This isn't her hand. Her hands should have calluses from years of typing on a keyboard. But this hand is fair, soft, with neatly trimmed nails.
She saw her own face in the mirror.
She recognized that face-or rather, she "knew" it. Aria Hayes, a wealthy socialite and a well-known "invisible figure" in high society, married real estate tycoon Grant Hayes three years ago. After marriage, she rarely attended public events.
But the key point is-that face resembles hers very closely.
Before she could even process the fact that she had been reborn in a body that resembled hers strikingly, the bedroom door was pushed open.
A man walked in. He wore a custom-made suit, Italian leather shoes, and his exquisitely crafted face revealed undisguised disgust. Grant Hayes, her "husband".
"Stop playing dead, Aria," Grant's voice cut through the haze. It was a low, cold sound, devoid of any warmth.
A piece of paper fluttered down, landing on the silk duvet beside her hand. The soft rustle was unnaturally loud in the silent room.
"Sign it."
Her eyes focused on the bold letters at the top of the document: DIVORCE AGREEMENT.
Grant continued, his voice laced with a cruel satisfaction. "Isabelle is back. You know what that means."
He mistook her silence for shock, for the shattered heartbreak he expected. A smirk touched the corner of his mouth.
"For the sake of our marriage, I'll be generous. The house is yours. And five million dollars. Consider it a parting gift."
His tone was that of a king bestowing charity upon a beggar.
Aria felt nothing. No pain. No sorrow. Just a distant, clinical sort of amusement. She assessed her own condition. The weakness in her limbs. The thick bandage wrapped around her left wrist, throbbing with a dull ache.
She didn't look at Grant. Her gaze, clear and cold now, swept across the lavishly decorated room. It was a beautiful cage, all cream and gold, but a cage nonetheless.
Finally, she spoke. Her voice was raspy from disuse, but the word was perfectly steady.
"Pen."
Grant froze. He had prepared for tears, for screaming, for desperate pleas. He had not prepared for this.
"What?" he asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.
"I said," Aria repeated, her eyes meeting his for the first time. The utter lack of emotion in them was so foreign it made him uneasy. "Give me a pen."
He stared at her for a second longer, a flicker of uncertainty in his polished facade. Then, he reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and produced a heavy, black Montblanc fountain pen. He held it out to her, his movements stiff with suspicion.
Aria pushed herself up, leaning against the plush headboard. A sharp pain shot up her arm from her injured wrist, and she winced, a small, involuntary tightening of her lips. It was the only sign of weakness she allowed herself.
She took the document from the duvet, her fingers brushing against the cool, crisp paper. She flipped directly to the last page, ignoring the pages of legal jargon that detailed her supposed compensation. She didn't care what they said.
An inexplicable tension coiled in Grant's stomach. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He was losing control of the narrative he had so carefully constructed.
While he watched, stunned into silence, Aria took the pen. With a smooth, steady hand, she signed her name on the indicated line.
Aria Foster.
The signature was clean, decisive. Nothing like the hesitant, looping script of the woman he thought he knew. It was the signature of a stranger.
She held the signed document and the pen out to him. Her movements were efficient, final.
"Done," she said.
Grant's mind was blank. He took the papers back mechanically, his eyes immediately dropping to the signature. It was real. She had actually signed it.
"As for your money and your house," Aria's voice cut in again, a sharp edge of mockery in her tone, "I don't want them. They're dirty."
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, the thick bandage on her wrist a stark white against her pale skin. She ignored the dizziness that washed over her as she stood, her bare feet pressing into the cold, marble floor.
"I have one condition," she said, walking towards the enormous walk-in closet without a backward glance.
"Tomorrow morning. Nine o'clock. City Hall."
Her voice floated back to him, clear and commanding.
"Don't be late."
Grant stood frozen, the signed papers feeling impossibly heavy in his hand. He stared at her retreating back, at the straightness of her spine, and for the first time in their three-year marriage, he felt a profound and unsettling sense of defeat.
She didn't look back. It was as if he had already ceased to exist.