The Villainous Wife's Spectacular Comeback

The heavy bass of the music vibrated straight through the floorboards and into Aria Montgomery's chest.

Her eyelashes fluttered violently. Blinding, erratic strobe lights pierced her retinas the second she opened her eyes.

A sharp, tearing pain ripped through her skull. It felt as if someone had taken a crowbar to the inside of her forehead. She instinctively raised her hand, pressing her icy fingertips hard against her temples.

The thick, suffocating stench of cheap vodka mixed with the heavy smoke of expensive cigars flooded her nasal cavity. Her stomach violently contracted. Acid rose in her throat, making her gag.

She forced her eyes open wider, but her vision was a blurred, chaotic mess. Her severe prosopagnosia-face blindness-rendered the features of everyone in the VIP lounge into smooth, featureless smears of flesh.

A tall, broad-shouldered silhouette stood directly in front of her.

The figure leaned down, roaring something at her. The tone was dripping with absolute disgust.

His lips moved rapidly, spitting out harsh syllables, but a high-pitched ringing in Aria's ears drowned out the words. She couldn't process anything. She couldn't breathe.

Then, a cold, mechanical, synthesized voice echoed directly inside her brain.

Plot node reached. Executing final directive.

Aria's eyes widened in pure terror. She felt her right arm jerk upward, completely out of her control. Her muscles locked. Her joints moved on their own.

Her palm sliced through the air in a blur.

Smack.

Her hand collided violently with the man's cheek. The sharp, cracking sound of flesh hitting flesh cut through the heavy bass of the club.

The chaotic VIP lounge went dead silent in a fraction of a second.

The man she had just struck let out a low, disbelieving roar. He took a heavy step toward her, his chest heaving.

The mechanical voice in her head spoke one last time.

Directive complete. System detaching. Host autonomy restored.

A sharp, agonizing burst of static electricity shocked her brain. Then, a sudden, hollow emptiness followed. The parasitic entity that had been lodged in her soul for the past two years vanished.

Control of her limbs snapped back to her in an instant.

Aria stumbled forward, her knees buckling. She barely caught herself, her chest heaving as she stared at her stinging, red palm.

She had no idea what had just happened.

The man standing in front of her clutched his face. He ground his teeth together and spat out her name.

"Aria, you absolute lunatic!"

The drawn-out vowels. The dripping, entitled arrogance. Even without being able to see his face, Aria's brain registered the voice immediately.

Carter Vanderbilt IV. The notorious playboy of New York.

Whispers erupted around them. The crowd closed in. Cell phone screens lit up the dim room as people scrambled to record the fallout.

Aria opened her mouth to explain, but her throat was completely dry. No sound came out.

A petite figure rushed past Aria, letting out a dramatic shriek. The girl threw herself at Carter, her hands hovering over his red cheek.

The girl turned her head toward Aria. Her voice trembled with tears.

"How could you be so cruel, Aria? He didn't do anything to you!"

The pain in Aria's skull spiked. It felt like her brain was splitting open.

Thousands of fragmented, unfamiliar memories began to flash behind her eyes.

She realized with a sickening jolt that she hadn't just lost two years of her life. She had been trapped inside her own body, forced to play a role in some twisted, absurd drama.

The accusations from the crowd grew louder. The flashes from the phone cameras strobed against her face, blinding her.

Aria instinctively threw her arms up to shield her eyes. She took a step back, desperate to get away.

The heel of her stiletto caught the thick edge of the rug.

She lost her balance. Her arms flailed. She grabbed the hard edge of the marble bar just in time, her nails scraping against the stone as she steadied herself.

Carter sneered, his voice cutting through the noise. "You are going to pay for this, Aria. I promise you that."

Aria took a ragged breath. She ignored the spinning room and the bile in her throat.

She pushed her way through the wall of bodies, her shoulders hitting solid chests and elbows as she forced a path to the heavy door.

She burst out of the VIP lounge. The freezing air of the corridor hit her face.

She knew the real nightmare was just beginning.