Chapter 1

"What did you just say?" my husband, Lucas Whitmore, asked. He blinked back tears and stared at me as if his ears were playing tricks on him.

He was drop-dead gorgeous, with those intense, tragic eyes that had swept me off my feet in my past life. Back then, I was convinced those eyes looked at me like I was his entire world.

Now, staring at him, I realized he could look at a stray dog with that exact same look of total devotion.

No wonder I fell for his lies for forty years.

"Don't worry, Lucas," Lucas’ high school crush, Lily Collins, chimed in, her voice dripping with sweet, gentle sympathy, "Scarlett makes great money at her job. She can easily support you.

“Besides, she’s so hardworking, she can just pick up a couple of side hustles if she needs to. You shouldn't stress about money right now. Your main focus should be staying positive so you can heal."

She was young, pretty, and practically glowing next to his hospital bed. Lucas had always told me that Lily was the hero who pulled him from the wreckage.

In my past life, I was so crushed by the news of his paralysis that I completely missed the body language between them. They certainly didn’t behave like strangers.

When I stayed completely silent, Lucas darted a quick, helpless glance at Lily.

She caught the hint immediately. Grabbing my arm, she pulled me into the hallway, lowering her voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "Scarlett, I know it might not be my place to speak up, but I really view you as an older sister, so I want to give you some advice.

“Guys have huge egos. Now that he ended up like this because of you, finding a job is going to be brutal, and his self-esteem is taking a massive hit. If you want to be a good wife, you need to step up and give him some peace of mind.

“For instance, you could hand over control of your savings to him. It would really help keep your marriage stable."

Every single word was identical to what she had told me in my past life.

The day of the crash, I had just flown back from a business trip abroad. As I wrapped up my work early, I intentionally waited until my plane landed to text Lucas, wanting to pull off a sweet surprise.

When he got into a horrific accident shortly after, he claimed he was rushing out the door to pick me up from the airport. I spent my entire life drowned in suffocating guilt, doing everything in my power to make it up to him.

It was not until the moment before my death that I learned the truth. That afternoon, Lucas had been riding shotgun in Lily's car, and they were nowhere near the airport. He had taken that lie to his grave.

Shaking off the memory, I stared back at Lily. This time around, I did not rush to pull out my bank card, hand over my paychecks, or sob out desperate promises to prove my loyalty to him and our marriage.