Chapter 1

The first thing I did after being reborn was open my banking app and check my balance.

Sure enough, there was only fifty dollars left.

I quickly sorted out my thoughts. By now, through some unknown method, Todd Robyn had already swapped my money into his own account.

Part of me wanted to take Todd down with me, even if it cost me my life. But I recalled before I died in my last life, I saw my parents, whose hair had turned white overnight, and I regretted everything.

If I acted on impulse like I did last time, I would only repeat the same mistakes.

Just then, Gracie Hobert, our department manager, called me into her office, "This order's a tricky one, but the commission is five thousand dollars. Don't say I never look out for you!"

My Adam's apple bobbed, and I swallowed almost on instinct.

Five thousand dollars was enough to cover a month's rent with more than half left over.

But I still turned it down. "Thank you, Gracie. But I don't want to take on any orders for the next month."

Ignoring the stunned look on her face, I turned and walked out of her office.

The walls were thin, so my coworkers outside had already heard everything. Instantly, whispers broke out all around me.

[Drew is the top salesperson in the whole company. He used to fight for every order he could get, and today he turned one down?]

[Not just today. Didn't you hear him? He's not taking any for the whole next month!]

Ignoring the chatter around me, I opened a food delivery app, ordered the largest iced Americano they had, and paid for it with the last fifty dollars on my card.

In my last life, I couldn't even bring myself to spend four dollars on a Sugar Rush lemonade.

To put down roots in Kaela City, a city where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, I had tightened my belt until it nearly strangled me.

Every night, I stayed up until two or three in the morning doing client follow-ups. I was up before dawn and spent two hours crammed into subway cars packed like sardine cans, all so I could clock in at the office on time.

Being late just once cost fifty dollars. That was nearly a week's worth of food for me.

I dreamed of buying a place of my own near the office, even if it was just a 320-square-foot studio.

Every payday, I kept only three hundred dollars for living expenses. Everything else went straight into my bank account.

I never imagined that the five-hundred-thousand-dollar down payment I had worked myself to the bone for would end up in someone else's pocket!

Just then, the office door flew open, and Todd's loud, brash voice rang out, "Guys! Lunch is on me!"

His face was flushed with excitement, and a brand-new Swiss watch gleamed on his wrist. He strutted in like a nouveau riche who'd just won the lottery jackpot, "We're going to the Newbury Hotel! Order whatever you want!"

The office erupted, and my coworkers crowded around him.

"Todd, did you strike it rich?"

"Did you find yourself a rich sugar daddy?"

I didn't move. I just held my coffee and stared at him coldly, because I knew he was spending my money.

Surrounded by the crowd, Todd waved a hand with mock modesty. "Oh, it's nothing. I bought a lottery ticket on a whim a couple of days ago and won a little prize."

A nosy coworker immediately pressed, "How much did you win?"