Chapter 1

I had been reborn.

In my last life, they sweet-talked me into signing the divorce papers.

The agreement gave me custody of our daughter, but everything else went to my husband, David Harris.

The day after the divorce was finalized, David moved in with his mistress and didn't even bother hiding it.

Two days later, he had a stroke.

This time around, I sat back and watched with cold eyes as David pulled out the divorce papers and set them on the coffee table.

He smiled and said, "We talked about this yesterday, babe. It's just a formality. Once we close on that mansion, we'll get remarried and everything goes back to normal."

His mother, Natasha, chimed in from beside him, "That's right, it's just paperwork. Go ahead and sign it so we can move things along."

They had no idea I'd already lived through this once before.

*****

I flipped through the divorce agreement, and every detail was exactly the same as my previous life.

Our daughter, Emily Harris, would go to me, and everything else would go to David. That included the 1,800-square-foot penthouse, 650 thousand dollars in savings, and another two million in stocks and mutual funds.

I couldn't help but laugh. Did they really think I'd fall for the same trick twice?

In my last life, I had blindly believed every lie David told me, because I trusted what we had.

I was the prettiest girl in my college class, and he had pursued me relentlessly before I finally said yes.

After the wedding, he treated me well. He was gentle and attentive, and he always put my feelings first.

But somehow, I always ended up going along with whatever he wanted.

To support his career, I threw myself into caring for our home. Once I got pregnant, I became a full-time housewife.

Then he brought Natasha up from her small town to live with us, claiming she would help me look after Emily.

In reality, she was just one more person I had to take care of. She never lifted a finger around the house or helped with Emily. She only made my life harder.

Whenever I turned my back, she would sneak junk food to Emily, who was only a few months old. She said the baby kept staring at the food, and she felt bad for her.

When I asked her to pick Emily up from school, she forgot half the time.

David's father had passed away when David was little, and Natasha had raised him all on her own.

I understood how she felt, so I always made excuses for her in my head. I told myself she acted that way because she loved David too much.

Now, I looked at that smug grin on Natasha's face, and I smiled right back.

I had no feelings left for David, but half of everything we owned was mine.

I said, "If this is really just a formality, honey, then you should trust me. Why don't we change this clause so all the assets go to me instead?"

David and Natasha hadn't expected that.

Their faces froze, and they shot each other a quick look.

David walked over and wrapped his arm around my waist. He leaned in close and spoke in a soft, gentle voice. "Sarah, there's really no need for all this, is there?

"The house is already in my name. If we switch it to yours, we'd have to make a trip to the county clerk's office, and that's just extra hassle.

"We'll go sign the divorce papers tomorrow, pick up the new house the day after, and then we can remarry right away. The fewer trips to the courthouse, the better."

Natasha chimed in, and her voice was surprisingly gentle. That was completely out of character for her. "Exactly, Sarah. If it weren't for the property policy, David would never even think about going through with a divorce. This is just a formality. It doesn't mean anything."

The only reason she was being so sweet was that she already knew the mistress was pregnant. Word was she had gone in for an ultrasound, and it was a boy. A grandson.

I must have been blind and stupid in my last life. How could I have just taken them at their word like that?

*****

The day all of this happened in my previous life, my parents, Richard and Wendy, had come to pick up Emily.

When I got home and told Wendy about the arrangement, she called me a fool. She said she had seen it a hundred times before, where people used buying a house as an excuse to finalize a divorce for real.

She warned me to be careful, but I brushed it off completely.

Even the next day, when David went to the mistress' place, I had no idea. He told me he was away on a business trip, and I believed every word.

On the third day, Natasha called from the hospital and said David had suffered a stroke. I assumed it was because he had been working himself too hard.

I sent Emily to stay with my parents, and I went to the hospital alone to take care of him.

I bathed him, changed his bedpans, and cleaned up after him without a single complaint.

The doctors saw how exhausted I was and suggested I hire a caregiver, but David refused.

He said he would be embarrassed because most of the caregivers were women, and then he piled on the sweet talk to keep me happy.

I told myself he was my husband. If I wasn't going to take care of him, who would?