Chapter 3

I spoke with hope in my voice, but when I saw who it was, my expression quickly turned cold.

Justin stood over me, looking down as if from a throne. "Who did you think it would be?"

I was done with his endless games. Exhausted, I waved him off. "Just let me go. I'll stay out of your and Clara's lives for good."

When I had first come back to life, my heart burned with hatred—I wanted nothing more than to drag Justin down with me.

However, three years had passed, and I had built a life of my own. Now, all I wanted was distance from him, from all of it.

Justin wouldn't relent. He gripped my wrist tightly, his eyes filled with a complicated emotion I couldn't read.

"Maxine, do you even have a heart? Do you have any idea how I've been looking for you for three years?"

I stared at him blankly, numb.

Three years ago, I had been reborn right at the moment of my wedding. Justin, once again, had thrown me into the hands of his enemies to save Clara.

I now knew the truth that those "enemies" weren't real. They were part of a scam, a setup to steal my fortune.

In my previous life, after I'd transferred my assets to those people, they released me almost immediately.

When I returned to the Garner residence, they forced me to consume a pill to get rid of my child.

"The Garner family cannot have a child born in disgrace."

It didn't matter how much I begged or how much I explained. No one listened.

So when I learned the entire thing had been a conspiracy from the start, I stopped fighting.

After boarding the enemy's boat, I threw myself into the deep ocean, and somehow, I was saved by that man.

"Wasn't it you who handed me over to those people? Oh, wait, were they really enemies? Or were they…?"

I stared straight at Justin, my gaze sharp like a blade.

"Enough!"

Justin's eyes flickered, but he quickly masked it with cold indifference. God help me, but I saw hatred in his eyes.

How ironic. Wasn't I the one who was supposed to be filled with hatred?

Taking advantage of Justin's moment of distraction, I shoved him away.

That man hadn't arrived yet, so I needed to get out of here first.

The moment I stepped into the banquet hall, Clara spotted me.

"Maxine, don't you know that there's an important guest coming tonight? How could you make such a scene? If you ruin Justin's deal, can you even afford the consequences?"

Her voice dripped with contempt. There was none of the fake sweetness she put on for Justin.

"So you're done pretending now?"

The way I looked at her, like she was nothing more than a performing monkey, clearly set her off.

Clara stepped closer, lowering her voice to a cold whisper. "So what if you came back? Justin is still mine. If you don't want to keep playing the mistress, then get out of our lives. Of course, I'll give you some money, you must need it, right? After all, the Prestons lost everything."

When I disappeared three years ago, all my assets went straight to Justin, as my fiance.

I wasn't in the mood for petty arguments. I grabbed her wrist, my voice sharp. "What did you mean by what you said earlier? What do you know about my parents' deaths?"

Clara only smiled in silence, her lips curling into a grin that made my skin crawl.

Rage surged through me, followed by a cold chill that seeped from my feet to my chest. It felt like everything I had once believed, my entire past, was nothing but a lie.

"Justin! I'm scared! Maxine's trying to hurt me!"

Clara's eyes brimmed with tears as she glanced behind me, slipping right back into her usual act.

I turned my head, and there was Justin, storming toward us.

"Maxine! Still unrepentant, I see. Looks like I went too easy on you last time. You still don't know your place."

Justin's hand hit my face, the slap landing with full force.

My ears rang, and the world spun violently around me.

"Take her to the basement of the Garner residence and lock her up!" Justin barked at his assistant, Alvin Potter, his tone as cold as steel.

I fought against their grip with everything I had.

Just as Alvin started dragging me out of the banquet hall, a deep, magnetic voice echoed across the room, "Who dares lay a hand on my wife?"