Chapter 1

The agony of the iron rod through my chest still lingered, and each breath felt like it tore me apart from the inside.

Just then, Rebecca Smith's voice, sweet and pleading, filled the room.

"Dad, I have someone else in my heart. Marrying him–I just can't do it."

In my previous life, I had fallen for her Oscar-worthy act and stepped in to take her place without a second thought. In this life, though, I refused to fall for it. I simply watched her perform, my lips pressed firmly in a tight line.

The room tensed up for a beat.

Dad–Nash Smith–knitted his brows, his mind obviously racing through the odds.

I braced myself for a repeat of the past, but then Calvin Porter's icy voice cut through the quiet.

He moved closer, his eyes briefly softening as they passed over Rebecca, then turned icy again when they landed on me.

"Mr. Smith, I didn't come here to talk about weddings."

Rebecca let out a relieved breath.

I blinked in surprise. Was it possible Calvin had a second chance at life too?

"And what brings you here?" asked Nash.

Calvin's face was a mask of humility. "The Porter family went broke, no longer fit for Rebecca. If I can't turn things around in three years, let's call off the marriage deal. Fair?"

The air shifted, charged with unspoken thoughts.

Rebecca drifted closer to me, as if by accident, and as she brushed by, my coffee cup tumbled to the floor.

She crashed down after it, a perfect picture of distress.

"Ahh!"

Her scream pierced the air, her hand turning a bright, angry red.

It all happened too fast for me to react.

A second later, I felt a heavy thud against my shoulder.

Stumbling backward from the forceful shove, a throbbing pain spread across my shoulder blades as my vision momentarily darkened.

"How could you be so cruel, Joanna?" he bellowed with fury. "I chose Rebecca. If you've got a problem, take it up with me. If you dare hurt Rebecca again, you and I are going to have serious issues."

I had never seen such raw anger in his eyes.

My heart clenched as if gripped by an unseen force, a pain sharper than the memory of a past life's car crash, where a metal rod had impaled me.

I let out a bitter chuckle. So, he had truly been reborn.

Digging my nails into my palms, the sharp sting helped me cling to the last threads of my composure.

Well, at least then he could openly stand by his precious Rebecca.

However, what he did not realize was that without that fool who was me, blazing trails and clearing hurdles for him, I wondered if he could find success so swiftly again.