Chapter 1

“Mrs. Lucas, I’m sorry. The IVF attempt failed again.”

Josie held the test report in her hand, and her fingertips turned cold.

She could no longer remember how many times this had happened.

Seven years of marriage, and the entire Lucas family was waiting for her to give birth to an heir. But her body showed no signs of pregnancy at all.

They tried timed intercourse, old remedies, IVF treatments, and surgeries. She attempted every possible method.

She turned, about to knock on the attending doctor’s door, when she overheard people gossiping about her.

“Mrs. Lucas is really pitiful. Her uterine lining is practically paper-thin. She’s destroying her health at this point.”

“Pitiful? Don’t you know her husband doesn’t even want a baby? Even if she tries a hundred more times, it’ll never happen.”

The words struck Josie like lightning. Her raised hand froze in mid-air.

Zac didn’t want her to get pregnant?

*

She stumbled home in a daze and curled up in bed. The early summer sunlight was warm and bright, yet she was trembling with cold.

The mattress dipped behind her, and the smell of alcohol mixed with the scent of pine drifted over.

Zac slid in behind her, his warm hand slipping with practiced ease inside her silk sleepwear.

“Miss me?”

His fingertips could always awaken a deep physical response in her, but tonight, her heart only sank deeper and deeper.

He knew she had gone to the hospital for results today, and he didn’t even ask.

“I didn’t get pregnant again,” she whispered hoarsely.

Zac’s hand clearly paused.

After a moment, he said calmly, with no discernible emotion, “Alright. You’ve worked hard.

“I’ll be away on a business trip for two months. Take care of yourself. Have the housekeeper make those health drinks for you.”

Then his mouth was on hers again, moving from one kiss to the next, heated and forceful with the assertiveness that always came after he had been drinking.

Josie didn’t want this, but she couldn’t resist him. She could only let him take what he wanted.

He was always gentle, never rough, never hurting her.

Afterward, he would carry her into the bathroom, wash her carefully, bring her back to bed, and hold her in his arms as they fell asleep.

It was just like countless nights before, they were close and intimate.

To anyone looking from the outside, they would seem like the most loving couple in the world.

His breathing gradually steadied beside her, deep and calm, but Josie lay awake with open eyes.

Her gaze drifted to the sofa, where Zac had tossed his briefcase.

In seven years of marriage, she had never once gone through his things. That was the rule she followed as Mrs. Lucas.

But now, staring at his sleeping face, she slipped out of bed.

A few minutes later, her hand brushed against a blister pack of white tablets beneath several urgent documents.

Birth control pills.

Josie stared in shock.

She had never taken them because they were trying for a child. She had only ever seen them with friends.

Back then, her friends joked that she and Zac were so in love she would never need something like this in her lifetime.

The irony crashed down like a tidal wave.

Even though part of her had suspected the truth at the hospital, the confirmation still tore through her like air rushing through broken walls.

What did it mean for a man who was supposedly trying for a baby to carry birth control pills?

Another woman?

Or…

She suddenly remembered the health drinks Zac had always insisted the housekeeper prepare for her.

Her entire body went cold.

Her hands shook, and her eyes caught a photograph peeking out from the inner pocket of the briefcase.

The edges were worn and faded, the kind that only came from being touched again and again.

In it, a teenage Zac beamed with sunlight in his eyes, all warmth and tenderness, while a girl nestled close at his side.

“What are you doing?”

Zac got out of bed and snatched the photo from her hand, eyes sharp as a blade.

“You’re snooping through my stuff? Josie, when did you become so inappropriate?”

Josie stared at him like she had just heard the most absurd joke in the world. She laughed until tears threatened to spill, until her insides twisted with pain.

“Inappropriate? I’ve spent years being too appropriate.”

She was still laughing when suddenly a stabbing pain shot through her lower abdomen.

Before the darkness closed in, the last thing she saw was Zac’s face filled with panic.

*

“Cough… cough, cough…”

Josie’s eyes snapped open. The shattering heartache from earlier had not even faded before acrid smoke flooded her nose and throat, forcing her into a fit of coughing.

“Fire! Get out!”

“Help!”

Panicked voices echoed around her. Josie pushed herself upright and looked around, disoriented.

The table was in chaos, bottles knocked over, and colored party lights flickered through the haze, twisting violently in the smoke.

Then her gaze fell on the couch not far away.

A familiar figure lay sprawled across it, passed out cold from alcohol.

Suzy Bell.

But Suzy had died seven years ago in a fire.

A realization hit Josie like a wave. She grabbed the phone on the table and glanced at the screen.

May 18, 2026 10:50 PM

Her breath caught.

She had gone back seven years, to the very night Suzy died.

She had been reborn.

The fire was growing hotter and stronger. Josie tried to move toward the door, but the moment she put weight on her ankle, sharp pain radiated through her.

A loud crash sounded as the private room door was kicked open from the outside.

A tall silhouette pushed through the smoke.

Josie’s memories overlapped with the figure in front of her, and before she could stop herself, her hand reached instinctively toward him.

“Zac… Save me.”

This was Zac from seven years ago. There was still a softness in his features that time had not yet worn away, though the sternness of the man he would become was already visible.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you out.”

His voice was urgent, familiar, filled with youthful confidence that had not yet faded.

She expected him to rush to her like before, to shield her in his arms, to tell her in that low, calming voice, “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

But instead, Zac’s eyes landed on her for only a brief moment.

Barely a second.

Then he strode straight past her and lifted Suzy into his arms.

As he passed Josie, he didn't even spare her an extra glance. He only threw back a quick order.

“Keep up!”

Then he ran, carrying Suzy, never once turning back.

Josie’s hand remained frozen midair.

Her heart went cold.

Her ankle was injured.

She could not run.

Did Zac leave her behind to die in Suzy’s place?