I Saved My Father This Time

The drive to Mercer House took twelve minutes.

It felt longer than the three years I had lived before my death.

I remembered Father’s first collapse from my previous life. It had happened during dinner two weeks after my wedding. His doctor diagnosed an irregular heartbeat and increased his medication.

He never fully recovered.

This time, the collapse had occurred earlier because the timeline was changing.

When Caelan’s car stopped, I ran before the driver opened my door.

Father lay on the library floor. A housekeeper supported his head while Selene knelt beside him with a glass of water and two white capsules.

“Don’t give him those!”

I knocked the glass from her hand.

Water spread across the carpet.

Selene stared at me. “His doctor said he needs them.”

“They may be poisoning him.”

Father’s eyes opened weakly. “Elara?”

I held his hand.

“I’m here.”

Caelan entered with a private medical team behind him. They moved Father onto a stretcher and attached monitors to his chest.

Selene stood.

“You brought Voss doctors into Uncle Gideon’s home?”

“I brought people who might keep him alive.”

“His regular doctor is coming.”

“He prescribed the capsules.”

The paramedic examined Father’s pulse and called for a specific injection.

Caelan opened the medical case and handed it to him before the request was complete.

I noticed.

So did the paramedic, who gave him a surprised glance.

“How did you know what he needed?” I asked.

Caelan’s attention remained on Father. “The laboratory identified the contaminant.”

“When?”

“During the drive.”

Another lie—or at least an incomplete truth.

The team stabilised Father and transported him to a private hospital. I rode in the ambulance while Caelan followed.

Selene tried to accompany us, but I stopped her.

“You are not coming.”

“I’m family.”

“You gave him the capsules.”

“Because his doctor prescribed them!”

“Who collected the prescription?”

She looked away.

In my first life, she had done it every month.

“Stay away from him,” I said. “If you enter the hospital, security will remove you.”

Hatred replaced her panic.

“You think changing husbands makes you powerful?”

“No. Knowing who you are makes me powerful.”

The ambulance doors closed between us.

At the hospital, doctors flushed the remaining substance from Father’s system. The chief physician explained that the capsules contained small amounts of a compound capable of weakening the heart over time.

“A larger dose could have caused cardiac arrest,” he said.

“Will he recover?”

“We detected it early. He’ll need monitoring, but his heart has not suffered the damage we would expect after prolonged exposure.”

Relief nearly brought me to my knees.

In my first life, I had failed to see the danger until it was too late.

This time, Father would live.

I sat beside his bed after he regained consciousness.

He squeezed my hand. “You saved me.”

“Caelan found the capsules.”

Father looked toward the window, where Caelan stood speaking with the doctors.

“Then perhaps your impulsive marriage was the wisest decision either of us has made.”

I wanted to believe him.

Yet the future-dated file remained hidden in Caelan’s study, and his words continued echoing in my mind.

You won’t survive without my protection.

When Father fell asleep, I joined Caelan in the corridor.

“The contaminant,” I said. “How did you know which antidote to bring?”

“The laboratory called.”

“I was beside you during the drive. Your phone never rang.”

He said nothing.

“You had the injection prepared before we arrived.”

“It’s commonly used for several types of poisoning.”

“But the paramedic asked for the exact one you were already holding.”

“Elara—”

“No. You knew my father would collapse. Just as you knew I died in that car.”

His expression changed at the word died.

I stepped closer.

“What happened to you on the night of my accident?”

A nurse approached before he could answer.

“Mrs. Voss, your father is asking for you.”

I returned to Father’s room reluctantly.

He was awake, holding the flash drive Lucien had given me. I must have dropped it beside his bed.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Evidence.”

“Against whom?”

“I don’t know yet.”

His gaze moved beyond me to Caelan.

“You should find out.”

With a hospital laptop, I opened the drive.

Most of the files contained surveillance photographs of me taken during the previous two years. Some showed me at university. Others showed me entering the Mercer offices or meeting Lucien.

The final folder was password-protected.

A clue appeared beneath it:

THE DAY SHE DIED.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard.

I typed the future date from Caelan’s file.

The folder opened.

Inside was a video recorded on the bridge during the storm.

Caelan appeared beside the wreckage of another car, blood covering his shirt. He struggled toward the railing as my vehicle sank below.

Then he looked directly at the camera and shouted words that made my blood run cold.

“Not again. I won’t lose her again.”