Reborn: After 99 Divorces

The wind biting at Elaina Velasquez's exposed skin wasn't just cold; it was a physical assault. She stood at the edge of the ornamental pond on the far side of the Boone estate, her heels sinking into the damp, freezing mud. Her body trembled, not just from the temperature, but from the vibration of pure, unadulterated fear rattling her bones.

Amanda Olsen stood three feet away. She looked immaculate. Her camel-colored cashmere coat was belted tightly at her waist, her hair perfectly coiffed despite the gale. She didn't look like a killer. She looked like the cover of a magazine.

"Why?" Elaina's voice was a jagged whisper. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hold her shattering reality together. "He was an old man, Amanda. He was harmless."

Amanda tilted her head. A small, pitying smile played on her lips, the kind one might offer a slow child. "Harmless things are often in the way, Elaina. Grandpa Boone liked you. That was a problem."

Elaina felt the bile rise in her throat. The image of Cordero's grandfather, the only person in this godforsaken family who had looked at her with anything other than disdain, gasping for air as the oxygen flow was cut... it made her knees weak.

"You killed him," Elaina said, the words tasting like ash. "And you're going to pay for it. I have the logs. I know you were in his room."

Amanda took a step forward. Her expensive leather boots crunched on the gravel. "Who is going to believe you? The foster trash? The gold digger who trapped Cordero with a baby that didn't even survive?"

Elaina flinched. The mention of the miscarriage was a physical blow. Her hand went instinctively to her flat stomach. The emptiness there was a constant, aching void.

"Cordero hates you," Amanda continued, her voice smooth, conversational. "He calls you a parasite. A virus. Did you know he was with me the night you lost the baby? We were celebrating."

"Liar," Elaina spat, though tears were hot in her eyes.

"He never loved you. He sees you as a mistake he's waiting to correct." Amanda reached into her deep pocket and pulled out a thick envelope. "He signed these this morning. Divorce papers. He didn't even have the courage to give them to you himself."

Elaina stared at the envelope. It was the final nail. The end of the humiliation she called a life. She reached out, her fingers numb and clumsy. "Give it to me."

Amanda held it out, her smile widening. "Here."

Elaina stepped forward.

Amanda didn't let go of the papers. Instead, she lunged.

It happened with terrifying speed. Amanda's hands, manicured and strong, slammed into Elaina's chest. The force was unexpected. Elaina's heels slipped on the slick mud. Gravity betrayed her.

The world tilted backward.

The water hit her like a thousand knives.

It was shockingly cold. It stole the air from her lungs instantly. Elaina thrashed, her heavy wool coat soaking up the water