Karma Doesn’t Sleep: The Revenge Queen Rises novel Chapter 23

Clive figured when Amelia mentioned “fixing up the garden,” she probably just meant pulling a couple of weeds. Nothing major.

After all, every single tulip blooming out there had been planted by Amelia herself, back when they got married. It had been her wedding gift to him.

But as Clive stood there in silence, his face tense, Amelia reached out, searching for his sleeve. She tugged at it, her voice soft and a little pitiful. “Clive, are you mad at me?”

With her looking at him like that, Clive couldn’t stay upset, even if he wanted to.

“Of course not. Why would I be mad at you?” He tried to sound gentle, reaching up to touch Amelia’s face. “But what’s with the sudden urge to plant yellow roses? I thought you always loved tulips.”

Amelia found herself almost laughing at the irony.

Back in college, she’d told Clive once that she liked roses. He hadn’t said anything at the time, but later she overheard him on the phone, telling a friend how roses were just too gaudy for his taste.

He didn’t like them, so she dropped it. She never brought up roses again.

All those years loving Clive had worn her down until she barely recognized herself. She’d shrunk so small, she’d forgotten what she even liked. But now, something inside her was different. It was time to take herself back.

“I like roses now,” she said, calm and steady.

Clive frowned, studying her like he was seeing her for the first time. Same face as before, but there was something about her that felt unfamiliar.

At the very least, the old Amelia would never have talked back.

“Daddy!” Penny came running over, grabbing Clive’s big hand and swinging it back and forth. “I’m so sleepy. Can I have some milk before bed?”

Amelia jumped in right away. “Penny, Timmy, I’ll go heat up some milk for you.”

Clive stepped in a little closer and spoke quietly, “Don’t push yourself. Right now, you need to focus on getting better.”

He thought she was just trying too hard to win the kids over.

Amelia let him believe it.

Clive kept going, trying to be reassuring. “It’s normal that Timmy and Penny aren’t close to you yet. They lost their mom as soon as they were born. Just give it time.”

His perfect, reasonable words made her feel sick.

Maybe other people didn’t know the truth, but Clive did—better than anyone. The only reason her health had fallen apart, the reason she’d nearly died giving birth and ended up in a coma, was because of him.

Those years, she’d spent every day and night working in the lab, developing new drugs just so Clive could keep his job as CEO. She’d been exposed to all kinds of chemicals. Her health went downhill fast—nosebleeds, fevers, fainting from exhaustion. She’d wake up in a hospital bed, Clive sitting at her side, putting on his caring act, all while making sure she overheard Klaus demanding, “When will the next drug be ready?”