her. There she stood—barefooted under the moonlight, eyes gleaming at me, like she could almost see me breaking apart. Oh…how I hated that my heart already said yes before my mouth could even speak…how my hands trembled at my sides like a man at the stakes, how my voice sounded too cold, too calm when I said,“Is this really what you want, or are you doing this so that I do not become useless to you?” She hesitated, and for a moment I feared that I had said too much and felt too little. Then her jaw hardened, and I watched her step forward in my shirt, as breathtaking as ever.“If I was to choose between a man I disliked, and a man I did not know…what do you think I would do?” “It depends on which one I am. From all indications, I

**MERRICK**I had spent days wondering what Calista was planning. Apparently, the answer was humiliating me before breakfast.Or at least, attempting to. I stood at the top of the stairs for longer than I could remember, staring down at their figures standing rigid in the foyer as they waited. This woman, who only had a backbone when another man was standing beside her. I should have called Astrid to witness this fuck fest, if she was not being such a stuck up bitch. Nevermind her, anyway. She would come down whenever she wanted. This…this was my spectacle. I gripped the railing, trying to decide how to play this without driving my fist through a wall. Calm? Polite? No fucking way. Best to go in raw and study the waves. This should be fun.“Calista!” I declared, arms wide as I descended the stairs, “...and her bodyguard. I've been expecting you.”They stayed silent, eyes fixed on me like they had access to a script I knew nothing about. I reached the bottom of the stairs and

**ATLAS**The hallway was not long enough for the amount of fear trying to claw its way out of my chest.Every second Sienna spent behind that door with Calista felt like a personal punishment from God. Like I had something so inexplicably wrong for loving another man's wife. For not reminding her to go to her check ups. For not being there when the fucking accident happened in the first place. Maybe it was punishment for not putting a hole in Merrick's face when I had the chance. I should have run that bastard over…or gone back in time to prevent him being born, if that was even remotely possible. Standing so close to him in that foyer sent so much adrenaline through my blood that I swore I would explode. I had watched him wave his hands around, act like the boss and toss the divorce papers in Calista's face, yet hitting him would have been unforgivable to her. So I stood by and said nothing, but my patience could only run for so long. He would have hit her. He would have touche

**CALISTA**The first thing I felt was panic.Not pain, not relief.Panic.I was standing at the shore again, and it was windy, sending bits of sand into my eyes, my nose, my mouth…I tasted the salty air, felt the wind billowing in my hair as the ocean heaved and receded slowly.I told myself that it was a dream, that I was safe. That the wind could not suffocate me, that this ache in my lungs was temporary.It did not stop my heart from clawing its way up my throat, or my gut from clenching as my ears pricked for the sound of running feet and lapping waves. So I shifted on my feet, feeling the sand tickling my toes as I waited for the moment my nightmare would begin.But there was only silence. The kind that settled in my bones like a silent warning…like a ticking bomb waiting to go off. Where was the screaming? The gush of water invading my lungs, the voices that pressed against my skull like weighted sacks?Wait…why was I floating? Why did the skies split open like double doors