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A love that had transcended death in one life–how could it turn to ash in the next?
As soon as the auction ended, the photos of me went viral.
Me?”
A torrential downpour began as we left, the sky weeping for my humiliation. Jenna, like a triumphant peacock, preened as she slid
into the passenger seat of Caden’s car,
“Caden, darling, I’m in the mood for high tea. Would you take me?”
Lightning split the sky, illuminating my pale, shell–shocked face, but Caden acted as if I were invisible.
“Wait here, Annette,” he said, his tone clipped and dismissive. “I’ll drop Jenna off and come back for you.”
I had rushed out without my phone or wallet. I had no idea where I was. I had no choice but to wait.
I stood there, soaked to the bone, as the hours crawled by. Night fell, and the streetlights cast long, lonely shadows. Caden never
came back. Finally, numb with cold and despair, I started walking, with no destination in mind.
Halfway down a deserted street, a homeless man’s eyes locked onto me, a predatory grin spreading across his face. I tried to run,
but he was faster, dragging me into the thick bushes lining the sidewalk. His filthy hands pawed at my body, his sour stench turning
my stomach.
“You’re that bitch from the internet,” he rasped, his breath hot and foul. “Playing hard to get now? Don’t act so pure.”
Just as despair threatened to consume me whole, a figure burst from the darkness, pulling the man off me and saving me.
It wasn’t until my panic subsided that I recognized my rescuer. It was Julian Vance–my fiancé from my previous life. Too stunned
to think, I let him drive me home.
When we pulled up to the Astor mansion, Caden was standing on the porch, a thunderous expression on his face. He looked like he‘
d been waiting for a long time.
“Annette! Where have you been?” Jenna cried, rushing out the door. “Caden was so worried about you, he’s been waiting for hours!”
Her eyes fell on Julian, and her expression curdled with faux outrage. “You’re a married woman now! How could you be so shamel-
ess, sneaking around with other men?”
Caden’s face was a mask of cold fury. Before he could speak, his mother, Mrs. Astor, stormed out and threw a phone directly at my
face.
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“You tramp!” she shrieked. “Look what you’ve done!”
The screen showed a tabloid article, complete with pictures of me getting out of Julian’s car. “ASTOR BRIDE’S SHAMELESS REND-
EZVOUS.”
“Not even two days married, and your slutty photos are all over the internet! And now you have the gall to come home with another man? Everyone is saying the Astors married a whore! You’re dragging our family name through the gutter!” She turned to the hou-
se staff. “Someone, teach this creature the rules of the Astor family!”
Caden took a step forward, his mouth opening as if to protest. “Mother, you=”
“You, shut up!” she snapped, whirling on him. “Look at her! Fresh from another man’s bed, and you still want
more word, and I’ll throw you out of this house along with her!”
to
her? Say one
Jenna quickly moved to his side, linking her arm through his. “Caden, she was always like this, even at home. Staying out all night.
she needs to learn her lesson.”
A storm of emotions played across Caden’s face before settling into a cold, detached calm.
I was forced to my knees on the cold marble floor. To my horror, I saw that the Astors had even invited a media team. They were
live–streaming.
“For disgracing the Astor name,” Mrs. Astor declared, her voice ringing with self–righteous fury, “you will be punished publicly!”
The first lash of a barbed whip tore across my back. I cried out, curling into a ball on the floor. An image flashed in my mind: my
past life, locked in a dark room by my father, and Caden, my Caden, sneaking me food every day, saving me from starvation.
The whip fell again. The taste of blood filled my mouth.
Another memory: the kidnappers, the torture, my life hanging by a thread. And Caden, the proud, untouchable Caden Astor, willingly
crippling himself, breaking his own legs just to see me one last time.
Eighty–one lashes. When the final one fell, my body was a canvas of raw, bleeding wounds. I finally succumbed to the darkness.
In the hazy fog of unconsciousness, I thought I heard Caden’s voice, calling my name, desperate and pleading.
I don’t know how long I was out. I awoke to a symphony of pain. Caden was sitting by my bed, his eyes shot with blood. When he
saw my eyes flutter open, he let out a barely audible sigh of relief.
“Lara,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “You’ve been sick. You’ve been asleep for three whole days.”
A memory from my past life surfaced. After being locked up by my father, I had collapsed. It was Caden who had begged him to let
me out, Caden who had waited outside the hospital until I woke up. The past and present blurred, his concerned gaze seeming so
genuine. If he didn’t love me, why did he look at me like that?
His phone rang, and he immediately stood and walked out of the room.
From the silent hallway, I heard the hushed whispers of two maids.
“See? I told you the boss prefers Miss Jenna. She just scraped her knee, and he practically booked out the entire hospital for her.”
“And look at the one in here. We were practically told to prepare for a funeral, and he didn’t even bother to take her to a doctor.”
A bitter smile touched my lips. I swallowed the acrid medicine, the bitterness a perfect match for the taste in my soul.
A short while later, a news alert popped up on my phone. A massive brawl had broken out at a local homeless encampment. Seve-
ral people were dead.
Then, my father called. He hadn’t called me voluntarily since my mother died.
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“It’s my sixtieth birthday the day after tomorrow,” he said, his voice void of warmth. “You and Caden will come ”
But on the day of the party, Caden was nowhere to be found.
I had to go alone. The moment I stepped into the banquet hall, my father’s hand cracked across
the floor.
“Annette! Do you have any humanity left at all?”
1 looked up, dazed, and saw Caden across the room. He was holding a weeping Jenna, his eyes fix
grave.
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face, sending me sprawling to
“Annette,” he said, his voice slicing through the stunned silence. “I married you. I’m allowed to look after
be so jealous that you’d have her mother kidnapped?”
“No… it wasn’t me…” I stammered, my head still ringing from the slap.
“If it wasn’t you, who was it?” Caden shot back. “Are you suggesting Jenna kidnapped her own mother?”
me, colder than a winter
sister. How could you
He tossed a phone at my feet. On the screen was a video. It was me, or someone who looked exactly like me, meeting with shady
figures.
“Caden, that video is fake! I’ve been at the house this whole time…”
But he wouldn’t listen. He strode forward, grabbing my chin, his grip like iron. His voice was a low, menacing whisper.
”
“You brought this on yourself, Annette.”
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