Reborn In a Murderer’s Embrace

“Whoa, whoa, slow down there, cowboy,” I tried to inject a dose of calm into the situation, my voice soft but firm. “A baby should be the product of love, a love that we haven’t even begun to understand between us.”

Colin’s gaze, which had been intensely fixed on me, softened into a smile. “We know each other well enough!”

I stared back at him, bewildered, seeing the word ‘compelling come to life in his eyes for the first time.

His eyes shone brightly, too clear, like a galaxy of stars converging in the night sky.

“Don’t worry, if I make a run for it, I’ll take you with me,” I assured him, trying to cement his trust in me. There were too many secrets wrapped up in this man, and eded to keep him on m side. First things first. I had to figure out how to leave this place, then find Stella.

As for Dexter and Melody…

The thought of Dexter sent a chill through my gaze. I had died just as he wished! He must be living happily now, free of any baggage, with Melody by his side.

I wasn’t about to let them get their happy ending–not after what that woman did to me!

Given a second chance at life, I was determined to make Dexter and Melody taste every ounce of suffering I had endured!

Rummaging through the drawers, I found a first aid kit in the second one.

I took out the iodine and cotton swabs and called Colin over to treat his wounds.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Colin was an enigma to me; I couldn’t see through him. He was mysterious and unsettlingly unpredictable. Yet, he seemed to enjoy looking into my eyes, searching for something I

couldn’t fathom.

But I always felt he was seeing someone else.

“Phoebe…” He liked to repeat that name, his voice hoarse but tender.

After tending to the wounds on his hand, I looked up and asked, “Does it hurt?”

It must have. Several of his fingers were on the verge of festering.

He shook his head at me, then nodded slightly, his eyes betraying a hint of hurt. “It hurts.”

I frowned and looked back down. The man before me now was a far cry from the one who had tried to choke the life out of me when he first awoke. Could he really have a split personality? “Bear with it. It’ll heal in a few days. Just keep it dry.”

He nodded obediently, like a well–behaved pup. “Phoebe will help me with my bath.”

I felt a vein in my temple throb, struggling to maintain my ‘gentleness.” “And why would I do

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that?”

“You are my wife.” Colin gestured towards where the marriage certificate was.

I sucked in a breath of cold air. Was this guy for real or just playing dumb?

To test if Colin was playing the fool, I scrawled a few math problems on a piece of paper. 345+246 equals what?

Colin looked at the problem and chuckled.

“Can’t do it?” Despite my deep–seated fear of him, his laughter seemed to carry an innate magnetism, making him appear unblemished.

“I’m not an idiot,” he said, almost as if he had read my mind, and without hesitation, he wrote down the answer.

I was mildly taken aback. “Being able to add doesn’t mean you’re smart.”

After a moment’s thought, I wrote down a complex math Olympiad problem on the paper–one that had stumped my senior and me for ages, and even a professor had to spend an entire night to solve. I was pretty sure Colin wouldn’t even understand it.

I pushed the paper towards him, lifting my chin in a challenge. “Can you do it?”

Colin glanced at it, his fingers awkwardly gripping the pen.

Worried he might get frustrated if he couldn’t understand, I reassured him gently. “It’s okay if you can’t. I couldn’t at first either.”

This was high–level stuff, university material. Colin had been raised in an orphanage, it was unlikely he’d have..

But before I could finish that thought, he had picked up the pen and started scrawling his

answer.

From reviewing the problem to writing the solution, he took less than five minutes.