There, standing beside the mangled wreck of her car, was Eden Ortiz, the woman Kayden Miller, Felicity's husband, had secretly loved for years. She held a black umbrella, a perfect, elegant silhouette against the stormy sky, completely untouched.
Eden bent down, her beautiful face twisting into a mask of vicious glee in the dim light. Her voice was a soft, victorious whisper, meant only for Felicity.
"How pathetic, Felicity."
"You know, your precious son, Leo... his death wasn't an accident."
Felicity's pupils contracted to pinpricks. A scream clawed at her throat, but only a wet, gurgling sound escaped, thick with blood. The six years of devotion to her husband, Kayden Miller, the unconditional love she had poured into their family, it was all a grotesque joke.
Eden savored her pain, her smile widening. "Oh, and one more secret. Those men who ruined you at the hotel and gave you that filthy disease? That was no accident. I arranged every one of them."
Felicity's eyes widened in horror. Her mind reeled as the truth struck her with devastating force. The hotel incident that had destroyed her reputation, ruined her health, and left her living in shame for years had never been an accident.
Eden had orchestrated it all.
Before Felicity could even process the revelation, Eden leaned closer, her voice dropping into a cruel whisper.
"Leo was never Kayden's son to begin with. You fooled the entire Miller family for six years with that little bastard."
Felicity's pupils trembled violently. Leo wasn't Kayden's son?
Then whose child was he?
A flood of questions surged through Felicity's mind. She wanted to demand answers. She wanted to grab Eden and force her to explain everything. She needed to know the truth about Leo, about the hotel, about every lie that had shaped the last six years of her life.
But her consciousness was already fading.
Darkness closed in around her, swallowing her desperate thoughts one by one. Her hatred remained, burning fiercely in the last fragment of consciousness she had left.
With the last shred of consciousness slipping away, Felicity made a silent vow to whatever darkness awaited her.
If she were ever given another chance, she would uncover every truth, tear apart every lie, and drag Eden and everyone who had betrayed her straight into hell.
With a violent jolt, Felicity shot upright in bed.
Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic, wild drumbeat. She gasped for air, her lungs burning.
She scanned her surroundings. This wasn't the crash site. This was the lavish, cold bedroom of the Upper East Side manor she shared with Kayden. Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warm and bright.
Her hands flew to her body, patting down her torso, her legs. No wounds. No blood.
She threw back the silk duvet and scrambled to the full-length mirror. The woman staring back was pale, her eyes wide with terror, but she was whole.
She had been reborn.
With a trembling hand, she snatched her phone from the nightstand. The screen lit up.
The date read: June 12th.
A chilling thought seized her, and her fingers flew across the screen, opening a news app.
The headline stabbed at her eyes: "After Six Years Abroad, Piano Virtuoso Eden Ortiz Returns to the US Today. A Rekindling with First Love Kayden Miller?"
The accompanying photo showed Eden at the airport, swarmed by reporters. She wore a white dress, her smile gentle and innocent-the perfect white lotus.
In an instant, Felicity's post-traumatic confusion hardened into a sheet of ice. She was back. Back on the very day her tragedy began.
Her phone vibrated. A text from Kayden.
"Eden lands today. I'll handle airport security. As the lady of the house, you handle the reception at the manor. Don't embarrass me."
In her past life, this message had made her feel wronged and heartbroken. And then, pathetically, she had done exactly as she was told.
But now, Felicity stared at the message, and a slow, mocking smile curved her lips.
She tossed the phone onto the bed and walked, barefoot, into the enormous walk-in closet.
Her eyes scanned past the rows of demure, elegant dresses she had bought to please Kayden. She walked to the very back, to a corner that hadn't been touched in years, and dragged out a heavy, dust-covered suitcase.
She clicked it open.
Inside lay a sharply tailored black suit, an encrypted satellite phone, and several passports under different names. These were the things that belonged to her, before she became Mrs. Miller.
She picked up the encrypted phone. Her fingers moved with practiced ease as she powered it on. A blood-red letter 'P' flashed on the screen for a moment before disappearing.
She dialed a number.
The call was answered almost instantly. "You've finally contacted us."
Felicity's voice was devoid of any warmth. "Sienna, it's me. I need you to do two things for me."
Sienna Vance, on the other end of the line, was her best friend and the manager of her hidden network of resources.
"First, I need a paternity test done between Leo and Kayden Miller. Use the highest level of encryption and get me the results as fast as possible."
"Second," she paused, her gaze drifting toward the bright sunshine outside, her eyes colder than a winter storm. "I want you to draft the divorce papers for Kayden and me immediately and have them delivered to JFK Airport within ten minutes."
After hanging up, Felicity walked to the window, looking down at the bustling panorama of New York City.
Kayden. Eden. Everyone who had wronged her. This time, she would make them pay every debt they owed her, with interest.