THE WIDOW WHO NEVER WAS

ALIRA'S POV

"Will you marry me?"

The velvet box trembled slightly in his hands, and the candlelight flickered around us.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe...not from joy and definitely not from surprise but from the surreal recognition.

This had happened before..Exactly this way.

The rooftop restaurant, the violinist in the corner, his polished smile and the diamond that once sealed my fate.

I blinked as the world tilted.

My fingers trembled on the edge of reality as a thousand memories surged into my mind...hospital, betrayal, blood, the staircase, his hands, my death.

I was back.

Two years before.

Back to the very day I said yes.

He waited with his eyes bright with anticipation, the same eyes that once watched me fall.

I swallowed the bile in my throat.

My heart hammered in my chest but not from love, but from clarity.

This wasn't fate.

This was my rebirth.

And I would rewrite the ending.

"Yes." I said as I smiled.

His face lit up as he leaned in to kiss me.

I let him but behind my lashes, I didn't see my future husband...I saw a man already dead.

He just didn't know it yet.

He slipped the ring onto my finger, a symbol of chains but this time, I held the key.

The next morning, the house buzzed with celebration.

My mother's eyes brimmed with pride and my sister hugged me tightly, a bit too tightly.

But I wasn't the same Alira.

I studied their smiles and listened for the cracks in their voices.

My mother pretends to be kind, but deep down, she's just bitter....My sister, syrup-sweet, hiding daggers behind her teeth.

"You're glowing." Betsy said, brushing my hair behind my ear.

"So are you Betsy, like someone keeping secrets."

She blinked, caught off guard as I smiled a Sweet and dangerous smile.

"What are you two whispering about?" My mother asked.

"Just promises." I replied, sipping tea as if I hadn't once bled out in silence.

I began weaving my web as I watched everyone.

Every word, every movement, I played the docile bride-to-be, but underneath it all, I was gathering for a fire I would ignite with surgical precision.

They thought they were ahead of me.

But I remembered everything.

I was not going to allow history to repeat itself again and I knew that for my plans to be successful, I needed allies.

There was one person I didn't see at the house and that was Liam.

He was a pawn just as I was in my previous life and I still remember him confessing his love to me while I was in Coma.

I needed him for the first step of my plans to Kickstart and so after the celebration, I decided to go find him.

Liam Hart's apartment still looked the same.

Too clean, too perfect Just like his reputation.

I stared at the door for a moment and then I knocked.

Moments passed before the door opened.

Liam stood there, shirt unbuttoned at the collar with surprise flashing across his face.

"Alira?" he asked, stunned.

I tilted my head, offering a hesitant smile.

"Hi, Liam...I hope this isn't a bad time....I just... needed someone to talk to."

His eyes softened instantly...I knew they would.

"No, of course not...Come in."

I stepped inside with the scent of expensive cologne flooding my senses.

"You look different," Liam said gently.

"I do?? It could be the hair." I said with a smile.

"Not just your hair...Something else."

I turned to face him, letting my smile grow a little sad and a little mysterious.

"I feel different...like I woke up and suddenly realized how much time I've wasted being... quiet."

He nodded slowly, clearly unsure how to respond.

"I remember we used to talk more back in school.. I miss that," I said softly, letting my fingers graze the edge of the couch.

"Do you?"

"Yeah. I do." He said as his eyes searched mine.

Perfect.

I walked over to the window and stared out.

"I guess I just wanted to be around someone who made me feel.... safe. You always felt like that....Safe."

That part wasn't a lie...Liam was safe...safe enough to be manipulated.

He had loved me once.... I'd heard it in the dark when I was barely clinging to life and now, I'd use that against him.

Because Betsy had taken everything from me.

My trust, my marriage and my life and now, I was going to take everything from her...Slowly, brutally and beautifully.

I turned back to Liam, changing myexpression into soft vulnerability.

"But Alira, Betsy told me you just got engaged?? Doesn't that change..."

"It's silly, I know...you're practically family now but... I never really got to tell you how I felt back then." I said as I cut him off.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Felt?"

"Yeah...there was a time I thought about us before everything got messy..before Betsy.. stepped in." I said as he froze Just for a second.

That was all I needed....The seed was planted.

"Alira..."

I shook my head quickly, laughing it off.

"Forget it... I'm rambling...you're happy.... I shouldn't be here."

I turned to leave, knowing he would stop me.

And he did.

"Alira, wait."

I paused with my back still to him.

"Yes?"

"Stay....Just for a while."

I turned back around, smiled, and walked into the trap I was building for us both.

We sat on the couch, the conversation drifting between awkward memories and unspoken feelings.

I let my hand graze his once.

I saw the way his breath caught....Good....Let him wonder.

When he got up to get us drinks, I slid my phone out and opened a hidden file.

Step One: Dismantle Betsy's engagement.

Step Two: Make Liam fall.

Step Three: Burn Betsy's world down piece by piece.

But then, the soft click of the door unlocking echoed through the apartment as I froze.

The front door swung open.

And there she was.

Betsy.

Entering Liam's apartment unannounced.

She stared at me as I smiled.

Let the game begin.