His Dead Wife Came Back For Revenge

*I know you remember.*

I stared at the glowing screen. My pulse hammered against my ribs. I shoved the phone deep into my trench coat pocket. I couldn't deal with ghosts right now. I had a monster to kill first.

"Take the next left," Caspian instructed from the passenger seat.

I gripped the steering wheel, guiding the silver coupe through the pitch-black streets. The city slept, completely unaware of the nightmare unraveling inside my car.

I hit the brakes as we pulled into a gritty, neon-lit alleyway. A rusted roll-up door marked the end of the path.

"Home sweet home," Caspian announced. He stepped out and manually hoisted the heavy metal door.

I drove the car inside. The space was a cavernous, oil-stained garage. Tools lined the concrete walls, and the scent of motor oil hung heavy in the air. It was his sanctuary. A place far away from the pristine marble floors of our family estate.

I cut the engine. The silence that followed felt suffocating.

Caspian tossed his keys onto a metal workbench. "Not exactly the penthouse suite you're used to."

"It's secure," I replied, stepping out of the car. "That's all I care about right now."

He leaned against a tall tool cabinet, crossing his arms over his chest. His dark eyes locked onto mine, stripping away all my defenses.

"So," Caspian started, his tone flat. "You didn't just drag me out of the shadows to play mechanic. Why did you really seek me out tonight, Elara?"

I needed him on my side. Anger wouldn't win his loyalty. I had to show him the bleeding wound Kael had left behind.

I lowered my gaze. I let my shoulders slump, allowing the exhaustion of my past life to bleed into my current posture.

"I need your help," I murmured, letting my voice waver. "And you're the only person who can access the main estate servers without triggering the security alarms."

"Hacking my own family." He let out a dry chuckle. "That's treason."

"It's not treason if they're stealing from me." I wrapped my arms around my stomach, protecting the child Kael wanted dead. "Kael and Seraphina... they've been sleeping together for months."

"I know," Caspian replied.

I snapped my head up. "You knew?"

"Everyone with eyes knows, Elara. You were just too blinded by the wedding bells to notice."

"I notice now." I forced the memory of the fatal crash to the front of my mind. A real tear slipped free, tracing a hot path down my cheek. "But the cheating is just the beginning. They are draining my accounts."

Caspian stopped slouching. He stood up straight. "Explain."

"Seraphina convinced him to transfer my family's coastal properties into a joint holding company. My signature was forged on the documents yesterday." I let out a broken sob. The sound echoed off the corrugated metal roof. "They took two million in liquid assets from my private trust."

"He's getting sloppy," Caspian noted, his jaw tightening.

"He's getting greedy. He wants my family's wealth, but he doesn't want the pregnant wife holding him back."

I buried my face in my hands. I cried, letting the genuine terror of my previous death fuel the performance. I expected a sarcastic comment. A cruel joke about my naivety.

Instead, footsteps approached.

Caspian stopped right in front of me. He didn't mock me. He reached out, his calloused thumb brushing the tear from my jawline. The gesture was shockingly gentle.

"Stop crying," he said softly. "Tears won't get your money back."

He shrugged off his heavy leather jacket and draped it over my trembling shoulders. The residual heat from his body seeped into my freezing skin.

"Thank you," I whispered, pulling the lapels closer together.

"Has he always been this ruthless?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Kael?" Caspian scoffed, pulling his hand back. "He drowned my rescue dog when we were kids because it barked at him during dinner. He told my father the gate was left open. My father bought him a purebred the next day to comfort him over the loss."

"And you never exposed him."

"Who would believe the bastard son?" Caspian kicked a stray lug nut across the floor. "He's a parasite, Elara. But he's a protected one."

"I just want the proof," I pleaded. "I need the server logs. The transfer receipts. If I go to the police now, Kael's lawyers will bury me. I need undeniable evidence."

"And then what?"

"Then I ruin him. I take back what's mine, and I make sure he spends the rest of his life in a concrete box."

Caspian studied my face. He looked at the determination burning through my tears.

"You realize if I help you, Kael will figure it out eventually," Caspian warned. "He'll come for my throat."

"He already hates you. What do you have to lose?"

"My quiet life."

"Your life is a cage, Caspian. He keeps you hidden here, fixing cars, while he parades around in suits paid for by your father."

He flinched. The words hit their mark perfectly.

"Fine," Caspian said, turning toward the workbench. "I'll pull the financial records. But this is a temporary arrangement. Once I hand over the flash drive, you leave me out of the fallout."

"Temporary," I agreed. "I promise."

"Good." He grabbed a flashlight and a plastic creeper board. "Now let me see what his mechanic actually did to your ride."

He dropped the board onto the concrete and slid under the front end of the coupe.

I paced the floor, the heavy leather jacket swishing around my knees.

"Seraphina claims she gets motion sickness," I called out to the empty room. "That's why she demanded the SUV for tomorrow's trip."

"She doesn't get motion sickness," Caspian's voice echoed from beneath the chassis. "She just likes the heated passenger seats."

"She's going to hate a prison cell, then."

"Hand me the wire cutters. On the bench."

I grabbed the red-handled tool and crouched beside the front tire, passing it to his outstretched hand.

"Thanks."

A minute passed. Metal clinked against metal. A sharp snap echoed from under the hood.

"Elara."

Caspian's voice lost all its casual sarcasm. It sounded hollow.

"Did you fix the brakes?" I asked.

He slid out from under the car. His face was pale, completely devoid of color.

He sat up and held out his hand. Resting in his palm was a small, black plastic square. A single red light blinked rhythmically in the center. Two severed wires dangled from its base.

"What is that?" I asked, my blood running instantly cold.

"It's not a cut brake line," Caspian said grimly. "It's a remote explosive."

I stared at the blinking red light. My fiancé wasn't planning on an accident. He was planning an assassination.

Before I could speak, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I pulled it out with shaking hands. Another text from the unknown number lit up the screen.

*Boom.*