Chapter 1
On our third wedding anniversary, Alexander Ford's first love, Lily White, live-streamed herself on a rooftop, threatening to jump.
With bloodshot eyes, he grabbed his keys to rush to her.
I blocked the door and screamed, "Alexander, if you walk out that door tonight, we're done."
He stayed. But the next day, news broke that Lily had fallen to her death.
Alexander didn't go to her funeral. He went back to work as if nothing had happened.
Ten years later, after I had given everything to the Ford family, I lay dying in a hospital bed.
Alexander walked in with another woman and pulled out my oxygen tube.
The woman was Lily.
"Renee," he said, "if you hadn't threatened me with divorce that night, Lily and I could have been together openly.
"Here's the truth: the child you raised for ten years, he's ours. Surprised? You spent your whole life raising Lily's son."
Drowning in hatred, I took my last breath.
Then I opened my eyes. I was back on that third anniversary night.
On TV, Lily stood at the edge of a rooftop, crying. And my dear husband was grabbing his car keys, about to rush out the door.
*****
"Renee, let go," Alexander yelled.
I clamped down on Alexander's wrist so hard that the veins popped on the back of his hand. His eyes were bloodshot, desperation burning in them so fiercely it felt like he could devour me.
Lily's livestream was still playing on his phone screen.
She stood on the rooftop, the wind tossing her long hair around. She looked heartbreakingly fragile, like a real lily ready to fall apart in the breeze.
She said, "Alexander, I'm sorry. I can't keep destroying your marriage.
"Please forgive me. Maybe you'll be happier without me."
The comments were blowing up.
[No, Lily. Don't do it.]
[That scumbag and slut. They forced Lily to do this.]
Alexander was shaking, part panic, part fury.
"Can't you hear her? If Lily dies because of me, I'll never be able to live with myself," he roared, trying to wrench his hand free from my grip.
Back then, in my previous life, I held onto him as desperately.
I put everything on the line, divorce, the Ford family, and ten years of love, to force him to stay.
He stayed, but Lily died. And he spent the rest of his life hating me for it.
It wasn't until I was on my deathbed that he showed up with Lily, back from the dead, and revealed that her death had been nothing but an elaborate scheme.
A scheme meant to make me willingly raise their child, without ever suspecting a thing.
It felt like an icy hand had reached into my chest and squeezed my heart, a sharp pain flashing through me.
I slowly loosened my grip.
Alexander nearly tripped, catching himself in time as the momentum threw him off balance.
He stared at me, stunned, like he couldn't believe I'd let go so easily.
He could keep up the act, but I'd seen how their story ended. It was nothing but another pathetic tragedy with no real closure.
I faced him with an empty expression, my voice flat. "Then, go."
He froze, stunned.
"Go to her, Alexander," I repeated, stepping back to clear his path. "Go now. If you wait any longer, your beloved Lily might actually die for real."
I deliberately stressed the word "die."
Alexander's brows furrowed hard, the panic in his eyes fading as he started sizing me up, doubt creeping in. "Renee, what tricks are you pulling now?"
Tricks? Wasn't he the one putting on the biggest show here?
I smirked, the sarcasm clear on my face. "No tricks. I think throwing away three years of marriage for someone irrelevant isn't worth it.
"I'm setting you free. Be with the one you love. And don't ever come back. Not ever."
With that, I turned away without another glance at his stunned, speechless face and headed upstairs to the bedroom.
Behind me, Alexander's phone rang again. His father's furious voice exploded from the speaker. "Alexander. You rebellious son.
"If you dare step out that door for that woman, I'll break your legs. Forget about ever inheriting anything from the Ford family."
In my previous life, that call made him finally decide to stay.
But at that moment, none of that mattered to me anymore.
I calmly opened the closet, ignoring all the luxury stuff he bought for me, and pulled out an old suitcase from the very bottom.
There were no clothes and no jewelry inside.
There were only stacks of thick, yellowed papers, covered in formulas and data.
This was everything to me.
It was my true worth. Alexander stole them from me, and the Ford family used them for thirteen whole years.
I zipped up the suitcase and headed downstairs with brisk determination.
Alexander was still rooted to the spot, his expression flickering between his father's furious shouting and my icy indifference.
When he saw me carrying the suitcase, he was utterly thrown into panic. "Renee, what are you doing? Put that suitcase down."
He lunged at me, trying to snatch the suitcase away.
I slipped past him, dodging his attempt to grab me. "Alexander, I'll have my lawyer send you the divorce papers."
"Are you out of your mind?" he yelled, gripping my arm so hard it felt like he might crush it. "Is this all because of Lily? There's nothing between us. Are you done with this drama?"
Yeah, there was nothing between them at all, except for that ten-year-old son they shared.
I couldn't be bothered to argue anymore. I pulled my arm free and headed straight for the door.
Just as I pulled the door open, the glare from the car lights flooded the doorway, making me squint as the vehicle parked outside.
Right then, my phone started vibrating in my hand.
An unfamiliar number from Capitavia flashed on the screen.
I hit the answer button.
An old, commanding voice came through the line. "Is this Ms. Wells? This is Charles Quinn."
My fingers tightened around the phone.
It was Charles, the leading authority at the National Academy of Sciences.
In my previous life, after I died, he stood before my memorial photo, heartbroken. "If only we'd found you sooner, we could have pushed materials science in Clusialand ahead by thirty years."
This time, I was done waiting.
Three days ago, I anonymously sent a simplified summary of the Stardust One theory to his encrypted email.
And at that moment, he was here.
"Charles, it's me," I said, my voice trembling like I was finally alive again.
"Renee, open the door," he said. "The country's here for you."