Chapter 1

Julia’s POV

I had always been a woman of status, part of one of the wealthiest and most powerful families. But now? Now I am seated on the cold, damp floor of this filthy prison cell, stripped of everything I once was.

Suddenly, there was an approaching footsteps and just immediately, I saw a man approaching. He reached out to the prison door and creaks it open with a key. Seeing this man again, the jailer, my heart clenched as fear gripped me. Afraid of what he would do to me this time. His presence always causes me nothing but pain. Whenever he comes in here, I knew he was here to afflict on me one pain or the other.

Now standing in front of me emotionlessly, he bent towards me as he held up my chin to make me look up to his face.

Giving a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes, his deep and emotionless voice broke the silence. “Not quite the luxury you’re used to, is it?” he taunts, his voice thick with amusement.

I shot him a glare, but my body betrayed me. I’m weak. Broken. He noticed.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said with a smirk. “I’m not the one who put you here.”

Suddenly, the jailer's voice broke the silence again.

“You wealthy people just can't get enough and keep doing bad things. Financial crimes huh?”

The jailer took out his phone and showed me the report on his screen. It’s been posted on all social media, and he even scrolled through the comments, dozens of them, maybe hundreds. All from people who knew nothing but still felt entitled to judge me.

“Greedy woman got what she deserved.”

“Hope she rots in there.”

My body felt numb. I wanted to yell, to break something, to make them all see the truth—that I wasn’t the criminal, that Alex and Celeste had set me up. But my voice wouldn’t come.

I swallowed, my throat burning as I read the words. The news headline itself was a punch to the gut—I, Julia Wilson, sentenced to ten years for financial crimes—but the second headline made it worse.

Alex Carter and Celeste Monroe, announcing their engagement.

Alex Carter and Celeste Monroe were childhood sweethearts who never let go. Even when I married Alex, she was always there. Not just his childhood sweetheart, but his soulmate whom he wishes to spend the rest of his life with her. My presence meant nothing, she was always the one.

Endless streams of tears ran down my cheeks in regret of how I found myself in this big mess.

I guess this was my punishment for getting married to a man who I knew never feels nothing for me but yet, I went ahead to marry him with the help of his grandfather, hoping that he would learn to love me one day.

I was so happy when Mr. Sterling, Alex’s grandfather chose me as Alex’s wife even though his heart was filled only with his first love, Celeste while I was loathed by him like dirt. During those three years of marriage, I never once got even a tiny bit of his love. 

Because of the love I had for him, Alex had  always controlled everything, the finances, the accounts and 90 percent of the company’s activities was handled by him. But when the investigations started, the missing money from the company, the forged documents—it was my name on the paperwork. He set me up. And my blind love gave him the chance to frame me.

Alex had always resented me, twisted my love for him into hate. And now, he’d done the unthinkable.

Now, the jailer gripped me by my hair as he stared at my dying face with a wicked smirk for some seconds and just then, he brought out a knife, glaring at me emotionlessly.

“Please. Don’t. Kill. Me. I.  Don’t. Want. To. Die.” I struggled with words weakly.

This man ignored my plea and just then, with the eneryt he could gather, he stabbed me, again and again and again and again.

I grasped for every stab that goes inside me, my eyes already shutting as he twisted the knife inside my stomach. He twisted it over and over again, as a choked cry never stopped escaping my lips. Once he was satisfied, he left me fallling to the cold floor. I could see my own intestine lying next to me.

The world blurred.

He then tossed something at me, and it landed with a dull clink at the floor beside my feet. 

It was a bracelet. A tarnished memory, a symbol of love I once believed in. I had given this to my lover, Alex, the only man I ever loved years ago. He had never liked it, had barely acknowledged it. But now, here it was, thrown at me like garbage.

Not only has he put me here, he also wanted me dead. This was my end all because I married the wrong man.

Love is pain you know? I had loved him, trusted him, sacrificed everything for him. And he had betrayed me in the cruelest way imaginable. Tears blurred my vision, but I didn’t bother to wipe them away. I was already broken. Too weak to cry. I could see the spirit of death roaming around me waiting for me to shut my eyes so they could take me with them.

My weak eyes couldn’t blink as I watched the man walking away and slamming the cell door shut. His footsteps faded, leaving me alone in the suffocating silence. Blood was already pouring all over the room, I was lying helpless in the pool of my blood. And my trembling lips were filled with cuts from the countless hits on my face. I could feel how red my eyes had turned due to my non stop flowing tears. My body throbbed with pain, my mind spiraling into despair. 

If I had known love would feel like this—like drowning, I would have never chosen Alex. If there were a second chance, I wouldn’t waste it on him. I wouldn’t let him ruin me twice. Loving Alex was my biggest mistake, and I’ll never make it again.

I closed my eyes, letting the darkness consume me. The spirit of death is here to take me, to welcome me where I finally belong.

When I opened my eyes again, I was met with an explosion of color and noise. Bright lights, murmuring voices, the clinking of glasses. The smell of champagne and cake was thick in the air. For a moment, I was disoriented, unsure if this was some cruel afterlife.

But then I recognized it. The grand hall, the extravagant decorations, the lavish wedding cake that lay shattered on the floor. And me, kneeling amidst the mess, my hands trembling as I stared at the spilled champagne pooling around me.

I gasped, the memory flooding back with horrifying clarity. This was the wedding. My wedding. With Alex. 

I remembered this moment vividly. In my previous life, Alex had humiliated me here, forcing me to pick up the ruined cake and drink the champagne off the floor like a dog. The guests had laughed, their cruel amusement cutting deeper than any blade. And I was only blinded by love.

But this time… This time was different… the weak me died with me in my previous life. My heart still burned with the memory of that cold, damp cell, of the pain and betrayal that had consumed me in my final moments. I wasn’t the same person anymore. 

Laughter echoed around me as the guests watched, expecting me to grovel, to debase myself. My hands clenched into fists as anger surged through me, white-hot and unforgiving. 

Slowly, I stood. Gasps rippled through the crowd as my gaze locking onto Alex. He was standing at the far end of the room, his expression smug with a mocking devilish smile that reached his eyes. Obviously happy to see me in his mercy.

I bent down and picked up a piece of a cake. I could still hear the murmuring voice of them. “Is she going to eat that? Of course, such a doormat.” said one of them. 

“She really loves him shamelessly without any dignity.” Another voice flew from the crowd. Their words hurt me. Hurt me so deeply that I felt broken to realise Alex had turned me into a laughingstock. 

“I bet you, she would die because of Alex’s one word.” Said by another and immediately, a loud mocking laugh erupted behind me.

The whispers started low, but they grew louder. I stood frozen in shame.

“She knew about her husband’s lover and still threw herself at him. Pathetic, isn’t it?”

“Imagine being so desperate for scraps of affection from a man who’d already moved on.”

“Did she think he’d choose her over the other woman? She’s delusional.”

I clenched my fists, their words biting deep. My cheeks burned, not with shame.Laughter erupted, sharp and cruel. “Poor thing, thinking she could compete with a history like that. Caleste is his real love. You were just… a detour.” 

Suddenly, I wiped the tears from my eyes, still holding the piece of cake and without a word, I began to match straight toward Alex with so much courage. The room seemed to hold its breath as I approached him. When I reached him, I didn’t hesitate. I hurled the piece of cake at his face with all the strength I could muster.

It hit him squarely, splattering frosting and crumbs all over his perfect suit and groomed features. The room erupted in shocked gasps, the silence shattering like glass.