The Wife He Couldn't Sink

In that luxury cruise ship fire that shocked the world, my husband Gordon Mercer—the ship's captain—pried open my bloodied fingers and fastened the last intact life vest onto his first love.

In my past life, he locked me inside the blazing cabin. First, the flames devoured me. Then, as the ship broke apart, the icy ocean swallowed me whole. I drowned in the depths.

When I opened my eyes again, I'd returned to that life-or-death moment—the ship about to sink, alarms tearing through the night.

Watching Gordon clutch that trembling woman in his arms, I didn't break down sobbing like before. I didn't beg.

Instead, I laughed coldly and threw the life vest at their feet.

"Since you two are so desperate to die together, go right ahead."

The piercing alarm shrieked through the corridors of "The Siren", its red emergency lights pulsing like arterial blood. The air reeked of burning rubber. Beneath my feet, the deck tilted visibly toward the port side.

"Eulalia, have you lost your mind?!"

Gordon's stunned voice cut through the chaos. He stared at the orange life vest I'd thrown on the floor, then looked up at me in disbelief.

His uniform was smeared with soot, but his handsome face now wore an expression of theatrical anguish.

"You're the captain's wife—you need to think of the bigger picture! Sabrina can't swim. She has severe thalassophobia and she's delicate! You've always been so reasonable—why are you acting insane now?"

I stared coldly at this man I'd called my husband for five years.

In my previous life, it had been the same corridor. The same inferno. I'd been injured evacuating passengers—a falling steel beam had crushed my calf, blood pouring from the wound. I'd thought my husband was coming to rescue me.

But the reunion I'd imagined never came. Instead, he'd rushed past me to pull the unscathed Sabrina from her corner hiding spot into his arms.

To steal the only spare life vest from my hands, he'd broken my fingers one by one. I'd begged him desperately, told him I was badly hurt, that staying meant certain death.

All he'd said was: "Eulalia, you're a strong swimmer. Hang on a bit longer. I'll send someone back for you."

And to keep me—with my mangled leg—from following them and causing a scene in front of other passengers, he'd locked the fire door from the outside after escaping through it.

I would never forget the agony of flames consuming my skin, or the maddening suffocation as seawater flooded my lungs when the ship went down.

I'd died in despair and bitter betrayal.

But now, fate had given me a second chance. I'd been reborn at the golden moment—just as the fire was spreading, before the ship had fully capsized.

"Eulalia, please don't blame Gordon..."

Sabrina finally spoke from Gordon's embrace. She wore the uniform of the first-class service supervisor, but now she looked like a frightened rabbit, clutching Gordon's sleeve with tears welling in her eyes.

"Gordon's just thinking of everyone on board. The pressure on him as captain is enormous. If you really want the life vest, I... I'll give it to you. I'd rather drown, as long as you and Gordon are safe..."

She coughed violently as she spoke, her body going limp against Gordon's chest.

"Sabrina! Don't talk nonsense—I'll never let you die!" Gordon immediately held her tighter, then turned to glare at me.

"Eulalia, look how selfless Sabrina is! And look at you—acting like a hysterical fool, fighting over scraps! You enjoy the prestige of being the captain's wife—is it really so hard to make one sacrifice?"

Watching these two hypocrites perform their nauseating love scene before me, I felt my stomach churn with revulsion.

I didn't need to watch them play out their tragic romance.

I didn't argue. I yanked off my torn outer jacket and tossed it aside, then took a cold step backward. Pointing at the life vest on the floor, I said flatly:

"Like I said—it's yours. Put it on and run off with your precious first love."

Gordon froze. My abnormal indifference clearly disrupted his expectations of me being the "accommodating, big-picture wife." All the moral manipulation he'd prepared stuck in his throat.

"You... you're serious?" He studied me suspiciously, as if trying to determine whether I was playing some kind of game.

"You think this is a scheme?" I smiled mockingly. "Or do you need me on my knees begging before you can satisfy your pathetic savior complex? Just get out of my sight."

A flicker of triumph crossed Sabrina's eyes, though her face remained pitifully distressed. "Gordon, is Eulalia angry with us? We can't just leave her..."

"Forget her! She's just being stubborn. Once she suffers a little, she'll come around!"

Gordon didn't hesitate anymore. He snatched up the life vest and fastened it around Sabrina. He gave me one last look—his eyes flashing with cold complexity. "Eulalia, you'd better pray you survive this. When we get back to shore, we'll settle accounts."

With that, he half-carried Sabrina toward the senior crew escape route, their figures quickly swallowed by the rolling smoke ahead.

A dull metallic bang echoed as the heavy fire door at the corridor's end slammed shut behind them, sealing me in.

The red emergency lights pulsed like a dying heartbeat. Below, the deck groaned with the sound of tearing steel. The ship's list was growing more pronounced by the second.

I stood alone in the corridor as the temperature climbed, staring through the churning black smoke at that closed metal door, listening to their footsteps fade completely.

No heartbreak like in my past life. No fury at the betrayal.

In this inferno that would soon consume everything, my mind held only an unprecedented clarity—and a deadly calm.