Chapter 1

I traveled back to the time when my husband forced me to apologize to his true love.

In the hospital hallway, the trauma room light was still on. My mom was inside, fighting for her life, while the driver who hit her—Nina Hartley—was clinging to Andrew Collins with tear-filled eyes.

Andrew gripped my wrist, his face cold as ice. "Emily, Nina didn't mean it. She just came back. She doesn't know the roads that well. She's already scared out of her mind.

"Go in there and tell her it's okay. Let's end this here."

In my previous life, I broke right here.

My mom had been hit and rushed to the hospital, and just because Andrew said Nina couldn't take any more stress, I dropped the case, signed the settlement, and even lowered my head in front of Nina's hospital bed.

After that, Nina moved into my home, took my project, and stole my reputation.

Andrew saw me as me like some bitter, crazy woman, and treated her like the long-lost love he'd finally found again.

When my mom needed money for treatment, he froze my cards and said, "You can talk about money again when you stop going after Nina."

In the end, my mom never made it to her next surgery.

And I was cornered in an underground garage by people Nina sent after me one rainy night. When the headlights hit me, I heard Nina laughing on the phone. "Emily, you lost."

*****

When I opened my eyes again, I was back here. Andrew was still waiting for me to back down.

Nina was waiting, too. She was hiding in his arms, pale as paper, but there was still a flash of smugness in her eyes.

I looked down at Andrew's hand on my wrist. Then I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face.

Everyone in the hallway turned to look. Andrew turned his head, like he still hadn't fully processed what happened.

"Andrew!" Nina cried.

I yanked my wrist free and rubbed the red marks he'd left there. "She hit my mom with her car, and you want me to apologize to her?"

Andrew's face darkened. "Emily, stop making a scene."

I laughed. "Andrew, are you deaf? I said call the police."

Nina's whole body shook as she grabbed onto Andrew's shirt.

She said, "Emily, I really didn't mean to. I was scared. I just got back, and I'm still not used to the traffic here. I'll pay for it. Whatever it costs."

I looked at her. She was just like in the previous life, always putting on that fragile, innocent act.

She hit someone, and she cried first. She took something that wasn't hers, and she was the one who got hurt. She lied, and she was the first to fall apart. As long as Andrew was there, she never had to face the consequences.

I stepped up to her, bent down, and looked straight into her eyes.

I said, "Nina, traffic cameras, dash cams, and the security guard at the hospital entrance all show the same thing. You changed lanes twice, then drove straight onto the bike lane on the third move."

The color drained from her face.

I leaned in and said slowly, "You weren't unfamiliar with the roads. You were chasing after my mother."

Nina's tears froze in her eyes.

Andrew whipped his head toward me. "Stop talking nonsense!"

I ignored him and called the police right away. Andrew reached out to snatch my phone.

I stepped back and looked up at him. "Touch me, and I'll sue you too."

His hand froze in midair.

I answered the call and gave them the address. My voice was calm, nothing like someone who had just crawled back from the edge of death. "Hello, I'd like to report an accident.

"There was a traffic crash outside the hospital. The victim is still being treated, and the driver may have been chasing the car on purpose. Someone here is also forcing the family to settle privately."

Finally, anger flashed in Andrew's eyes. "Emily, do you really have to make this so ugly?"

I looked at him and suddenly found him ridiculous.

I had loved him for seven years—from college to marriage, from the day he had nothing to the day the Collins Group went public.

When his stomach acted up, I'd get up in the middle of the night and make him soup.

When the board pushed him so hard that he hadn't slept for three days, I stayed up with him and helped rewrite every page of the proposal.

When he got drunk and called Nina's name, I sat by the bed and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

I thought I could warm up a stone. Only later did I realize stones don't get warm. The thing that kept burning was the wound he kept reopening in me.

"Andrew," I said, word by word. "From this second on, I'm not cleaning up any of your messes.

"You care about her that much? Then protect her. This time, I'm just going to watch you two lock yourselves together."