Poisoned, Shot, Reborn: Now Watch Me

Elena Thomas POV:

Time became a blur in the suffocating darkness of the basement.

Hours, or maybe days, bled into one another, marked only by the rhythm of my own ragged breaths and the relentless, throbbing pain. My shoulder and leg were on fire. The wounds, left untreated, had begun to fester, and a fever was creeping through me, making the cold concrete floor feel like a block of ice.

I was drifting in and out of consciousness when the heavy door creaked open, spilling a sliver of light into my prison.

Elliott stood there, silhouetted against the brightness.

His expensive suit was rumpled, his hair disheveled. I could see the faint, dark stubble on his jaw and the exhausted shadows under his eyes. There was a dark stain on his white shirt-Isla' s blood, I presumed.

His eyes adjusted to the gloom, and his gaze fell upon me. I saw his jaw tighten, his brow furrowing as he took in the state I was in. He saw the dried blood caked on my clothes, the unnatural pallor of my skin.

"You just had to push it, didn't you, Elena?" he said, his voice rough with exhaustion and something else… something I couldn't quite name.

He stepped inside, letting the door swing shut behind him, and knelt beside me. He had a first-aid kit in his hand.

"Isla is fine, no thanks to you," he muttered, opening the kit. "The scratch was superficial. But the shock… the doctors said the shock could have harmed the baby."

He reached out to clean the wound on my shoulder, but I flinched away, a primal instinct of self-preservation overriding the agony it caused. The sudden movement sent a fresh bolt of white-hot pain through me, and a groan escaped my lips.

He froze, his hand hovering in the air. For a moment, there was only the sound of our breathing in the small, damp space. He said nothing, simply uncapped a bottle of antiseptic and began to clean the ugly, swollen gash with a grim, focused silence.

The sting was excruciating, but it was nothing compared to the cold hollowness inside me.

"Give it back," I rasped, my voice weak and cracked.

He didn't look up. "Give what back?"

"My father's marble. The sculpture. Give it back to me."

He paused, his hands stilling. When he finally met my gaze, his eyes were cold. "Are you still on about that? I told you, it was just a piece of rock. Your jealousy over Isla is pathetic. You should be grateful I didn't let you bleed out down here."

The sheer audacity of his words was almost comical. He was the one who shot me, the one who left me to rot, and now he was painting himself as my savior.

"Sign the papers, Elliott," I whispered, the effort making my head spin. I pushed myself up, my back scraping against the rough concrete wall, and pointed a trembling finger to where the crumpled divorce agreement lay on the floor. "Sign them. You can have Isla. You can have your 'authentic' life. I don't want any of it anymore. Just let me go."

His face contorted in a flash of anger. "Divorce? Are you insane? After what you did? You almost killed Isla!"

"I don't care about Isla!" I cried, my voice breaking. "I just want what is mine. My father's legacy."

"It's just a damn sculpture, Elena!" he roared, throwing the blood-soaked cotton swabs to the ground. "Do you know how much I've given you? This house, the cars, the clothes! You live like a queen, and you're throwing a tantrum over a piece of stone!"

His words were like a slap in the face. He truly didn't see it. He couldn't comprehend a value that wasn't measured in dollars.

"That 'piece of stone' was my father's last promise to me," I said, my voice dropping to a dead calm. "And you gave it to her."

He looked away, a flicker of something-guilt? annoyance?-crossing his face. "I'm not discussing this anymore. You are my wife. Your place is here, by my side. You will behave, you will be gracious, and you will not, under any circumstances, bother Isla again. Is that clear?"

I stared at him, at this stranger wearing my husband's face. All those years, I had waited for him to see me, to remember the woman who had built this kingdom with him, not just for him. I had hoped that underneath the narcissistic billionaire, the man I fell in love with was still there.

It was laughable, really. I had been waiting for a ghost.

With a surge of strength I didn't know I possessed, I pushed myself to my feet, leaning heavily against the damp wall. I limped towards him, the pain in my leg a blinding, searing agony.

"Why won't you let me go, Elliott?," I asked, my voice soft. "Are you afraid? Afraid that without me, the great Elliott McCullough might actually have to learn how his own company works?"

I saw the barb hit its mark. His face flushed with anger.

"Do you remember, Elliott?" I pressed on, my voice gaining strength. "When we were just starting out? Living in that tiny apartment, eating ramen noodles every night? You turned to me, and you said, 'Elena, we're partners. 50/50. Everything I have is yours.' You even signed an agreement. The original partnership agreement. The one that says if you are ever unfaithful, 100% of the company, all of its assets, revert to me."

His face went pale. He remembered.

"You said," I continued, my voice a merciless whisper, "'If I ever betray you, I deserve to have nothing.'"

He stared at me, his breathing shallow and rapid. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Just then, the basement door opened again. A man in a white coat rushed in, looking flustered. "Mr. McCullough, Ms. Little is awake. She's asking for you."

Elliott's expression softened instantly at the mention of her name. He looked from the doctor to me, his eyes filled with a familiar annoyance, as if I were a problem he just wanted to be done with.

He deliberately stepped on the divorce agreement, grinding the paper into the dirt with the heel of his expensive leather shoe.

"Stay here," he ordered, his voice a low growl. "Behave. And stay the hell away from Isla."

He turned to leave, but paused at the door. "Doctor, patch her up. I don't want her dying on my property. It would be… inconvenient."

The doctor rushed to my side, his face a mixture of shock and pity as he saw the full extent of my injuries. "My God," he whispered, examining my leg. "This is bad. The bullet is still in there. If we don't get it out soon, you could lose the leg. You might be permanently disabled."

Elliott's footsteps paused in the hallway. I saw his shoulders tense. He glanced back, his eyes meeting mine for a fleeting, unreadable moment.

Then, without a word, he turned and walked away.

The heavy door slammed shut, and the sound of the lock clicking into place echoed in the sudden, deafening silence.