Chapter 1

I was reborn on the day Charles Foster's assistant deliberately ruined my design.

This time, I didn't insist on firing her like I did in my past life. I didn't fight with Charles over how he defended her, didn't file for divorce, and didn't end up penniless and dead on the street.

Instead, I grabbed her hand and beat Charles to his own lines.

"Samantha didn't mean it," I said warmly. "She was just trying to help me. It's only a dress, no big deal. We'll skip showcasing this one at today's launch."

I turned to Charles with a bright smile. "Why are you looking so serious? You'll scare the poor girl."

After that, I moved fast. I restructured the company divisions and reassigned Samantha Lynn as Charles' personal secretary. Then one night, I delivered a very drunk Charles to her apartment like a gift-wrapped present.

She stared at me, eyes full of suspicion. "Mrs. Foster, what exactly are you trying to do?"

I smiled. "You want to climb the ladder, and I want a divorce. But you're not quite cutting it on your own, so I'm giving you a hand."

*****

Samantha said, "I didn't mean it.

"Ms. Sutton's design sketch didn't include a second layer on the skirt. When I picked it up, I thought something was wrong with the construction, and since the show was so close, I went ahead and cut the extra layer off."

My assistant, Emily Grant, was shaking with rage. "That was a rough draft, Samantha. The final design is confidential. The skirt layers were the whole point of the dress. Do you have any idea how long it took to hand-sew that section? Three months."

Emily's voice cracked. "The show starts in ten minutes. The dress is ruined. How is Ms. Sutton supposed to walk out on that stage now?"

Samantha didn't say a word. She just stood there, tears rolling down her cheeks one after another.

Emily spun around to face me, panic all over her face. "Ms. Sutton, we're out of time. What do we do?"

That snapped me back.

Wait. I was alive.

I was reborn on the exact day Samantha deliberately destroyed my design.

In my previous life, Samantha had ruined a project I'd spent months perfecting. I lost it completely and stormed up to Charles, demanding he fire her.

Charles refused. In a rage, I exposed his affair with Samantha to everyone and filed for divorce on the spot, walking away with nothing. I was naive enough to believe my talent alone would be enough to start over and build something even better.

I was wrong. Charles had already called every firm in the city. No one would hire me.

He controlled the press, too, planting stories that every design I'd ever created was stolen.

Overnight, I became an industry pariah. People harassed me on the street. I managed to land a single shift at a small portrait studio, but Foster Group made one phone call, and I was out by the next morning.

I ended up broke and homeless, and then I saw it on TV. Samantha was accepting the Designer of the Year award with my stolen designs.

I broke down and went to confront Charles, but Samantha's fans shoved me down the stairs. I fell onto a steel construction plate below.

Blood poured from my head.

The ambulance was loading me in when they finally noticed me.

Samantha touched her diamond necklace and asked, "What happened to that woman?"

Charles brushed her hair back and said, "Just some homeless person. Why should we care?"

I died filled with hatred.

"What's going on?"

I snapped back to reality.

Just like in my past life, Charles had arrived.

Emily spoke up nervously, "Mr. Foster, Ms. Lynn took it upon herself to cut up the dress Ms. Sutton was supposed to showcase later."

Samantha sobbed. "I didn't mean to—"

"Oh, Samantha didn't mean any harm," I said and stepped forward to grab her hand warmly. "She was just trying to help me. It's only a dress, no big deal. We'll skip this one at today's presentation."

I turned to Emily. "Go change the schedule. When we get to this dress, show the design sketch instead."

Emily stared at me. "But—"

"Just do it," I said.

I turned back and grabbed a tissue to wipe Samantha's tears.

"It's fine, it's only a dress. Look how scared you are. You meant well, so how could I blame you? Tell you what, let's have Mr. Foster give you a raise this month as compensation for the stress. How's that sound?"

Samantha stared at me in shock. She probably didn't expect things to turn out this way.

Charles went silent, too.

Perfect.

So I beat them at their own game.

Samantha's eyes filled with tears as she looked at Charles and said softly, "Mr. Foster, I was just trying to help."

I jumped in quickly. "I know. You wanted to help me too much. It's fine, really. How about this? I'll give you a bonus."

Charles' expression turned stormy, and he said, "She screws up and you want to give her a raise and a bonus? Olivia Sutton, do you think I'm running a charity here?"

I fell silent. These were his exact words from the past life. So why was he angry now?

His voice turned cold. "Ms. Lynn disrupted the entire launch. Her salary for this month is docked."

Samantha rubbed her eyes and said through her tears, "Yes, sir."

I said with irritation, "Oh come on, Charles. Why do you look so pissed? You're scaring the poor girl."

I turned to Samantha. "It's okay, sweetie. Whatever Charles takes from your paycheck, you tell me and I'll cover it."

Charles' face darkened further. "Olivia, what the hell are you doing?"

I stepped between them and faced him. "She's a young woman trying to make it in this city all alone. You think that's easy?

"She works for you day and night, busting her ass, and you want to dock her entire paycheck over one mistake? Did you even think about how she's supposed to pay rent this month?"

Charles said sharply, "One mistake? That dress was the centerpiece of the entire launch."

I cut him off. "I'll take full responsibility for what happened at the launch." I pointed at Samantha behind me. "But her? You don't get to tear into her."