Rebirth after Betrayal:Bound to my ex fiancée Rival

The call came just after midnight.

I was curled up on the window seat of my hotel room, watching the rain trace silver ribbons down the glass, when my phone lit up with Ethan’s name. My heart leapt — we’d promised not to see each other until the ceremony, but maybe he’d caved.

“Elena,” his voice was low, almost hushed, but I caught the edge of a smile in it. “Come to the cliffs. I want to give you something before tomorrow.”

My cheeks warmed. A secret meeting. A gift. The night before our wedding — it was exactly the kind of romantic impulse Ethan usually restrained himself from, but I’d always wished for. Maybe it was a letter. Maybe a family heirloom. Maybe… a moment, just for us, before everything changed.

The piercing sound of the wind echoed in her ears carrying with it the salty sting of the sea and electric scent of the impending storm coming.The hill side was rough beneath Elena’s heels.The waves blows were rising into white jaws that slammed against the rocks.

I followed the voices

I saw a silhouette of two shadows and then she heard a laugh

“Elena thinks you actually love and care for her”Selena laughed ,displaying a wide grin- the same laugh that had been Elena’s safe haven.”Honestly speaking Ethan she is so pathetically gullible.its almost cute”

“Almost” Ethan’s voice came dripping with disgust.”She is more useful than cute”.

“Her family’s company is the stepping stone,nothing more nothing less”.After the union,she would be irrelevant and we could finally get rid of her”

The words were like cold steel that pressed against her skin.I froze,the rain clinging to her lashes,her eyes widened,she stumbled back a step.

My best friend and My fiancée.

My Life.

Colour drained from my face ,I stepped out from the shadows.

“How could you”

I was in total shock and disbelief and my sense of time had stopped.

Selena's painted smile did not falter nor change,it only got brighter.

“Oh Elena,don’t look so surprised.You were never made for a world like this,We just………used your name to open a few doors”.

Ethan’s expression was blank and unreadable except for the gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.”You should have stayed Pretty and silent.It would have been much easier for you.”

My heart was pounding heavily in my chest and my face had reddened due to the anger.

“I trusted you both with everything in me and you—“

“You were my friend,you stood beside me when I picked my wedding dress and has been with me all my life”

“Why would u betray me like this”

Selena stepped closer,”Oh Elena I was never in a competition with you,you were just a stepping stone for us and nothing else”

I turned to Ethan,”just tell me she lying”

Ethan didn’t flinch nor move

“You were just a toy to be used Elena nothing more”

The words landed like a physical punch,My heartbeat momentarily stopped,my whole body quivered.

Clutched my stomach,my mouths opened but no words could come out except

“Ethan I loved you with all my heart ,why did you betray me”

Ethan didn’t say anything nor move

“She knows too much Ethan”

“So what do you think you want to do Selena,I will cut off this engagement now”

I moved toward the door to make my way out then I was stopped by Selena

“Where do u think you are going to with everything you know and have heard”

The next minute I was hit on the head

I felt dizzy and I could hear the sounds of a bell ringing in my eyes.

“Ethan we need to get rid of her”

“How do we do that Selena”

“Let’s just throw her off the cliff and then we make it seem like she fell off the edge by mistake”

I could hear their voices as they were talking but I was too weak to do anything neither defend myself

“Pls don’t kill me,I will give you anything you want”

“Stop the fuck up bitch,You know too much so you need to die”

“Ethan grab hold of her let’s throw her down the cliff”

“After all they won’t be able to find her body it would be lost in the ocean”

And then I was thrown down the cliff.

Images flashed before me — my parents’ proud smiles,my sister's smile, the warmth of Selena’s laughter before it turned cruel,my first day of meeting Ethan ,Ethan’s first kiss, the moment he’d slipped the ring onto my finger. All of it shattered now, all of it poisoned.

As darkness pressed in, one thought anchored me.

“If I live again… I will make them pay”

And then — nothing.

When I opened my eyes, sunlight streamed through lace curtains.

I sat up abruptly, clutching the blankets. My bedroom. Not the hotel. Not the cliffs. Dry, warm… alive.

My gaze snapped to the clock — and froze.

It was the day before my wedding.