Chapter 1
My four-year-old daughter was lured to the seventeenth floor by the daughter of my husband, Charles Linwood's, first love.
By the time we realized what had happened, she had already fallen and was critically injured.
Charles, the brilliant surgeon, was too busy comforting his first love's daughter to answer the hospital's calls.
Andrea died.
Charles showed up the next day.
The first words out of his mouth were accusations about how I'd called him too many times and disrupted his life.
I didn't say a word. I slapped him across the face.
A few days later, his first love brought her daughter to my door to apologize.
She even asked if her daughter could call me godmother, as if that would fix everything.
I still didn't speak. I locked all of them inside the house and turned on the gas.
In my last moments, I watched Charles throw himself over that mother and daughter, shielding them with his body while they clung to each other.
The fire consumed everything. No one survived.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at City Hall, the day I forced Charles to marry me.
*****
"Don't you have any shame?" Charles stared at me with nothing but contempt and disgust in his eyes.
I held the ring in my hand and looked like a complete fool, so pathetic that people wanted to laugh at me.
Laughter broke out all around me.
My brother Julian saw what was happening and strode over with disappointment written across his face, then hissed under his breath, "How long are you going to keep embarrassing yourself?"
Memories from my past life came flooding back like waking from a fever dream.
I tossed the ring into the storm drain without thinking twice.
That cursed thing belonged to my cursed past, and I refused to make the same mistakes again.
Charles watched me throw the ring away, and his frown deepened when he saw my face had lost its shy blush and turned cold instead, so he snapped, "What kind of game are you playing now?"
"I'm done with you," I said it so casually, like my passionate proposal a moment ago had been nothing but an act.
Everyone around us stopped laughing.
"We're over." I added to make myself clear.
Charles sneered, "We've been over. You're the one who wouldn't let go."
I nodded. "You're right. I was pathetic before, and look where it got me."
Then I turned around and walked away.
*****
The next day, Charles' application for the overseas training program was rejected.
More accurately, someone else took his spot.
He stormed into my office, furious. "Why are you playing dirty? Is this because I rejected your proposal? You're trying to ruin me?"
This hospital belonged to my uncle, Bernard Donovan.
Right now, Charles was a lead surgeon, but he hadn't been promoted to deputy director yet.
In my past life, I helped him secure that overseas training, and he came back with credentials that fast-tracked him to the deputy director role.
I gave him his career, his money, and his reputation.
I could give it to him and take it all back.
I didn't even look at him. "The training slot goes to whoever deserves it," I said coldly. "You're not top-tier in skills, your credentials aren't impressive, and you took bribes from patients."
"That was my mom's mistake," he shot back. "She had a moment of weakness but she's changed, and I didn't even know about it." He was desperate to distance himself from the scandal.
My expression didn't change. "What does that have to do with me? Go explain it to the administration and stop wasting my time."
Without that training opportunity, his career was dead in the water.
Charles gave me a strange look. He wanted to beg for my help, but his pride stood in the way.
Career versus pride—it took him less than a minute to choose.
"If you talk to Bernard for me, I'll marry you," he said. "But we'll have to wait until I get back from training for the wedding."
The resentment was written all over his face, and I could tell how much it cost him to force those words out.
I laughed. "You really think you're worth that much?"
He exploded and stormed out.
I turned and called Bernard, recommending Charles' rival for the position.
Charles wasn't about to let this opportunity slip away. He came back and overheard every word of my conversation.
When he realized I'd rather recommend a complete stranger than him, his face hardened. "You've changed," he said. "I deserve an explanation."
His audacity was stunning. I threw his own words back at him. "Don't you have any shame?"
His expression shifted through a dozen emotions before he finally spoke. "You'll regret this."
After that day, he disappeared.
Within weeks, he'd left the hospital entirely.
I thought I'd seen the last of him, but two years later, he reappeared in my life.
This time, he wasn't a doctor anymore.
He was the heir to the Linwood family fortune.