~ Aurora ~

If you had told me a year ago that my life would turn out like this, I would've laughed in your face.

I never imagined myself living in a cold mansion, surrounded by people who despised me, and chained to a man who hardly even knew I existed.

But I guess that's what happens when you're married off as part of a business deal.

A pawn in a game played by men who saw me as nothing more than a bargaining chip.

My name is Aurora Andreas.

Or at least, it used to be. Now, I'm Aurora Caelestis-Medallion.

The wife of Daemon Caelestis-Medallion—the eldest son of a family that cares more about power than it does about people.

I was only nineteen when I married him, a scared girl who didn't understand just how cruel the world could be.

Looking back now, it feels like a lifetime ago. But the memories still haunt me, every single one of them.

I remember the first time I walked through the gates of the Caelestis-Medallion estate.

My heart was pounding in my chest, and I couldn't stop my hands from shaking.

I'd heard stories about them—about how ruthless they were in business, how their family thrived on power plays and manipulation.

But nothing could've prepared me for the way they looked at me.

From the moment I stepped inside, I could feel their eyes judging me.

I wasn't like them. I wasn't beautiful or graceful.

I was fat, plain, and awkward.

And they made sure I knew it.

Collete, my mother-in-law, was the worst. She didn't hide her disdain for me, not even for a second.

"Aurora," she had said to me the first day I arrived, her voice cold and cutting, "don't think for a moment that marrying my son gives you any power in this family. You're here because your family owes us. You'll repay that debt."

I had nodded, too scared to speak.

What could I say to that? I didn't want to be there any more than they wanted me there. But I didn't have a choice.

My family had sold me off to save themselves, and I was the one left to pay the price.

Collete wasn't the only one who hated me. Ivelle and Iliana, Daemon's twin sisters, were just as cruel.

They would laugh at me, make comments about my weight, or how I didn't belong in their world.

Sometimes I would catch them whispering to each other, their eyes flicking toward me like I was some sort of joke.

But the worst was Mason, Daemon's younger brother.

He was vile, constantly making inappropriate comments, grabbing me when no one was looking, pushing boundaries in ways that made my skin crawl.

And Daemon? He wasn't there.

Not physically, not emotionally.

He was always at work, always abroad, always somewhere far away from me.

I used to lie awake at night, wondering if things would ever change.

If he would ever come home and treat me like his wife. But when he did come home, it wasn't the way I imagined.

I remember that night so clearly. He had been out drinking—again.

I could hear his footsteps stumbling down the hallway, and when the door to our bedroom slammed open, I knew something was wrong.

He was drunk, and I was terrified. He didn't speak, didn't say a word. He just… took me.

It wasn't love.

It wasn't even desire.

It was anger, frustration, something dark that neither of us could name. I hated it.

And I knew he hated it too.

I thought maybe it would break me, but it didn't. Not then. Not yet.

The next morning, he was gone, like nothing had ever happened.

And that's when I found out I was pregnant.

I thought the pregnancy would be my chance to turn things around.

I thought maybe, just maybe, Daemon would care about me if I carried his child.

Maybe we could finally be a family. I was so naïve.

When I told Collete, she barely even looked at me. "Congratulations," she had said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You've done your duty."

I thought I could handle their cruelty, that I could make it work for the sake of my child. But then… then I got the picture.

A photograph of Daemon, my husband, with another woman. He looked happy, carefree in a way he never was with me.

My heart shattered.

It wasn't long after that when everything truly fell apart.

Mason's harassment became unbearable.

He was emboldened by the fact that Daemon was never around, and the family couldn't care less.

He never really did much, but the little things he tried to made me digusted

One night, after another one of his "games," I couldn't take it anymore.

I ran. I just… ran. Out into the rain, into the cold, uncaring night.

I remember the headlights, the screech of tires, the feeling of my body flying through the air before everything went dark.

I thought that was the end.

And for a moment, I was ready to let go.

I wanted to leave it all behind—the pain, the cruelty, the endless humiliation.

But as I lay there, broken and bleeding, all I could think about were my unborn child and the unfairness of it all.

The world was cruel, but humans? Humans were even crueler.

I begged for one more chance.

One more chance to live, to fight back, to make them pay. For my babies.

And somehow, I got it.

When I woke up, I was back in my body, back before the accident.

The doctor was handing me an ultrasound picture, telling me I was pregnant. It felt like a dream, like I was stuck in some cruel loop.

But I wasn't.

I had been given another chance. And I wasn't going to waste it.

I left that day.

I didn't look back.

I left a note for Daemon, a parting gift that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

I wasn't going to be their punching bag anymore.

I disappeared, fled to a different country where no one could find me.

I changed everything about myself—my body, my face, my life.

I became someone they would never recognize.

And now? Now I have three beautiful children, a new life, and a plan.

I'm not the Aurora they used to know. And when they see me again, they'll know that I've come back for one thing: revenge.