Chapter 1

The scene before Selina was painfully familiar. She rubbed her eyes, dazed. Charles turned to her with a smile. "You're awake?"

She sat bolt upright, nails digging into her palms, her breathing gone tight. She opened her phone and checked the time.

Then she froze.

She had been reborn. She was back before Susie's husband cheated.

In her last life, she and Charles had been at the hunting grounds negotiating a deal when Susie's call came in.

She had abandoned the negotiation on the spot and taken Charles to Susie's estate to catch Susie's husband in the act.

When she arrived, Susie's husband and the other woman had pinned Susie to the floor and were humiliating her, her eyes full of tears.

Selina charged in, put a gun to the other woman's head, and forced the divorce through. In the fight that followed, Selina was shot in the hand.

She could never play the piano again.

After the divorce, Susie was afraid her ex-husband would retaliate, so Selina let her live at her own estate and handed over the dozen-odd whiskey bars she ran.

She meant them to become Susie's livelihood.

But Selina had never imagined that after all of it, the sister she had risked her life to protect would spend twenty-eight years deceiving her alongside her own husband.

She didn't even know when she had supposedly signed those divorce papers, or when Charles had married Susie.

Even Emma, her own daughter, had sided with them as Selina lay dying.

The hatred in Selina's eyes deepened at the thought.

The phone rang five times, all from Susie. Selina hung up every time without hesitating, then held down the power button.

Once it was off, everything around her seemed to go quiet.

Selina drew a breath, pressed her lips together, and composed herself.

Charles noticed the change from the seat beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Selina shook her head and forced a smile through the nausea. "I'm going over there."

She climbed out of the car and strode toward the lounge, where Northcrest's don, Adrian Winthrop, stood discussing business over a whiskey. When he saw her, he set down his glass.

He narrowed his eyes, glanced at Charles in the distance, and asked, "Ms. Campbell, have you thought it over? And don't tell me again that your husband won't allow it. I don't care for that excuse.

"If you're willing to run the few dozen hunting grounds my family owns in Northcrest, the terms are still yours to set."

Selina did not hesitate. "Yes."

In her last life, the Winthrop family of Northcrest had valued her ability and tried repeatedly to recruit her, offering a high salary and shares and even agreeing to support Charles's family.

But she had been busy with Susie's divorce, and afterward she had stayed at Susie's side, so she turned them down for good.

In the decades that followed, every time she thought of it she felt a pang of regret, and only because Susie and Charles were beside her did that regret slowly fade.

Now that she had another chance, she would not let it slip away.

She would never sell herself short for anyone again.

Selina smiled and held out her hand. "The salary and shares are enough. There's no need to supply anything to my husband's family."

He gave a quiet laugh and clinked his glass against hers.

Just then Charles came hurrying over with a gun in his hand, alarm all over his face. He saw the two of them laughing together and didn't ask about it.

He politely drew Selina aside and said, "Susie just called. Her husband's been cheating on her. Those two bastards are ganging up on her at the estate right now. Why didn't you pick up her calls? The driver's on his way. We're going over there."

Selina was perfectly calm. Her phone was off, so Susie's calls had gone to Charles.

"I don't have time." Her voice was flat.

Charles's hand stilled, his brows drawing together. "What's the matter with you? Isn't she your sister? She's being pushed around, and you won't do anything?"

Selina's expression did not change. "She married for the alliance. She chose to put up with being pushed around. What am I supposed to do about it?"