Chapter 2

When Julie realized I refused to sell the house for her, she vanished, leaving behind nothing but a suicide note.

Her letter read: [Hank, I don't blame your wife for not selling the house to help me out. Please, don't hold it against her.

[Not everyone out there is as kind-hearted as you.

[I've scraped by for twenty-eight years, and honestly, there's nothing left for me to miss.

[My only regret is never getting to marry you, just like I dreamed when I was a kid.

[But getting to see you one last time before I go, that's enough for me.

[I truly wish you and your wife all the happiness in the world, and hope you have kids soon.

[If heaven has any mercy, maybe I'll be born as your daughter.

[If I can't be your wife, at least I'll get to be your precious little girl.]

After reading that letter, whatever sympathy I had left for Julie was gone for good.

I ripped it up right in front of Hank.

I yelled, "Who wants her as my daughter?

"She says she doesn't blame me? Does she even have the right to blame me?

"I gave her 30 thousand for her treatment, and she still disgusts me like this?"

I just lost it, letting all my anger out.

Hank just picked up the shredded letter with a blank face and tossed it in the trash.

After that, it was business as usual: he went to work, came home, and just chatted with me about random stuff.

He still bought me gifts for the holidays and posted about how in love we were all over his social media.

He didn't seem fazed at all by Julie leaving.

It was like Julie's whole presence in our lives was just a passing episode, nothing that really mattered.

But on those countless nights I never knew, Hank pieced the letter back together, held it to his heart, and sobbed until he shook. Bit by bit, he began to picture my death.

He invited me out to a lonely hill in the suburbs, saying he wanted to catch the sunrise.

We stood at the top, watching the sun break through the clouds.

I said, "The sunrise is so beautiful.

"Hank, once we have a kid, the three of us can come back here together and watch the sunrise as a family."

While I was basking in the moment, Hank's voice suddenly chilled the air behind me. He said, "The sunrise is beautiful, isn't it? Too bad you'll never get to see it again."

Confused, I spun around, only to meet Hank's cold, cruel eyes.

The look in his eyes said it all: he wanted me dead. But there was no way out now.

He closed in, step by step, and with nothing but a deadly drop behind me, I was trapped.

"Why?" I cried, tears streaming down my face, scared and confused.

Hank didn't say a word, his gaze turning colder and more menacing.

"Farewell," he whispered.

Then he shoved me hard on the shoulder.

Ironically, the hand that sent me to my death still wore his wedding band.

The moment Hank shoved me off the mountaintop, I grabbed onto the rocks with both hands, barely managing to keep myself from falling.

I screamed, "Help me, Hank.

"Please, save our baby!"

Survival instinct took over, and I cried out to Hank without even thinking.

But Hank just stood there at the edge, his face twisted with hatred, and stomped down hard on my fingers.

He sneered, "Clinging to life, huh?

"To save your own skin, you'd spit out any lie, wouldn't you?

"So your life matters, but Julie's doesn't, is that it?

"She's out there somewhere, tormented by sickness!

"Someone as selfish and cruel as you don't even deserve to breathe."

He stomped down and snapped my fingers, his eyes cold as ice as he watched me plunge off the cliff.

I died a brutal death. My body was so mangled, there wasn't even enough left of me to bury.

But Hank was a real actor. He played everyone like a fiddle, making it look like I'd just had a tragic accident and tumbled off that mountain.

With my parents gone long ago and no one left to claim my inheritance, Hank swept it all up without a shred of remorse.

He sold off our home and car, everything we'd built together.

Then, clutching the money I'd spent half my life earning, he scoured the globe, obsessed with finding Julie, his sickly first love.

Maybe it was all that burning hatred and resentment; I just couldn't let go, even after death.

Instead, I found myself back on that fateful night when Hank asked me to sell our house for Julie.

Just like in my previous life, his eyes were rimmed with tears as he begged me to sell the house for Julie.

Snapping out of my memories, I looked into Hank's pleading, earnest eyes.

I knew if I turned him down now, he'd end up wanting me dead, just like last time.

For now, I had to get out of this in one piece and wait for the right moment to get my revenge.