All Chapters of He Chose Her in Both Lifetimes: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

I awoke with a jolt.The burning wooden furniture around me crackled and groaned.I instinctively grabbed the phone to call the fire department, but all I got was static hissing through the receiver.With no other option, I dialed the number I knew by heart: the number of my husband, Austin Marchetti.It rang three times before he picked up."Daisy?" Austin's voice came through. "I'm already on my way back. I'll get to you..."Before he could finish, someone cut him off. The line dissolved into a broken, garbled sound. I could only make out a few words. "Jo... missing...mountains..."My heart dropped straight to the floor.Time crawled by, the silence stretching longer and longer.Finally, Austin's voice came back, rough and strained. "I'm sorry, Daisy. Jo just went missing up in the mountains. You know her depression's severe. I have to go find her."I've already sent Marco up there. He's coming as fast as he can. The fire won't reach the third floor for a while yet. Gra

Chapter 2

The dull, cramping pain in my stomach hadn't let up, and the blood between my legs kept spreading.I knew my baby was hovering right on the edge of life and death, just like I was.But I couldn't afford to give up. I couldn't afford to stop moving.I stood at the edge of the balcony and looked down. I was three stories up. In my current condition, jumping would kill both the baby and me instantly.But I remembered something. There was a ladder bolted to the outside wall, left over from when they'd installed the air conditioning unit last year. I had complained about how heavy the metal ladder was to move, so instead of hauling it away, they'd just covered it with a panel. Nobody but me knew it was there.It was my only way out.I climbed over the balcony railing, wrapped my hands in wet cloth, and gripped the outer edge of the panel. With the last of my strength, I pried the loose panel free.A rusted metal ladder appeared underneath.The fire had heated the metal. Even throu

Chapter 3

Austin would drop everything, leave me pregnant and alone, and cross the whole city just to be with Jo.I had cried and begged him to stay more than once, even used the baby as a reason. All I ever got back was the same line. "Be good, don't make this harder. Jo's severely depressed. If something happens to her, can you live with that?"Every single night, he used that exact excuse to leave me home alone while he went to comfort her.It wasn't until after I died in my last life, when I watched him hang up call after call from Jo begging for help, that my soul finally understood it all. Austin wasn't ignorant. He knew perfectly well that depression could be treated with medication and therapy. Her condition didn't actually require him specifically.He just wanted to believe it did. He was happy to abandon me alone at night, over and over, for her sake.He was so convinced there was nothing inappropriate between them that he even gave me Jo's contact information himself.Every ti

Chapter 4

After a while, I finally felt some strength return.I pressed my palms against the ground, took a deep breath, and pulled myself up slowly.Where I had just been lying, a pool of bright red blood stained the grass. It belonged to my child, and Austin's. The moment I hit the ground, I knew I couldn't save him.Tears blurred my vision, and through the haze, I noticed movement. Behind the neighbors gathered outside the gate, someone was watching the mansion, sneaking glances toward the house.It was members of the rival family still lurking nearby, probably making sure their target hadn't survived the fire.I couldn't walk out there. If I did, both Austin and the rival family would come after me. As the Donna of the Marchetti family, leaving wouldn't be enough to escape the shadow that title cast over my life.Unless I died. Cleanly, completely. A fresh start, far from all of it.My eyes landed on the storage shed in the backyard. I remembered there was a large animal skeleton st

Chapter 5

Austin was sitting by a campfire in a mountain tent. Jo was wrapped in his jacket, leaning against his shoulder.Then the flames on his phone screen caught his eye.The entire mansion was engulfed, the fire painting the night sky the color of a blood-orange sunset.Austin's expression froze instantly, his voice coming out rough as sandpaper."That's not possible... How could the fire be this bad already... Last time, it..."Marco's voice shook through the phone. "Don Marchetti, the fire department's here, but the blaze is too big. Everything below the third floor's already collapsed. The Donna... She didn't make it out."Every sound around Austin seemed to cut off at once.Jo's face went white, and she instinctively grabbed Austin's arm. "Austin, I..."He shoved her off without a second thought.Every member of the family froze. None of them had ever seen Austin look like this before. His eyes were bloodshot, the veins in his forehead standing out sharply."We're heading back

Chapter 6

The once magnificent mansion had burned down to a blackened wooden frame. The air was thick with the sharp smell of smoke and wet, charred wood.Marco approached Austin, his lips pale, soot streaked across his ashen face. "Don Marchetti, we found some remains on the lawn out back. They're completely carbonized, and there's no way to pull any biological trace from them. But the medical examiner found trace amounts of blood deep in the soil nearby, and the blood type matches the Donna's."Austin went still, like he hadn't understood the words. Several seconds passed before he slowly turned around. "What did you just say?"He shoved Marco aside and ignored the firefighters trying to hold him back. He stumbled into the yard and dropped to his knees beside the charred remains covered in a white sheet."Daisy... Daisy, wake up, I'm here..."Marco stood silently behind him, offering no comfort.Austin's shaking hands pulled back the sheet, revealing the blackened, incomplete skeleton

Chapter 7

The comforting smell of antiseptic filled my nose, and I turned my head to see a man sitting in the chair beside my bed.He wore a black shirt, his features sharp and striking, with a resemblance to mine around the eyes and brow.My brother, Ian Moretti, the current Don of the Moretti family."You're awake." Ian set down the papers he'd been holding and poured me a glass of water. "I'm sorry. We couldn't save the baby. You had already lost too much blood by the time you got here. The doctors had to operate."I had already suspected as much before I passed out, but hearing it confirmed still brought tears to my eyes. I looked down at my flat stomach, and my tears fell one after another onto the blanket.Ian didn't say anything. He just pulled my head against his shoulder the way he used to when we were kids. His palm was warm and dry against my hair."Cry it out. Once you're done, don't waste one more tear on that man."I cried for a long time. When I finally stopped, Ian han

Chapter 8

Austin had lost a lot of weight. Dark circles ringed his eyes, his cheekbones stood sharp against his skin, and there was faint stubble covering his jaw. He looked almost exactly like he had in my last life after I died.Back then, I had been fooled by what looked like devotion, and I'd actually let myself hope again.Alex had just stepped out of our building when he spotted Austin standing on the street. Shock and disbelief was written across the latter's face.Alex crossed the street in a few long strides and stopped in front of me."Daisy."I turned to face Austin directly, the man who'd given me more nightmares than I could count.Our eyes met.I watched his lips move, but his throat seemed to close up, and no sound came out."Daisy, I..." he finally forced out, his voice rough as sandpaper. "I thought you were dead. I held your ashes and cried for three days straight. I wiped out the entire Osborne family. I locked Jo in that basement, I dealt with her, I..."I cut him of

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