Waking Up to Her True Face

Chapter 3

Word Count: 827 | Released on: 03/06/2025

d Liam's cologne. The scent clung to her c

le from whatever amusement she'd found with him. I t

mumbled, pu

u're always tire

nnoyance. As if my lack of enthus

ted her, not with accusatio

y voice calm, too calm. "Yeste

she was. She'd posted a team photo on her social media a week ago. "Welcoming o

ond, genuine panic flashed in her eyes. Then, it was gon

we were discussing a projec

involve passionate kisses. Mentoring didn't usually happen w

ours?" I pressed, k

tle too brightly. "We just lost trac

as the one overreacting, imagining things. But I sa

ned. She was a go

, I did something I'd never done before. I

trol pills. Not the brand she used to use when we were actively trying

arted trying for a family, a family that never came. The misdiagnosed

. Or I was. Clearly, she had other plans. Plans that invol

n of her intentions. My resolve to leav

ew bank account with a small, untraceable deposit. Researching remote c

she listened patiently. When I told her a carefully edited version of my situation

iness-like even over the phone from London. "If you n

tism was a

day at work, a presentation had gone poorly. She

ask her wha

e, Ethan!" she snap

fee table and hurled it against the wall. It shat

n of her public image became paramount, there had been moments like this. A slammed d

ionate nature. Now, seeing it through the lens o

glass landed near my fo

, to try and de-escalate. She was

yelled when I reache

d presentation. Or maybe it wasn't about the presentation at all. Maybe it was about t

ing wife was gone. In her place was a volatile

Chapter End

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Waking Up to Her True Face

Sheelagh Sexton Romance

“Ethan Miller, a Seattle software architect, woke in a cold sweat, his heart hammering. His wife, Olivia, slept peacefully beside him, unaware. The calendar showed it was ten years earlier, their first year of marriage, but he'd just lived through a terrifying premonition: Olivia, supposedly dead for two years, reappeared in an Alaskan lodge with another man, Liam, confessed a harrowing regret, then died again. The dream's raw pain and phantom ache of betrayal clung to him, chilling his once-normal mornings. Soon, the nightmare began to bleed into his present. Olivia's late nights grew more frequent, her phone calls hushed. He caught glimpses of a new, unfamiliar perfume. Then, the undeniable truth: witnessing her outside an upscale restaurant, laughing intimately with a young man, Liam Vance, his heart-stoppingly familiar face mirroring the one in his dream. A small park rendezvous sealed it-a public, passionate kiss, Liam's smug gaze, Olivia captivated. The illusion of his loving wife shattered with sickening finality. But the worst was yet to come. Hiding in plain sight, Ethan overheard Olivia giddily discussing Liam, dismissing him as "boring," and chillingly, casually discussing his life insurance policy. "Enough to start fresh, really fresh." His blood ran cold. The woman he had adored, trusted implicitly, was gone, replaced by a calculating stranger. All he felt was a profound, wrenching injustice, a searing bewilderment. He was a fool. But Olivia's contempt and calculated cruelty would not go unpunished. No longer a naive, trusting fool, Ethan, armed with this terrifying future knowledge, made a quiet, chilling decision. He picked up his phone, his fingers trembling, and called his shrewd Aunt Carol in London. It was time to orchestrate his own disappearance, to rewrite his destiny.”