Aria's pov

I traced invisible patterns on the tablecloth with my finger. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears, and each beat reminded me how nervous I was.

I stood in the middle of our softly lit dining room, fluffing the same cushion for what felt like the hundredth time. I had to make sure every detail was perfect for tonight.

Everything had to be just right - Adrian's reaction, his shock, his joy, all of it.

I had scattered rose petals from our front door all the way to the dining table, which I'd set with shaking hands just an hour ago.

In the center sat a cake with white frosting and the words "Happy 5th Anniversary" written in delicate red letters.

I'd even made all his favorite foods - grilled sea bass, ginger chicken, and spicy tofu. I could still smell the garlic in the air.

I let out a tired sigh. The sound was heavy with exhaustion.

Walking to the window, I stared down at the empty street. My phone shook in my hand, the screen still dark.

I rubbed my temples in gentle circles, trying to get rid of the headache pounding behind my eyes.

Adrian promised he'd be home by seven. I'd reminded him over and over because tonight really mattered to both of us.

I couldn't sit still. My hands were shaking from all the nervous energy running through my body.

Maybe Adrian got stuck at work. Maybe it was traffic, or he forgot his phone somewhere.

I called his number again. Straight to voicemail. Again. For the hundredth time.

My stomach twisted with a sick mix of dread and hope.

The clock's ticking echoed in my ears. Each second that passed reminded me that time was slipping away, and my mind raced with thoughts of what could have happened to him.

I tried to calm my breathing while smoothing down my dress and tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear with trembling hands. Sweat beaded on my forehead even though the room was cool.

I felt clumsy and unsteady, not like my usual self.

I forced myself to move toward the door. Maybe I should go to his office and check on him.

But I'd barely taken two steps when the front door handle turned and Adrian walked in like a stranger.

No smile, no apology. Just cold, narrow eyes I couldn't read.

I smiled, trying to hide how worried I was, and swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Adrian?" My voice shook. "Where have you been? I was worried. You didn't answer any of my calls. I... I cooked your favorite dishes, and I made a cake. Did you see the..." I kept rambling.

"I was busy," he mumbled, cutting me off.

His voice was so quiet it seemed like he was talking to himself instead of me.

I gripped the hem of my dress tightly, bunching the fabric in my hands.

"I cooked. Your favorites. Won't you say anything?" My voice cracked.

"I don't really care about the food, Aria." He muttered angrily.

His words were flat and lifeless, like he had no interest in what I was saying.

My smile faded, and my voice shook like a scared bird trying to fly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"We need to talk." He trailed off.

His eyes looked flat when he looked at me. There was no warmth or depth there. It was disturbing.

He looked distant, like he was looking through me instead of at me.

I ran my fingers through my hair with shaking hands. A hard knot formed in my throat, making it hard to breathe.

"Sure. What's going on? You're scaring me. Is it the company?" I asked quietly.

He walked past me and tossed a folder onto the table. The usual warmth in his voice was gone, replaced by cold distance.

"I need you to sign these," he said coldly.

My thoughts spun in anxious circles, drowning out any logical thinking. I felt helpless and scared, and my voice cracked even more.

"What... what is this?" I choked out.

He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows in a mocking way.

"Divorce papers," he sneered.

My breath caught in my throat. I clutched at my chest, my fingers trembling like I was trying to keep my racing heart from jumping out of my body.

"Adrian... what are you saying?" I asked, my voice breaking.

My voice felt like a thin thread about to snap under the weight of my panic. My skin felt clammy and cold, giving me goosebumps.

His eyes narrowed and his face twisted into a disgusted sneer.

"I'm saying I want a divorce." His lip curled up with disgust the more he looked at me.

It was like looking at a complete stranger.

All the color drained from my face. I tried to cover my face to hide the terrified scream trying to escape my mouth.

My chest felt so tight I could barely breathe.

"But... but yesterday... you made me sign my company over to you." My eyes filled with tears.

My heart hammered against my ribs like thunder echoing through my body.

"You said it was to help me, that I was too sick to manage it. You told me we were partners for life and that nothing would change," I whispered as tears ran down my face.

My legs felt like jelly. My knees buckled as fear ran through my veins, making me weaker with every passing second.

My hands shook uncontrollably, betraying how terrified I was.

Adrian wrinkled his nose and furrowed his brows with disgust. He turned his head to the side, refusing to look at me.

"And what do you expect? For me to stay married to you? That's laughable." His gaze grew even harder.

I took a step back, my face pale. I grabbed the nearest chair for support, digging my fingers into the hard surface, desperate for something to hold onto in this storm of panic.

"No. I won't sign it. Not after what I gave you... what we built." My lips trembled.

His mouth twisted into a sneer and he slammed his hands down hard on the table. I flinched back.

"You didn't build anything. You inherited that company. I just took what was always meant to be mine." His eyes were hard as ice.

The light in my eyes dimmed, becoming hollow and distant. I felt disconnected, like I wasn't fully present anymore.

"You married me for the company," I said, my lips quivering.

"Finally catching up, Aria? Yes. That company was the only thing I ever wanted. You? You were just the key to getting it," he said, glaring at me.

I flinched. My thoughts felt sluggish, like they were moving through mud.

I felt like I was floating on a cloud, disconnected from the world below, numb to the emotions flooding through me.

My stomach clenched into a tight ball. I could feel acid rising in my belly as sharp pain shot through my chest.

"But I loved you. I still do," I said, my voice breaking.

"That was your mistake," he bit out, making me flinch again.

The way he looked at me made me sink deeper into despair.

The contempt in his eyes made my breath catch.

"You made me believe you loved me, Adrian." My voice caught in my throat - a strangled whisper that revealed the fear coiling inside me.

"And you made it so easy. You were so desperate for love." His eyes twitched with disgust.

My vision blurred. The edges of everything around me warped as fear and panic clouded my sight.

I leaned on the table, pressing my hands to my heart, trying to ease the pain shooting through my chest.

I covered my mouth as a cough shook my body. I was shocked to see blood bloom across my pale skin.

"Please, Adrian... I made everything perfect tonight. I wanted to surprise you. I... I was going to tell you..." I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again, blinking hard.

I pressed a shaking hand to my still-flat stomach.

"I'm pregnant," I confessed, biting my lip hard.

Aria's pov

The silence that followed my confession felt like a heavy blanket over the room.

It was like the air itself had become solid, making each breath I took feel wrong, like I was disturbing the quiet.

The silence pressed in from all sides, making me feel trapped and alone.

But then Adrian did something I didn't expect. He laughed.

Not a chuckle or a smirk, but a full-blown laugh that echoed throughout the house.

His laughter was mocking and cruel, filling the entire space.

His disgusted gaze slowly traveled down my body and back up.

"You really think you're pregnant, don't you? You couldn't get pregnant for the past five years, and now you suddenly are? And you expect me to fall for that?" he scoffed at me.

I pulled back like he'd slapped me. My body tensed up so much I was shaking.

"It's true. When I went to the hospital last week for my monthly checkup, the doctor told me I was pregnant. That's why I made all these preparations - to surprise you," I choked out, shaking my head.

I still remembered how he smiled at me on our wedding night, telling me he'd protect me for the rest of our lives. Now it was like looking at a complete stranger.

"You really are pathetic, you know that?" He sneered, but it was the contempt and disgust in his eyes that really broke my heart.

"And why would I want a child from you when I already have a son?" He chuckled.

"What?" I cried out, shocked.

I wasn't sure what was happening. I blinked rapidly, my eyes looking down as I tried to understand what he was saying.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Only silence.

"What do you mean you have a son?" I whispered, my heart pounding loudly.

"Exactly what I said, Aria. Did you really think I'd sit around waiting for you to get pregnant and not want an heir of my own to take over when I'm old? What in the world goes on in that head of yours?" he replied coldly.

"How could you do this to me? I loved you, Adrian, and you do this to me? I sacrificed so much for you," I cried out.

My eyes were wide and filled with tears. I squeezed them shut, trying to force the tears back. The corners of my mouth pulled down, shaking as I tried to control the overwhelming emotions I was feeling.

His lips twisted into a cruel smirk as he looked at me.

"Sacrificed? You really are dumb. Do you want to know something funny? It's about your sickness," he sneered coldly.

Adrenaline shot through my veins, preparing me to fight or run. "What about it?"

"Your heart disease. It isn't cardiomyopathy. I've been giving you small doses of arsenic and thallium for the past three years," he smirked.

Every hair on my body stood up. I froze, rigid with terror, too overwhelmed to move.

A prickling sensation shot up my spine. "I don't believe you. How come the doctors didn't detect it? They can't be wrong," I said carefully.

"Oh, but they are wrong. It causes fatigue, fainting spells, and all the symptoms of cardiomyopathy, which made it hard for the doctors to detect," he replied.

My knees trembled and shook, threatening to give out underneath me.

My breath came out in shallow gasps. My chest rose and fell rapidly as the weight of what he just said threatened to suffocate me.

My eyes darted around the room, pupils wide, searching for an escape route. My entire being was on high alert as panic set my nerves on fire.

"Why... why tell... tell me now?" my voice quivered, each word stumbling out in broken fragments.

Fear had tied my tongue in knots, making it impossible to speak properly.

His laughter was sharp and mocking, echoing in the air with disdain.

"Because I've changed my mind. I don't need you to sign the divorce papers," he sneered.

I immediately backed away from him, warning bells going off in my head. "Why?"

"You, my dear wife, will die today, your heart finally giving up. And I, being the devoted husband, will be pitied by everyone. So you see, there's no need for you to sign the divorce papers anymore," he replied.

He threw the divorce papers into the fireplace and I watched as they went up in flames.

My thoughts raced through worst-case scenarios, each possibility more terrifying than the last as panic took over my rational thinking.

Everything in me was telling me to run, but I couldn't. Not because I didn't want to, but because my legs wouldn't move.

"What... what... do you... you plan on doing to me?" I asked, my voice shaking.

His eyes burned with fierce, unyielding hatred that made me shiver and cower away from him.

"The obvious. Do I have to explain every single detail to you? What I'm trying to say, Aria, is that you're going to die tonight and I will be the one to kill you," he said cruelly.

My mouth opened but no words came out.

A knot of fear tightened in my chest, making it hard to breathe and think clearly. My thoughts crashed against each other.

A sickening wave of terror rose in my stomach. My heart hammered against my ribs like thunder echoing through my body. My pulse throbbed in my ears, drowning out all other sounds.

"No," I choked out.

I clamped my hands over my mouth, stifling a scream. My eyes were wide with terror as Adrian approached me with deliberate steps and a small bottle he'd just pulled out of his pocket.

The cake knife on the table clattered to the floor, icing smeared like blood across the tiles.

Just like my father's company... stolen by the man I loved and thought loved me too.

No matter how hard I fought him, he overpowered me and poured all the contents of the bottle down my throat.

I tried to claw at my neck to cough out the substance, but it seemed impossible.

"What... what did you... you just give me?" I screamed.

"Just something to finish you off early. A triple dose of arsenic and thallium - the same stuff I usually put in your food," Adrian said, laughing.

His laugh was harsh and bitter, with no humor in it.

But right in the middle of it all, a phone rang through the room with a sharp sound that made me flinch.

Adrian smiled at the caller's name on the screen before picking up the call.

I couldn't hear what the caller was saying because I was on the ground in pain, but I could swear it was a woman's voice.

What really shocked me was how his face changed to that of a lovesick fool when he saw the caller's name.

"You'll have to wait a little, my love," I heard him say into the phone. "No, she hasn't signed the divorce papers yet, but I'll make sure she does before the end of today."

He went silent for a minute, probably listening to whatever his mistress was telling him. "If she refuses? Then we'll go ahead with your plan of finally finishing her off."

His eyes squinted with disgust, like he didn't even want to see my face. "I'll be there soon. Give my kisses to Noah. Bye."

He hung up the call, his eyebrows arched with disdain.

But what he didn't know was that I saw the name on the phone screen before he ended the call.

The TV in the background was playing, showing Adrian's public face.

A news reporter was calling him a "devoted husband to his terminally ill wife." The sick irony.

If only they knew that the same husband had been slowly killing me over the years and was standing over me at that very moment, waiting for me to take my last breath.

I placed a gentle hand on my belly. The light behind my eyes dimmed, leaving behind only shadows of the person I once was. My lips were as pale as winter frost, drained of color, reflecting the numbness that had settled over me.

I felt sorry for the baby, who was innocent in all this. This was all my fault because I'd been too stupid to notice all the signs that Adrian never really loved me.

If there's anyone listening, any god, any devil, I would give anything for one more chance.

Just one more chance to fix all the horrible mistakes I'd made in life. Let me come back... and I swear, I'll never beg for love again and I'll make Adrian pay a hundred times over for what he did to me.

My lips quivered. I didn't want to die. At least not yet.

I had so much I wanted to do. Number one being experiencing motherhood.

My vision blurred, but I was still clinging to life.

I tried crawling toward the door, but my vision was fading slowly, making it hard to see. With effort, my hands finally reached the door handle.

My heart raced and my breath came out faster. Maybe I could get out of here and get help. Maybe I could really survive.

But I never got to get out the door.

My hand fell limp on the floor and the last thing I saw was Adrian smirking down at me before my world went completely black.

Aria's pov

I blinked against the blinding light that hit my eyes the moment I opened them.

My eyes darted around the room, searching for confirmation, needing to make sure that what I was seeing wasn't just my imagination.

I clamped my hand over my mouth, eyes wide with disbelief. I took a step back, my body instinctively retreating like my subconscious was trying to protect me.

Music hummed softly in the air. I could hear elegant laughter and clinking champagne glasses that grounded me to the scene around me.

How? I remembered dying. How was it possible I was back at this exact moment?

Yet here I was, standing on the very stage that had marked the beginning of my downfall.

My breath caught as I looked around, heart pounding wildly against my ribs. My eyes went blank, like empty windows of a haunted house, as soon as I saw Adrian beside me, grinning.

It was like my mind was wrapped in cotton, softening the edges of reality. The last thing I remembered was pain, too much pain and blood. And my baby.

My hands trembled with held-back fury, fingers curling into tight fists, nails digging into my palms. The pain grounded me in the storm of my emotions. My skin crawled when Adrian touched my arm, with a microphone in his other hand.

I knew what he was about to do. Propose to me. I smirked. I definitely wasn't going to let history repeat itself.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he began, his voice smooth as always. "A year ago, I met an incredible woman who changed the meaning of life for me. She's beautiful, smart, intelligent, to name a few, and has stood by me through thick and thin. Her light, her laughter, her grace... made me believe in love." He grinned at me.

The crowd sighed in anticipation. My mouth went dry, my hatred a bitter taste I couldn't swallow. I felt a wave of nausea, a sick reaction to his presence.

"I think it's time we take things to the next step, my love," Adrian said, turning fully to face me now.

He slowly kneeled down and brought out a velvet box from his pocket. Everything was happening the same way it did before.

"So, Aria Lin, will you make..." he was saying when I interrupted.

"No," I sneered, staring down at him.

The ballroom fell into hushed silence. It was like the air had become solid, making each breath feel wrong.

"What?" Adrian asked, blinking like he hadn't heard me correctly.

The air cracked with tension as my jaw tightened, muscles twitching with every urge I was holding back to lash out. My eyes blazed with fury.

"I can't marry you," I answered, my tone ice cold.

"What are you talking about?" Adrian asked, his mouth open with disbelief written all over his face.

"I'm in love with someone else, so I can't marry you," I replied, raising my voice.

The silence after my words stretched on unnervingly long. It had a life of its own, like a living thing that filled every corner of the hall.

"That's not possible. Who?" he asked, shocked.

I didn't answer him. My eyes scanned the ballroom looking for an escape route. But just as I was about to give up, I saw him.

Ethan Lou, my assistant. He was standing at the edge of the hall with a tablet in his hands, looking directly at me.

We'd never gotten along. Ethan was my father's former assistant, but he made his opinions about me taking over as CEO very clear. He thought I was immature.

But Ethan Lou was real, not a liar, and definitely not a murderer. And he was someone I definitely wasn't in love with.

Before I could second-guess myself, I stepped off the stage. My heart rate increased and my breath came out in short gasps, but I didn't hesitate.

My heels clicked against the ballroom floor, each step cutting through the thick tension that had settled in the hall like a knife.

The silence was overwhelming, pressing in from all directions, as I stopped in front of him.

"Kiss me back, or we both lose everything," I whispered to him, my fingers curled around his collar.

Ethan's eyes widened, his jaw dropped as the whole ballroom stared, stunned.

"What do you think you're doing?" he whispered back, disbelief in his voice.

"Smile," I cut him off, fingers still gripping his collar. "And play along. Or tomorrow, you'll be jobless and in every gossip headline as the assistant who broke a CEO's heart."

I didn't give him a chance to reply. I just pulled him close by his collar and kissed him with everything I had.

Ethan froze against my lips for a heartbeat, but then his arms came up to rest on my waist.

The silence that followed was like a rubber band stretched to its limit, ready to snap at any moment. The quiet wrapped around us, muffling even the smallest sound.

The guests' jaws dropped, eyes widening in disbelief like a sudden jolt of electricity had shot through their veins, leaving them momentarily stunned.

The media went crazy, snapping pictures of every detail of our kiss.

I finally pulled away from Ethan and our eyes locked.

"What the hell was that?" Ethan whispered, half surprised and half angry.

But before I could respond, chaos erupted behind me.

"Aria!" my father's voice boomed.

I could feel the anger coming off Adrian as he stormed toward us in a fit of rage.

"What's the meaning of this?" Adrian spat. "How dare you try to humiliate me? In front of all these people... these investors, our families."

Before Adrian could blink, I spun around and slapped him. Hard.

My hands trembled with held-back fury, fingers curling into tight fists, nails digging into my palms. The pain grounded me in the storm of my emotions.

Adrian's shocked face was captured by all the cameras flashing wildly at the drama unfolding.

He raised his hand to slap me back... only for it to be caught mid-air.

My father didn't hesitate. His palm cracked across Adrian's face for the second time with a sharp, hard slap that made me flinch and the whole room gasp.

My mother clutched her pearls, her smile forced as she tried to hide her concern.

"You dare try to lay your filthy hands on my daughter?" Mr. Lin sneered down at him.

Adrian staggered back, too stunned to reply.

"Get. Out," my father barked. "Guards. Remove this piece of trash from my sight immediately."

Adrian's mother, who had been quiet this whole time, came forward.

"How dare you humiliate my son like this, Aria? After everything my son did for you!" Mrs. Wu cried out, her voice shaking with rage. "You haven't heard the last of the Wu family!"

If this had happened before, I would have been terrified hearing such a threat. But not anymore.

Adrian's mother had made my life hell, but I promised myself I would make them all pay for what they had put me through—starting with her precious son.

Two suited guards appeared, grabbing Adrian by the arms as he tried to protest.

"You don't understand... she's mine!" Adrian shouted, his eyes blazing murderously. "You think this is over, Aria? You think I'll let you go that easily?!" He snarled.

"She was never yours," my father replied, stepping in front of me protectively.

The guards dragged Adrian away, the hall buzzing with hushed excitement and disbelief.

I watched as Adrian was hauled out of the ballroom. I had to admit, it was satisfying to watch the arrogant bastard being dragged away like that.

Just as I was feeling triumphant, everything suddenly felt heavy. My legs gave out beneath me, and I started to collapse.

But strong arms caught me just in time, preventing me from hitting the marble floor.

As darkness crept in around the edges of my vision, I heard Ethan's voice, sounding concerned and confused.

"What the hell just happened?" he muttered, holding my unconscious form.