Chapter 3
The farce that had torn my family apart in my previous life was solved so easily.
And now, Judson, the man behind it all, was making his way toward me, step by step, weaving through the traffic.
Rain drenched his hair, tracing the sharp lines of his face. His pricey suit was plastered to his body, outlining those broad shoulders and that lean waist. There was something about him, something wild, a little unraveled, and unmistakably dangerous.
My heart started pounding harder and harder, and I instinctively took a step back.
What was he really after?
If he had traveled back too, then why was he doing all this today?
Was it for redemption? Or was he seeking forgiveness?
No way. I didn't believe it for a second.
A man who could stand by and let his wife and baby die right in front of him would never feel guilt.
He must have another agenda.
Judson stopped right in front of me, his tall frame completely blocking out the world around me.
He didn't say a word, just stared down at me, those deep eyes like endless whirlpools, threatening to pull me under.
His gaze made my skin crawl, but I forced myself to stay calm and spoke in a voice as cold as ice, "You've traveled back, too, right?"
It wasn't a question. It was a statement.
His lips curled into the faintest hint of a smile. That was all the answer I needed.
"Why?" I demanded, my fists clenched. "Why are you doing this?"
"For our baby," he said, not really answering my question, his gaze dropping to my belly.
At the word "baby," I shuddered, and the despair of holding my baby's lifeless body in my arms from my previous life slammed into me once more.
I bristled instantly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Shut up! You have no right to talk about my baby. Judson, you think I don't know exactly what you're up to, huh? Cut the fake sympathy. It disgusts me.
"Whatever you're planning, I won't let you hurt my baby, not ever again," I shouted, my eyes rimmed with red from emotion.
Judson stood there in silence, watching me, letting my fury wash over him.
After a long moment, he finally spoke, his voice low and hoarse, "Anna, this time, I'll protect you and our baby."
His tone was calm, but carried a kind of absolute certainty that brooked no argument.
That was the biggest joke I'd ever heard. "Protect? So, your so-called protection is tossing me an umbrella and then standing out in the rain, acting all pitiful just to make me feel bad?
"Judson, do you think I'm still that idiot you had wrapped around your finger in our previous life?"
He paused for a moment and then suddenly moved toward me, closing the distance.
I instinctively stepped back in fear, my eyes wary as I watched him. "What do you want?"
He stopped, not coming any closer. Instead, he reached into the pocket of his rain-soaked suit and produced something, holding it out in front of me.
It was a small velvet box. Inside lay a delicate necklace meant for a baby.
It was made of solid gold, engraved with delicate star motifs.
"I got this for you today," he said softly. "I hope our baby will love it."
My gaze fell on the necklace, and my heart clenched.
In my previous life, after we lost our baby, I found the same necklace in his study while sorting through his things.
So, he'd already prepared it before everything had happened.
But so what?
He still abandoned our baby for Paloma.
A tidal wave of grief and bitter irony hit me, and I smacked the box from his hand. "I don't need it."
The velvet box landed on the waterlogged pavement with a dull thud.
"Judson, listen up. This baby is mine, and you have absolutely nothing to do with it," I shouted. "I'm divorcing you, and I'm taking my baby as far away from you as possible."
With that, I turned and walked away without looking back.
But he suddenly snatched my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.
His grip was like iron, making it impossible for me to break free.
"Anna, calm down," he said.
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down?" I spun around and yelled at him. "How am I supposed to face the one responsible for my baby's death?"
"I wasn't the one who killed him," Judson said, his voice suddenly turning ice-cold. "In our previous life, it wasn't me. It was Paloma.
"She messed with your prenatal medicine, made you so weak that when you fell down the stairs, you started bleeding and lost the baby."
I froze, staring at him in utter disbelief. "What... What did you say?"
"I said, Paloma was the real culprit," Judson repeated, each word slow and deliberate. "She was jealous of you. She hated that you took me from her, so she set out to destroy what mattered to you most.
"And me..." He paused, a flicker of pain crossing his eyes. It was something I couldn't quite read. "I only discovered all of this after you died."
My mind was spinning, and I could barely think straight.
It was Paloma who killed my baby?
It was too much to take in all at once.
"No, it can't be," I muttered under my breath. "Why would she do this to me?"
"Because she never loved me.
"All she ever wanted was to be Mrs. Roberts, to enjoy the wealth and status that came with being part of the Roberts family," Judson said, his voice as cold as a poisoned blade. "In our previous life, after you died, I married her.
"And do you know how she treated me? She colluded with outsiders, drained the Roberts Group dry, left me drowning in debt, and in the end, I died a miserable death.
"Anna, I didn't come back to make amends with you. I came back for revenge.
"I'm going to make Paloma, and everyone who ever betrayed me or hurt me, pay a price a hundred times worse than what they did to me in the previous life."
His eyes blazed with a terrifying hatred and murderous intent that sent a chill down my spine.