"Mummy, catch me!"
Amelia's sweet laughter echoed through the living room as her tiny feet pattered across the marble floor. I laughed and chased after my five-year-old daughter, my heart swelling with happiness.
"Amelia, stop running around," I said, smiling despite myself. "You might hurt yourself."
She glanced back at me, her dimples showing. "You won't catch me, mummy!"
I stretched my arms toward her, pretending to struggle. At that moment, I felt complete.
I had everything I had ever dreamed of a beautiful daughter, a husband who adored me, and a best friend who loved me like a sister. Growing up in the Miles family, one of the richest families in the country, love had always been our foundation. Wealth meant nothing without unity, my parents always said.
I thought my life was perfect.
I didn't know it was already falling apart.
After lunch, I put Amelia down for her afternoon nap and sat quietly, enjoying the rare calm. Just as I sank into the couch, my phone rang.
The sound jolted me.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Mrs. Kings?" a hurried voice said. "This is St. Mary's Hospital. Your husband has been involved in a car accident. Please come immediately."
My heart stopped.
"A car… accident?" I whispered, my fingers tightening around the phone.
The nurse gave me the address, but her words blurred together. Steven had spoken to me just yesterday. He had told Amelia he'd bring her chocolates when he returned. Nothing had seemed wrong.
I kissed Amelia's forehead, instructed the nanny to stay with her, and rushed into my car. I drove like my life depended on it because it actually does,fear gripping my chest with every turn.
At the hospital, I ran straight to the front desk.
"My husband," I said breathlessly. "Steven Kings."
The nurse looked at her screen, then at me, pity flashing across her face. She told me to follow her. We didn't head to the emergency ward. Instead, we stopped before a quiet office.
A doctor stood up as I entered.
"I'm a doctor too," I said quickly, desperation clawing at me. "Not Western medicine doctor but a Chinese traditional doctor please just tell me he's alive."
The doctor studied me, then nodded slowly. "Mrs. Kings, follow me."
Hope flickered briefly in my chest.
We walked through a long corridor. Each step felt heavier than the last. When we stopped before a large metal door, my blood ran cold.
MORGUE.
My heart began to pound wildly.
"Why are we here?" I whispered.
The doctor's voice was gentle but final. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Kings. Your husband is dead."
Dead.
The word slammed into me like a truck. My knees buckled as my eyes landed on his body, pale, cold, motionless.
Steven.
My Steven.
I reached out and touched his face. Cold. Lifeless. The man who once smiled at me as if I were his entire world lay before me like a stranger.
Memories crashed into me.
I remembered the first night we met was at Sarah's birthday party during college. I had been seventeen, awkward and extremely shy, hiding my face beneath a hoodie despite being from an influential family. Rumors always followed me people said I only got into the prestigious medical program because of my parents.
Steven had noticed me immediately.
"You look like you'd rather be anywhere else," he'd said with a soft smile.
"I usually do," I replied.
He laughed, warm and genuine. He was studying finance, brilliant and hardworking, yet from a humble background. Unlike others, he never treated me like a spoiled princess. He treated me like a person.
I helped him sometimes with books, fees and when we graduated, I used my influence to help him secure a job at my family's company. My parents welcomed him warmly, impressed by his humility and determination.
But my brothers, Nick and Nio, never trusted him.
They used to say, "We don't like his energy."
I brushed it aside.
I had even been unofficially engaged to Samuel White, the eldest grandson of the White family,the most powerful family in the country. But he never acknowledged it, and I had never loved him as we have never met before.
I married Steven at twenty. My brothers refused to attend our wedding but sent gifts. Sarah stood by my side as my bridesmaid, supporting me every step of the way, I felt happy and alive.
A year later, Amelia was born.
I thought my life was complete.
I fainted beside his body.
I woke up screaming, hysterical and wild
Sarah was the one holding me, crying harder than anyone else. She stayed with me through the funeral, took care of Amelia, slept beside me when I couldn't bear the silence.
I leaned on her completely.
Three days after Steven's burial, the news destroyed me again.
The Miles Group has declared bankruptcy.
CEOs Nick and Nio Miles are missing.
My heart shattered.
I called my parents again and again until someone finally answered, a stranger.
"This phone was found near a river," the man said.
I couldn't breathe.
My family… gone.
I rushed into my car, desperation clouding my vision. I barely noticed the car tailing me until it crashed into mine violently.
My car somersaulted.
Once.
Twice.
Again and again.
Pain ripped through my body. Glass lodged into my skin. Blood poured into my eye. I struggled to crawl out, gasping for breath.
Then headlights stopped.
A door opened.
And Steven stepped out.
Alive.
Beside him stood Sarah.
Shock froze my soul.
Sarah crouched beside me and smiled.
"You're the hardest one to kill," she whispered. "Kudos."
"Steven was never yours, he had always been mine," she continued. "We've been engaged since childhood. This was all my ploy to take everything you ever had and held dear.
Steven kissed her.
As darkness swallowed me, hatred consumed my soul.
If there was a next life
I would make them pay.
A blinding light swallowed me whole.
And everything went black.