Chapter 2

In my previous life, on this very day, I faced the same desperate crisis.

Charles had been on his way to take Melissa to see a therapist.

But after I begged him again and again, he reluctantly left Melissa behind and rushed me to the hospital.

But Melissa thought Charles didn't care about her anymore.

Crushed by despair, she jumped from a highway bridge and took her own life.

It wasn't until Melissa was gone that Charles learned the horrific truth.

Melissa had spiraled into depression—she'd been harassed by a client at a business dinner, leaving her feeling utterly broken inside.

And the one who'd done it was no one less than Lucas Grant—the high-profile client Charles had fought tooth and nail to win over.

After Melissa was gone, Lucas signed the deal with Charles without batting an eye.

Charles believed Melissa had sacrificed herself to help him clinch that big contract.

On the day Melissa was laid to rest, Charles sat in front of her grave, downing a dozen beers and sobbing the entire night.

When he finally made it home, he seemed to have wiped Melissa from his life—he never spoke her name again.

It was like he'd been transformed. He became gentle and considerate, even starting to learn how to cook for me and the baby growing inside me.

I thought he'd finally gotten over Melissa and was ready to build a life with me.

Turned out, I was dead wrong.

On our wedding anniversary, he gathered my whole family together, saying it was a pre-birthday party for our baby.

But behind the scenes, he slipped drugs into our drinks.

While we were all knocked out, he hauled us down to a river and stuffed us inside cement barrels he'd set up ahead of time.

When I finally came to, I saw Charles dumping wet cement into the barrels.

I broke down sobbing, pleading, "Please, whatever you want, take it out on me. Just spare my parents."

Charles shouted, his face twisted with a vicious look, "Why should I spare them? Your whole family will pay for Melissa's death.

"It's all their fault for raising a troublemaker like you. If you hadn't been so weak and had the miscarriage scare that day, Melissa wouldn't have thought I'd abandoned her and then committed suicide.

"She was always so good to me, even sacrificing herself just to help me land that deal with Lucas. But because of you, she's dead."

It was only in those final moments, as I stared death in the face, that I finally understood the truth.

Charles had held a grudge against me all along, pushing all the blame for Melissa's death onto my shoulders.

Desperate, I grabbed his pant leg, trying to tell him the truth.

I was the one who worked myself to the bone to make the deal with Lucas happen.

I even put my pregnancy aside and spent an entire month entertaining Lucas and his family, just so to convince him to sign with Charles.

And all the stress and exhaustion from this whole thing led to a threatened miscarriage.

But Charles didn't give me a chance to say another word.

He pried my mouth open and forced wet cement down my throat.

"Melissa died in this lake," he growled, his voice full of venom. "Go accompany her."

Suffocated by the cement sealing my throat, I died choking in agony.

Charles sealed my whole family inside those barrels and tossed us into the lake.

The terror from my previous life, mixed with the searing pain in my stomach, snapped me out of my memories.

I couldn't accept dying here like this.

Standing was impossible, so I clawed my way forward with arms and legs. After what felt like forever, I finally dragged myself in front of the elevator.

Just as I was about to press the button, a mocking voice echoed from behind me.

The voice sneered, "Mr. Keaton already ordered the elevators shut down. You're such a drama queen—let's see how you fake your way down thirty floors."

I never thought Charles would plot so many ways in advance to target me.

With how ruthless he was, it suddenly hit me—he'd also traveled back in time.

But I didn't expect that even after I chose to step aside and let Charles be with Melissa, he still refused to show mercy to me or my unborn child. Worse, he made everyone in the company his accomplice.

Just like that, I watched as my last hope slipped away.

The pain and blood loss had me feeling barely conscious, my head spinning out of control.

Too weak to hold myself up, I collapsed onto the floor. And the sneers and laughter kept echoing around me.

"Is this blood made from ketchup? It looks pretty convincing. She really is pathetic, trying so hard to hang onto Mr. Keaton."

"Seriously. She probably used the same shameless tricks back then to fool Mr. Keaton into knocking her up and rushing into a wedding."

"Word is, Mr. Keaton and Melissa were meant to be. But this scheming woman tore them apart."