He threw money on the bed after our one-night stand.
I threw it back in his face at his own inauguration.
By sundown, we were engaged. By the week's end — married.
Franklin Flemington needed a wife to secure his empire. I needed a miracle to save my family. For two years, we played our parts flawlessly — the golden couple the whole city envied.
Behind closed doors, I was invisible to him.
When the two years were up, I handed him divorce papers without blinking.
He stared at me like I'd lost my mind. "I've given you everything a husband should. What more do you want from me, Octavia?"
I smiled, signed my name, and walked out.
I thought that was the end. I thought I'd finally won.
I forgot one thing — Franklin Flemington has never lost anything in his life. And he has no intention of starting with me.
Game on.

Darkness didn't feel like darkness. It felt like an immense, suffocating pressure, heavy and unrelenting, as if the weight of the entire world pressed down on my chest, crushing the life from my bones. There was no up, no down, no sense of self—just an endless void filled with muffled, chaotic sounds that echoed like distant thunder. For a terrifying moment, I didn't know where I was or even who I was. It was as if death had claimed me, pulling me into its silent embrace.


Then the pain hit. Not gradually, but like a living beast slamming into me with feral force. It tore through my chest, splintered my ribs, ignited every nerve in my skull and limbs all at once. My body convulsed violently. Air rushed into my starving lungs in a brutal gasp, yanking me back from the abyss. I choked, coughed violently, and tasted the sharp tang of blood—metallic and warm—coating my tongue.


Chapter 173 - ~ 173