I was devoted to Tom Collin, a man whose ambition I once admired. I gave up my career, my future, my entire identity for him. I was the perfect wife while he built his empire. But when he reached the top, I became invisible.
Then I found him with her—his college ex, the woman who’d abandoned him when he had nothing. When I confronted him, the man I married vanished, replaced by a monster whose hands left bruises on my skin.
I was finally ready to leave. But I never got the chance. He left our five-year-old daughter, Joy, alone for his mistress. And in his absence, my baby was murdered.
I buried my child, and with her, the weak woman I used to be. In a haze of grief, I let a handsome stranger hold me for one night in Italy—a single moment of oblivion.
Five years later, I live for one purpose: Revenge. Tom Collin will pay for what he did. He has no idea the woman now standing before him. But my new boss… he might. The magnetic CEO of our rival company is the stranger from that night. And he doesn’t know he’s the father of my secret daughter.


Consciousness returned to me in fragments, like pieces of a shattered mirror slowly reassembling. The overhead light blazed mercilessly, sending sharp bolts of pain through my skull the moment my eyelids parted. I squeezed them shut again immediately, lifting a trembling hand to block out the assault of brightness.


The world felt unstable beneath me, tilting at impossible angles. When I attempted to push myself upright, a vicious headache crashed through my temples with such force that I nearly cried out. My fingers pressed desperately against the throbbing spot, searching for relief that wouldn't come.


"Easy there," Eden's voice reached me, soft but strained. Her palm settled against my back as she helped guide me into a sitting position. Though she spoke calmly, I caught the undercurrent of worry she was trying to conceal.


It took several heartbeats for my surroundings to come into focus.


Chapter 76 - Chapter 76 Fragmented Awakening