45 DAYS WITH MR COLD BILLIONAIRE

"Arthur, do the two of you really have to bring your marriage problems to the registration office?

"If you keep this up, I may as well not submit the request at all."

The officer's impatient words made us both freeze.

I looked out the window at the familiar view, then down at the roster on the desk.

Emily's and Lucy's names were written on the list, plain as day.

Arthur and I turned and looked at each other.

One look at the shock in his eyes told me everything. We'd both been reborn.

We'd come back to the very day he filled out the list of dependents.

"Sir, I'm sorry. Leave the list the way it is. There's no need to change it."

"Are you sure you've both thought this through..."

I cut the officer off and gently pressed the roster back down on the desk.

"I didn't think it through before. We'll do it Colonel Banks's way. No changes."

With that, I walked out the door without looking back.

"Christina!"

Arthur hurried after me.

"Emily is my adopted sister. We grew up together. Her husband died trying to find malaria medicine for me.

"I swore I'd take care of her and her child. So no matter what kind of scene you make, this isn't going to change.

"If you keep this up, we're getting a divorce!"

My heart lurched, and all the hatred from my last life came flooding back.

I took a moment to steady myself, then glanced back and said coldly, "Your call."

On the way home, I dialed a number I knew by heart: Professor William Hartley's.

"Professor Hartley, I've decided to join the astronomical mapping project. I'll leave for Miami in six days.

"I only have one condition, and it concerns the reassignment of Arthur’s position."

Arthur had no idea that I'd continued my work in astronomical mapping after we married. After years of research, I'd even earned the respect of a renowned professor.

The project team had invited me again and again. In my last life, I hadn't wanted to split up our family, so I'd agreed only on the condition that Arthur be promoted, too.

But now I knew Arthur didn't deserve that opportunity or my love.

Professor Hartley sighed on the other end of the line. "Arthur really is an idiot."

I just smiled and hung up.

As I walked along the familiar road toward home, my thoughts drifted to my last life.

Back then, my husband and daughter had been my whole world. In the end, I lost everything.

This time, I wasn't going to let my daughter and me end up the same way.

The moment I got home, I found Arthur and Emily standing at the door.

When she saw me, Emily flashed a smile, but there was a challenge in her eyes.

"Christina, Arthur's worried we won't be safe living out there, so we'll be staying with you for the next few days."

"This is my house. You don't need her permission. Just settle in."

I looked at them, and all I felt was cold.

Arthur's devotion to Emily had long since gone beyond anything a brother owed his sister.

In my last life, Arthur abandoned me and our daughter just to avenge her.

The thought made my hatred burn so fiercely I could barely contain it.

I headed straight down the hall and heard Isabelle shriek, her voice thick with tears.

"This is my room!"

"Uncle Arthur said it's my room now!"

I rushed in just as chubby little Lucy reached out to shove Isabelle.

I pulled my daughter behind me and blocked Lucy's hands.

Lucy lost her balance and landed on her bottom.

"Christina!"

Arthur stormed in and hurried to help Lucy up.

"I know you're upset about the list, but how could you be so rough with a child?"

Emily, who'd followed him in, stood to one side and dabbed at her eyes.

"It's all my fault. We never should have come and bothered you. We'll leave right now."

Arthur stopped her. "As long as I'm here, no one's throwing you out!"

He stared at me, enunciating every word.

"Christina, apologize to Emily right now!

"And you, Isabelle. You're sleeping in the basement.

"For the next few days, this is Lucy's room."

Arthur's shouting terrified Isabelle. She hid in my arms, her shoulders shaking.

"She's your own daughter. This is her room. Why should she give it up?"

I raised my head, not backing down an inch.

We had both died once. If he was going to protect Emily and her child, I was going to protect mine.

"Because the army assigned this house to me. Without me, you'd never have gotten in here."

I looked at him, and suddenly all of it felt pointless.

"Fine. You said it.

"Arthur, I want a divorce."