Chapter 2

Stella's POV

The mansion was dead quiet, the staff moving about with their heads bowed in silence.

I walked outside. The crisp morning air hit me in the face, sharpening my senses.

Parked on the sweeping black asphalt driveway in front of the villa sat a sleek black Maybach.

I approached the car and instinctively reached for the front passenger door handle.

For five years, that had always been my seat. Nicholas never allowed anyone else to sit in the passenger seat; he said it had the best view, and I wouldn't get carsick there.

Just as my fingers brushed the cold metal handle, the window rolled down smoothly.

My body froze.

Today, a woman was sitting in the passenger seat.

She wore a wine-red trench coat, her wavy hair tumbling effortlessly over her shoulders. She turned her head, her lips painted a fiery red, her makeup exquisite down to the last eyelash.

My pupils shrank violently.

Elena Miller.

In my previous life, Elena didn’t return from abroad until I was twenty. In this life, the timeline had actually shifted forward.

My fingers turned icy in an instant. The sickening weightlessness of falling and the crushing agony of shattered bones seemed to rush back into my body, seizing my lungs for a terrifying second.

"You must be Stella, right?" Elena looked out at me, her red lips parting into a sweet, graceful smile. "I'm Elena. Nicholas’s first love. When Nicholas said he had to drop you off, I honestly thought you were still just a little girl!"

As she spoke, her gaze swept over me shamelessly, a flash of pure disdain flickering in her eyes.

I lowered my gaze, my thick lashes masking the storm of hatred and defense boiling underneath.

Without saying a word, I let go of the front door handle, walked to the rear, opened the back door, and slid inside.

The atmosphere in the car seemed to solidify into ice.

In the driver’s seat, Nicholas had rolled his sleeves up to his forearms, showing the smooth, firm lines of his muscles. His hands rested on the steering wheel, his cold eyes flicking toward the rearview mirror to cast a flat look at me.

"Cat got your tongue?" Nicholas’s tone was completely flat. "Don't know how to say hello?"

My hands balled into tight fists on my lap.

"Good morning, Ms. Miller," I said, keeping my voice as light and devoid of emotion as possible.

Elena let out a soft laugh. She turned around, leaning an arm intimately against the back of Nicholas's seat, pressing half her body almost against his shoulder.

"Nicholas, don't be so harsh. You’re scaring the poor girl."

Nicholas didn't pull away. He simply shifted gears and stepped on the gas. The car glided smoothly out of the gated community.

The entire ride, Elena did all the talking. She chatted about their fun times studying abroad, about a new movie role she had just landed, and complained about how uncomfortable her hotel bed was last night.

Nicholas responded occasionally. He didn't say much, but the indulgence and patience he showed her were things I had never once experienced in five years.

I turned my head, staring out the window.

The trees and city blocks blurred past in reverse, dragging my thoughts back to my previous life.

Back then, the first time Elena had shown up acting like the lady of the house, how had I reacted?

I had thrown a fit like a lunatic who had just had her favorite toy stolen, screaming and crying, demanding to know why Nicholas would let another woman into his car. And what came of it?

Nicholas had slammed on the brakes, pulled over, and looked at me with pure disgust. "Stella, remember your place. You’re just an orphan I sponsor. Who gave you the right to meddle in my business? Get out."

It had poured that day. I had been kicked out onto the street, walking for three hours in the freezing rain to get back to the villa. I came down with a vicious fever that nearly killed me.

Living this life again, I will never fight for things that never belonged to me in the first place.

No love meant no love. A shadow was just a shadow.

"I heard you've been living at Nicholas's place all this time?" Elena's voice suddenly cut through the quiet hum of the car.

I didn't answer.

Elena didn't seem to care about my silence. She leaned back toward the rear seat, closing the distance between us, and lowered her voice to a whisper meant only for my ears: "Don't think staying by his side for five years changes who you are. Nicholas only pities you because your mother died so early."

The smile on Elena's face remained soft and sweet, but the venom dripping from her words was vile.

"He will never love you. Stop dreaming."

I kept staring out the window.

I remembered how she had done the exact same thing in my past life—cornering me where Nicholas couldn't see, using the cruellest words to humiliate, provoke, and drive me insane. Then, she would put on her fragile victim act, making Nicholas despise me more and more with every passing day.

Until finally, she pushed me into the abyss.

I said nothing. My nails dug deep, crescent-shaped marks into my palms.

If words could kill, I would have died a thousand times over.

But in front of Nicholas, any argument or defense would only end with me taking the punishment.

I didn't need to prove anything to a murderer. I just needed to survive and get through these next three months.

Seeing me sit there like a wooden block with zero reaction, Elena grew bored. A glint of viciousness flashed across her eyes before she smoothed her features back into a sweet, charming expression and sat up straight.

The Maybach came to a stop at a red light.

Nicholas tapped his long fingers against the leather steering wheel, his gaze drifting up to the rearview mirror.

In the back, I was huddled in the corner, my face turned firmly toward the window, offering him only a thin, stubborn profile.

Nicholas’s brow furrowed slightly.

"Don't cause trouble at school. The driver will pick you up after class," Nicholas commanded coldly.

I didn't look back, answering with a single, flat syllable: "Okay."

The light turned green, the car accelerated smoothly forward, and the cabin fell back into dead silence.