Mr. Sullivan's Escaped Wife

"Rachel, you fucking bitch. GO TO HELL!"

On the king-size bed, the man's face was a mask of fury, his black eyes burning with hate. The veins stood out on his forehead and his arms as he wrung the woman's slender neck.

The woman was still half-asleep, but she could feel something was wrong. She couldn't breathe!

Rachel Bennet opened her eyes wide, still groggy from sleep. She felt a pair of hands on her neck, choking the life out of her. She was confused and consumed by fear and panic.

As her lungs started screaming for air, her survival instinct kicked in. She raised her hands to her throat, trying to fend off her attacker.

But the man wouldn't budge. Instead, he tightened his grip on her neck, causing her face to turn a deep red and her vision to blur.

Bam!

The door was thrown open and the butler rushed in. His face paled at the sight before him, but he didn't lose a minute. He hurried to the bed and grabbed the man's arm, shouting, "Mr. Sullivan! Mr. Sullivan! Please let go of her! You're killing her!"

"She deserves to die!" The man had an unhinged look in his eyes and spit came out of his mouth along with his words.

The butler knew that couldn't stop the man physically, so he knelt by the bed and started begging for Rachel's life. "Mr. Sullivan, please! If you kill her, your grandma will roll over in her grave. She won't be able to rest in peace!"

Grandma?

Hearing the butler's words, Victor Sullivan loosened his grip slightly.

Rachel grabbed the opportunity to escape his grasp and crawl away. Her back hit the headboard and she stayed there curled in a ball, looking at Victor with wide, fearful eyes.

The butler saw the change in Victor's attitude as a sign to keep pushing. "Mr. Sullivan, be patient! Today your divorce will become official. You will never see her again! Spare her life for her mother's sake. Her mother once saved your grandma, remember? Please calm down!"

Victor seemed to see the reason behind his butler's words. He got out of bed, put on his pajamas in silence. When he was done, he turned around and spoke, in a voice cold as ice.

"I'll tell Ivan to send the divorce papers here. Sign it and then get the hell out. I don't want to see your face ever again."

With a final look filled with hatred, he left the room, followed by the butler.

The door slammed behind him, the sound hurting Rachel's ears. She covered herself with the bedcovers, still in shock. Her face was deathly pale, her heart fluttering in her chest.

She lowered her head and looked at her body. She was completely naked and dark bruises marred her otherwise flawless skin.

The adrenaline coursing through her veins had dulled the pain until now. But when the worst had passed, Rachel felt that her entire body was sore. She hurt everywhere.

Rachel couldn't find any women's clothes in the closet. It contained only men's shirts and black suits.

She grabbed a shirt and a pair of suit pants and put them on. The pants were ridiculously large for her, dragging on the ground.

On top of the pain she already felt, she could feel a terrible headache coming on. Groaning, she walked to the sofa and sat down. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Memories that didn't belong to her started flooding her senses.

Moments later, she opened her eyes again. Those memories belonged to the former owner of this body, the woman named Rachel. After quietly sorting things out in her mind, she finally came to two conclusions.

She had been reborn, from Shelia Davis to Rachel Bennet.

The one inhabiting this body before her was a worthless girl madly in love with Victor. Her mother had gotten sick and died a while ago and her father was a pathetic scumbag.

There was a knock on the door.

The sound startled Rachel out of her reverie. A cold voice came from the other side of the door. "May I come in?"

She hastily rolled up the bottom of the pants and hurried to open the door. A tall and dull-looking man stood there, holding a stack of papers in his hand.

"Ivan." Rachel quickly searched her memories and retrieved the man's name.

His face expressionless, Ivan Chavez handed her the documents and a pen. "Mr. Sullivan asked me to see you out. As soon as you sign the divorce papers."

Rachel glanced at the documents, recalling what the butler had said earlier. Today was the second wedding anniversary of Victor and Rachel, but from now on, it would also be the end of their marriage.

Was the divorce agreement cooked up in less than an hour? Victor must really hate Rachel.

She took the agreement and started turning pages, signing "Rachel Bennet" neatly wherever it was necessary. She was done in less than thirty seconds.

"There you go," Rachel said, as she returned the papers to Ivan and clicked the pen.

Ivan looked at her in astonishment, eyebrows raised. He didn't expect it to be so easy. When Victor asked him to bring over the agreement, he told Ivan that Rachel didn't want to sign it, so he might have to use force.

"Don't you want to read it first?" Ivan said, still not reaching out to take the papers.

Rachel raised her eyebrows and replied flatly, "No."

"Aren't you curious about what you are getting out of this divorce?" Ivan was frowning now, looking more and more confused.

Rachel raised her eyebrows while hitching up her pants. She flashed Ivan a smile. "There is no need to read it. I know that there are two possible outcomes. One is that I am in a world of debt and go bankrupt soon, and the other is that I have to leave this marriage without a penny. I am sure Victor put together a team of exceptional lawyers to work on the best option for him."

Ivan's eyes darkened. He took the divorce papers and said, "Mr. Sullivan just wants you to walk away without getting any of his assets."

"Well, make sure you thank him on my behalf." Rachel really didn't give a shit about it at all. It was this body's former occupant that loved Victor, not her. She didn't even care if the man lived or died.

She didn't want a violent man like him for a husband. A man that would strangle his own wife to death. She now had another chance to live and she intended to make the best of it.

Ivan's eyes fell on Rachel's neck.

"Would you like me to call a doctor for you?"

Rachel was at a loss for a moment. Then she remembered the bruises around her neck and raised her hand to touch them. The feeling of suffocation came back to her and she had to shake her head to get rid of it.

"No, thanks. I'm fine. It's not that bad," she replied, shrugging.

"Then please pack your things." Ivan's tone was back to normal: cold and businesslike.

She nodded and left Victor's bedroom barefoot, still pulling up her pants. She had a long way to go to reach her own bedroom. Victor hated Rachel so much that he didn't even want to bump into her in the corridor, so her room was all the way to the other side of the huge house.

It took her nearly two minutes to get there.

Her bedroom had originally been a storage room, but soon after Rachel and Victor's wedding, Rachel moved in here. She pushed the door open and walked through the narrow doorway nimbly.

The room was really small. It only contained a bed and a dressing table, the furniture was so close together that there was no room to walk around properly.

Rachel didn't have much to pack. Except for her cosmetics strewn all over the dressing table and a few clothes, she didn't have much else. She changed into her own clothes and stuffed the rest of her things into a suitcase.

"Okay, I'm all packed. I'm leaving now. I hope I will never see you again, Ivan! Goodbye!" Rachel said in a carefree, cool voice as she dragged her suitcase across the hall.

"Rachel, where do you think you are going?" Suddenly, the elevator doors slid open, revealing a woman in a business suit. Her high heels clicked on the marble floor, the sound crisp and curt, matching her sharp voice perfectly.

Rachel stopped to look at the woman approaching her.

"Alice?" Alice Jenkins was her half-sister, a veritable two-faced bitch.

As she stood in front of Rachel, Alice grinned. "My dear sister, are you moving out?"

Rachel rolled her eyes at her, and put on a fake smile. "It's been so long since we last saw each other. Why do you still like asking dumb questions so much? Does a bear shit in the woods?"

Her remark left Alice livid. But she soon suppressed her anger, changing into an innocent expression again.

"I'm just trying to show you some concern. How can you think of me that way?"

Concern?

Tha was funny. She just wanted to mock her.

With a face devoid of emotion, Ivan intervened in their conversation. He reminded Rachel, "Mrs. Sullivan, it's time for you to leave. Mr. Sullivan is about to come back."

The corners of her mouth twitched. She pointed at Alice and said to Ivan, "It's not that I don't want to leave; it's just that there's a mad dog blocking my path. I'm afraid that she'll bite me."

Ivan was rendered speechless.

Alice began to shed crocodile tears. "Rachel, I know you're getting divorced today. I was really worried that you'll be sad, so I left my work early to come to see you. How... How could you say that to me? I'm your sister."

"Shut up! I don't have a dog for a sister." Rachel quickly distanced herself from Alice, and turned to Ivan again. "Ivan, shall we?"

His temples began to ache, and he failed to maintain his stern expression for a moment. Left with no other choice, he said to Alice, "Miss Jenkins, please excuse us."

Alice bit her lower lip. Her eyes were fiery with rage at this moment, but they were covered by her bangs.

"Ivan, an untrained dog cannot comprehend human language," Rachel said to taunt her.

That remark made Alice fume with rage. She clenched her fists, and glared at Rachel.

Upon seeing Alice restrain her anger, Rachel tilted her head a little, smiling to vex Alice even more.

The arrogant smile on Rachel's face annoyed Alice.

'What the hell is going on? Rachel is usually timid, and she's always obedient and grateful to me. Why did her personality turn upside down?'

"Miss Jenkins," Ivan called out; his voice held a hint of impatience.

Alice pressed her lips, hiding her suspicions. "Ivan, I'm not implying that I don't want my sister to leave. It's just that Victor asked me to see how things are going here."

Both Ivan and Rachel were surprised to hear that.

"Victor knew that I was coming here, so he specifically told me to watch Rachel pack up and leave. He said that according to the divorce agreement, Rachel wasn't allowed to take anything that belongs to the Sullivan family. I'm just here to make sure she upholds the agreement." Alice looked at the suitcase beside Rachel.

"So, Rachel, could you please open your suitcase? I need to check if you took anything that doesn't belong to you."

Rachel frowned at that. "It only contains a few clothes. I didn't take anything that belongs to the Sullivans!"

Alice grabbed the suitcase from her and said, "I'm afraid it's not up to you to decide. If you didn't take anything inappropriate with you, why are you so afraid of letting me see the contents of your suitcase?"

After that, she laid the suitcase on the ground and opened it.

Inside it, several clothes had been piled up in a mess. It seemed that Rachel really didn't take anything valuable with her.

Alice gritted her teeth. She didn't expect that Rachel was telling the truth. Unwilling to let her go so easily, Alice rummaged through the clothes. It was as if she wasn't going to stop until she had found a piece of evidence that could prove Rachel had stolen something from the Sullivans.

The only contents of the suitcase were Rachel's clothes and cosmetics, and yet Alice kept rummaging through the suitcase for over ten minutes.

"Are you done checking?" Rachel glanced down at Alice.

"I'm just following Victor's orders. It's better to check thoroughly," Alice replied softly.

"Fine. Go ahead and check those clothes for as long as you want. I don't want them anymore." Rachel shook her head. The bruises on her body still hadn't healed yet. She really didn't want to waste any more time with Alice, and she didn't want to wait for Victor to come back and try to strangle her again.

Now that she had said her piece, Rachel walked past Alice and towards the elevator and pushed the button. Ivan followed suit.

Ding!

Before long, the elevator arrived at the third floor. The sliding doors opened slowly. Just before Rachel could walk in, she suddenly felt a chill. The temperature around her dropped several degrees, making her shiver and stop in her tracks.

The first thing she saw was a pair of shiny leather shoes. When she raised her head, she caught sight of Victor's aloof face.

"Mr. Sullivan." Ivan was the first to react, bowing his head respectfully.

"Rachel, it seems that you've forgotten what I told you this morning." There was a flash of warning in Victor's eyes, and he sounded ill-tempered.

The second she saw him, Rachel thought of how Victor choked her this morning. She trembled with fear, wary of what he might do to her.

Standing in attention, she said, "No, I remember."

"Oh, you do? Then why the hell are you still here?" Victor asked, striding towards her.

Rachel kept pacing backwards until her back was against the wall. She closed her eyes for a second and then braced herself to look into his eyes.

"You should ask Alice. I was about to leave, but she appeared out of nowhere and delayed me. That's why I..."

Rachel was half-way to finishing her explanation when Alice suddenly interrupted her.

"How could you lie like that?" she asked with tearful eyes.

"I'm not lying!" At this moment, Rachel was cursing Alice in her head. If it weren't for this woman, she would've left an hour ago, and she wouldn't have run into Victor.

Damn it.

As if she was about to break into tears, Alice said, "Victor, I didn't mean to delay Rachel's departure. I was just following your orders to check her luggage. I'm afraid that she'll steal your stuff. My sister revels in lying. I didn't expect that she'd lie again this time."

Alice's words reminded Victor of everything that Rachel had done, making him look more sullen than usual. "Do you honestly think I won't try to kill you?"

All of a sudden, he strangled Rachel with his hand, slamming her head against the wall. She didn't see that coming, but she managed to grab Victor's hand instinctively. The pain coming from the back of her head made her dizzy.

"Vic... Victor!" Rachel called out with difficulty.

"How dare you test my patience over and over?" said Victor.

With every passing second, Rachel was losing her consciousness. She couldn't break free from Victor's grasp at all.

Upon seeing the situation, Ivan decided to intervene. He hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Mr. Sullivan, if something happens to Mrs. Sullivan, those bastards in the board of directors will use that against you. If that happens, your plan of concentrating equity will be hampered."

"Fuck off!" Victor roared. His fingers that were gripping Rachel's neck turned pale because of how strong he was gripping her.

As much as he worried about Rachel, Ivan didn't dare to talk back to Victor again.

She didn't want to die.

She used the last of her strength to push Victor's hand away. Once she was able to catch her breath a little, she stared at him; her eyes turning red.

"If I die here and now, then I will die as your wife; still a member of the Sullivans. Someday, when you die, you will be buried next to me, and I will haunt you beyond the afterlife!"

Rachel said those words with difficulty; her face had turned red due to the suffocation. Gradually, Rachel had no strength to struggle. Little by little, she could feel her consciousness slipping.

"Who do you think you are? You don't deserve to be buried in my family's mausoleum." Victor sounded indifferent. "If you die, I'll cremate your body and throw the ashes into a bin. A woman like you deserves to rest with the rubbish!"

Rachel burst into laughter.

"Why are you laughing?" Victor asked.

"Even if you throw my ashes into a bin, it won't change the fact that I'm your legal wife, and I'm part of your family tree. You loathe me, don't you? Sorry, but you'll never get rid of me, even if I die!"

Victor stared daggers at her as he strengthened his grip, lifting her in midair. Consequently, Rachel yelped in pain, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Just when she was hallucinating of the shameless couple in her previous life, Victor suddenly let go of her.

Rachel fell to the ground. She felt like every bone in her body had been broken, and even the slightest movement made her groan in pain.

"Ahem! Ahem!" She coughed violently and gasped for air, breathing with so much difficulty.

Ivan glanced at Rachel indifferently and lowered his head. "Mr. Sullivan, it's all my fault. I didn't urge her to leave in time. I'm willing to suffer the consequences."

Alice turned pale with fear as she watched Victor beat up Rachel. She got down on her knees and begged, "Victor, I... This is my fault! I didn't check Rachel's suitcase faster. That's why she had the opportunity to lie and buy time for herself."

Rachel could feel her chest tightening as she coughed over and over.

"I didn't take anything that belongs to you," she said in a hoarse voice.

Victor took out some wet wipes to clean his hand that had touched Rachel's neck. Disgust was evident on his face.

"You didn't take anything? You bought all your clothes using my money. How dare you say that you didn't take my stuff?"

Rachel pursed her lips, unable to refute his logic. On her wedding day, Alice had burned all the clothes that Rachel had bought herself. Alice said that her clothes were too vulgar, and Victor probably wouldn't want to see her wearing them.

"Take off her clothes and throw her out!" After saying that, Victor left along with Ivan without hesitation.

Only when those two had left did Alice get up and walk towards Rachel. Her previous ostensibly tenderness had now disappeared.

"Rachel, you married Victor and slept with him, but so what? In the end, he kicked you out! You wanted to make him fall in love with you, didn't you? That's never going to happen! Do you really think I asked you to wear heavy makeup and put on weight because Victor likes it? This is hilarious. I can't believe you actually fell for that. No man will ever like a fat and idiotic woman like you! I was messing with you. I just wanted to make him hate you even more!"

Rachel's face turned ghastly pale. When she heard what Alice said, she didn't even look at her. She was indifferent to Alice's words and did not seem to hear her provocation.

Seeing that Rachel wasn't responding, Alice gritted her teeth in anger. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Huh! You're so pathetic." Rachel chuckled, trying to endure the pain.

She was sure that she had suffered an internal injury. Just the act of talking was painful enough to make her feel like her organs were being twisted together.

But she couldn't afford to show any sign of weakness. Otherwise, Alice would revel in torturing her. Evil was in that woman's nature.

"What did you say?" Alice's eyes widened in surprise. When Rachel sneered at her, she was goaded.

"I said," Rachel took a deep breath to alleviate the pain in her chest. "You are living a miserable, ridiculous life. You're the most pathetic person I've ever met! Being called a bastard must make you feel inferior, doesn't it? You've been trying your best to steal everything I had since we were kids, because I'm the Bennet family's legitimate daughter, and you're just a dirty little bastard. You are always unpresentable!"

"Bitch! Shut the fuck up!" Alice screamed. It seemed that Rachel had struck a sore spot.

Rachel grinned and continued, "These past two years, I trusted you, and yet you deceived me by taking advantage of my desire to draw Victor's attention. You fooled me into doing stupid things in front of him, so that he would loathe me. At first, he didn't feel anything for me, and then he began to hate me. And now, he's too disgusted to even lay eyes on me. You must be proud of this accomplishment, aren't you?"

Alice clenched her fists, looking at Rachel with hatred. "Well, you should blame yourself for being so stupid!"

"You're right. I was stupid," Rachel admitted. Right now, she felt ashamed for what she had done in the past two years.

Despite being the daughter of a rich and powerful family, she had lived a pathetic life. How did she end up this way?

"You have a clear estimation of yourself." The look on Alice's face made it seem like she was the winner between them.

"I almost died, and that's enough to wake me up. I'm not stupid like you after all." Rachel wanted to make sure that she didn't have any broken bones, so she propped herself up using her hands. However, the pain was far too much for her to bear, so she fell down once more.

Sweat dripped down her forehead as she groaned in pain; her hands, pressing against the hard floor. The veins on the back of her hands were bulging because she was exerting every ounce of strength she could muster.

Alice's face turned grim.

"Your end is near, Rachel. How dare you talk to me like that? Remember, you are no longer Victor's wife, and are therefore no longer part of the Sullivan family! His grandmother is dead now, so there's no one left to protect you! If you have a brain in that empty head of yours, you should kneel down and beg me to persuade our father to allow you to go home!"

When Alice mentioned Victor's grandmother, a faraway look appeared on Rachel's face.

Victor's grandmother was the one who chose Rachel to be his wife. Not long after she married into the Sullivan family, the old lady died of illness. His grandmother used to be Rachel's protector when she was still alive. During that time, Rachel lived a dignified life within the Sullivan family's residence.

"Do you think you'll be able to marry Victor and share the Sullivan Group with him after I divorce him?"

Upon hearing that, Alice stood proudly. "You were able to do it, so I probably can as well."

"You can't," Rachel said in a weak, yet firm tone. "Why are you so confident that Victor will agree to marry you? Just because he's also an illegitimate child, you think you're good enough to be his wife?

Your mother is a mistress; a home-wrecker! Unlike you, Victor was born before his father even got married. And his mother never destroyed the man's marriage later!

With that being said, you will never deserve to be Victor's wife," said Rachel.