Chapter 1
It was two o'clock in the morning, pouring rain.
Lillian Turner stood at the villa's entrance, staring at the warm glow spilling from inside. Jason Harper never left a light on for her, not once in ten years of marriage.
As she pushed the door open, she heard a woman's giggles, a man's low grunts from upstairs drifting down.
Halfway up the stairs, Lillian's high heel caught on her dress. At the end of the second-floor hallway, the master bedroom door was ajar.
Lillian spotted Jason's shirt lying on the floor. She saw him with his arms around a woman she didn't know. And that woman was wearing Lillian's necklace, the one Jason had fastened around Lillian's neck on their third anniversary.
"Why are you back?" Jason looked up, his tone distant, as if he were speaking to a stranger.
Lillian didn't say a word. She turned and walked downstairs, each step deliberate, as if every step was on a razor's edge.
She heard footsteps behind her as Jason hurried after her. "Let me explain."
Explain what? Explain why he was wrapped around another woman? Explain why that woman was wearing the necklace he gave her?
She didn't look back.
The rain slapped against her face, icy and unforgiving. She sneered and remembered a night like this ten years ago, when Jason knelt on one knee in front of her and promised. "Lillian, you're the only one I'll ever love."
When a car sped toward her, she didn't bother to dodge.
Headlights flashed, brakes screamed, and then the impact slammed into her.
As she lay dying in a pool of blood, she saw Jason standing in the doorway, not moving an inch.
*****
"Lillian? Lillian!" Someone was shaking her shoulder.
Lillian's eyes flew open to see her college roommate, Olivia Lane, her ponytail swinging, face anxious.
"Why are you zoning out? Jason's downstairs waiting for you," Olivia urged.
Lillian froze. She looked down at her hands, delicate and smooth, with no trace of a wedding ring.
The sunlight outside was so bright it hurt her eyes. The dorm was alive with noise, footsteps echoing in the hallway, laughter from the guys downstairs.
She shot up and rushed to the window.
Under the tree stood twenty-two-year-old Jason, wearing a white shirt and jeans, holding a bouquet. The sunlight on his shoulders made him look almost unreal, like a picture come to life.
That was Jason, as he was ten years ago, the man Lillian had loved for a decade.
"Hey, Lillian." Jason looked up at her with a bright smile. "Come on down. I'll treat you to something tasty."
Lillian clutched the curtain so hard that her knuckles went pale.
Olivia sidled up, teasing, "Mr. Harper's here to pick you up again. Living the dream, huh?"
"Yeah, right." Lillian scoffed inwardly.
She couldn't help but remember that rainy night, the icy look in Jason's eyes as he held another woman, and how he stood there, unmoved, while she bled out on the ground.
Lillian released the curtain and turned to head downstairs.
She wanted to see how long he could keep pretending.
*****
At the restaurant, Jason was fussing over the barbecue, making sure Lillian got the best pieces.
"Lillian, let's get married after we graduate." He smiled as he said, "I want you to be the happiest woman alive."
Lillian watched him. It was the same gentle gaze, the same soft features. But now, it all felt like she was an audience to a performance.
"Alright," she said with a smile, her eyes twinkling.
Jason took her hand. "Lillian, you're the only one I'll ever love."
She'd heard that promise in her previous life and believed it for a decade.
"By the way," Lillian pulled her hand back and grabbed a piece of beef, "so I heard Ms. Rhodes has been hanging around you a lot lately?"
Jason paused for a moment, then laughed, "Jealous? Emily's a business connection between our families. There's nothing going on between us."
In her previous life, Emily Rhodes was Jason's mistress. It took Lillian three years to uncover the truth. They'd been close since college.
"Okay." Lillian continued grilling the meat, a faint smile playing on her lips.
She savored this meal more than any from her previous life.
*****
Back in her dorm that night, Lillian fired up her laptop.
In her previous life, she'd been the perfect wife. She never had to lift a finger, and her credit card was a secondary card Jason gave her. But this time around, things were different.
She started digging through info, checking out stocks, and researching startup ideas.
Olivia, her face covered in a sheet mask, sidled up. "Lillian, what are you doing? Isn't Mr. Harper supposed to be supporting you?"
"He does," Lillian replied, not looking up. "But I'd rather be independent."
Olivia paused, then leaned in closer. "Lillian, you've been acting kind of strange lately."
"How so?" Lillian asked.
"I can't really explain it." Olivia peeled off her mask. "There's something different in your eyes."
Lillian stopped typing, her hands resting on the keyboard.
Of course. How could anyone stay the same after coming back from the dead?