I'm Back, Valerie!

Year 2019, Ryker's Manor

Outside a door, Ryker Darius clenched his fists tightly until his hands turned pale. The Butler stood behind him nervously and a dozen maids had their heads down in fright.

The door opened and the family doctor, Dr. Michael, walked out. "Mr. Darius, she's fine. Although she fell from her room's window, the trampoline was placed right on time before she touched the ground. She only fainted because she had a huge shock afterward."

"Is it advisable for my master to see her?" The Butler, Duke, asked worriedly and the doctor shook his head slightly.

The doctor had heard of Andrea's various attempts to escape from Ryker because she destested him so much. But he also heard Ryker loved her very much. He just wouldn't understand why she'd want to leave such a perfect man.

"I'll take my leave now, Mr. Darius." The doctor said with a slight bow of his head.

Ryker nodded absentmindedly and glanced at the butler. He got the message immediately and walked the doctor out.

Ryker stood outside the door for several minutes before attempting to walk away.

"Ry-ker?" He stopped as soon as he heard the frail voice from her loved one, Andrea. He had heard that voice a million times and although it wasn't this gentle, he still couldn't mistake it for any reason.

Without waiting to be called a second time, he pushed the door open and barged in.

Inside, he saw Andrea curled up like a ball on her bed, tears spiraling down her eyes as she kept mumbling his name softly. He listened attentively and heard the latter part of her sentence, "Ry-ker, I am sorry."

Ryker's heart was overwhelmed with guilt when he saw her in this condition.

He knew that she thought of him as an evil person so he quickly assumed she was scared of being punished by him.

Nonetheless, he grabbed her into his arms and sincerely promised, "Don't worry, Andrea, I'll grant the wish you've always wanted. I would not force you to be my consigliera any more."

****

Andrea never thought she could open her eyes again.

Upon hearing the voice of the man she never thought she'd hear again, Andrea opened her eyes slightly and more tears poured out of her eyes at his words.

"You no longer want me as your consigliera? Is it because of what I did?" She asked fearfully, recalling the scene where the man tried to tell her about Valerie's evil nature but she had just pushed him aside saying he was worse than Valerie. So he had no right to judge her.

Was she in hell? Was it a punishment? Because she had pushed the only man who cared so much about her away because of a family that didn't give a damn about her, had he finally given up on her?

"It's okay if you no longer want me to be your consigliera,” She begged, “but at least permit me to ask for your forgiveness for all I did to you."

Her words sounded strange in his ears but they caused him to have butterflies in his stomach. He wondered if she had probably hit her head during the fall because in his nine years of knowing her, he had never seen her speak so gently to him.

"I see. Even I won't forgive the man who killed me." She mumbled sadly, taking Ryker's silence as a no.

Ryker suddenly became alarmed after hearing her. In the end, he bit down on his tongue as he said the words again, "I'll let you go, Andrea. There's no need to be sad. You'll be free from being my consigliera just like you've always wanted."

"Mr. Darius, there are reporters outside the gate and the Accardos are here." Butler Duke said from behind the door and Ryker placed Andrea on the bed gently before getting onto his feet.

When he looked at her, he saw she had her eyes tightly shut and sighed; Just like he thought, she had probably hit her head somewhere.

He walked out of the room and headed down the stairs to meet the Accardos. The gentle smile on his face had also been replaced by a cold frown.

Valerie's eyes lit up when she saw Ryker and she didn't try to hide it as she got onto her feet. Her mother, Georgina, also got onto her feet when she saw him.

"Ryker—" She called but a cold glance from him wiped the name off her tongue as she quickly called him formally, "Mr. Darius, I'm sorry about my younger daughter's behavior. I got here as soon as I heard what happened."

"Andrea is still young and at times, she acts according to her impulses without thinking about how it'd affect those close to her." Valerie quickly butted in with a bright smile, appearing to really care about Andrea.

However, the butler and the few maids around glanced at her with scorn. They had stayed around way too long to know why their young madam was acting the way she did.

Although the outside world were often fooled by Valerie's docile nature, they knew far better than anyone she played a major role in Andrea's numerous bad decisions.

And as their boss, Ryker knew even better. So there was practically no way he'd ever fall for her fake concern even if the sky fell.

"Yes, Valerie is right, Mr. Darius. Andrea is quite young and since she has been trying to leave, her maternal family thinks it'd be a nice idea for you to let her go and choose another consigliere. If you really insist on choosing a consigliera, Valerie would be more than happy to take Andrea's place."

The mother and daughter were clearly being shameless and Ryker was clearly disgusted with it.

"Andrea is fine. When she recovers I'll serve her the termination letter and choose a consigliere. For now, I'll have to ask Butler Duke to lead you to the door."

Georgina was beyond embarrassed when she heard her. She clearly got the hint behind his words; If he couldn't get Andrea to be his consigliera, he would as well stick to getting a male lawyer.

"My older sister and mother just got here. They shouldn't be in a hurry to leave." Andrea suddenly said and the man looked behind him to see her standing so close to the stairs.

He imagined the worst scenarios in one second and the next second, he found himself tumbling up the stairs in large strides.

"Standing close to the stairs when you have a mild concussion doesn't seem like a good idea." He reprimanded just like he had always done with a serious face.

He suddenly paled when he recalled she'd flare up whenever he did so. However, contrary to what he expected, she leaned on his chest and enjoyed the life she took for granted in her past life.

"I'll keep that in mind." She replied sweetly, looking up at the man's shocked face.

After Ryker left her room, she had noticed her surrounding and her mind suddenly dated back to the time she first moved into Ryker's place.

The interior of the room was a spectacular one and something she'd never forget.

She had been unwilling at first and had her room decorated so many times in order to get Ryker to lose his patience but the man didn't.

After her plans fell through so many times, she made an absurd request for him to repaint her room personally or she'd move out on the basis that he wasn't taking good care of her.

Ryker stayed home the whole day decorating the room for her while she watched in annoyance. After he was done, there was nothing she could say about the design since it was actually really nice.

The events of her last life flashed past her mind and she quickly took her phone and glanced at the year only to see she had been reborn four years ago!

Which meant her daughter was still three years old and she had enough time to enact her revenge.

She stared towards Valerie who she could tell was seething inwardly and smirked; Valerie Accardo, I've come back to life to kill you and all those who joined hands with you to ruin my once perfect life.