Across a Lifetime, Never Again
Stanley Hamilton and I were basically Southport's favorite hate-watch couple.
For Elodie—my oh-so-perfect adopted sister—he wrecked my company and had my parents thrown in prison.
I, in turn, drove Elodie to her death, making him watch as she jumped off a rooftop.
Our forced marriage? Just a slow ride from mutual disgust straight into mutual destruction.
Then came the car explosion. Stanley, who'd hated me forever, still used his last breath to shove me out of the blast.
"Vivienne Weston, one lifetime tangled with you is enough. If there's a next one, let's never meet."
He touched the tattoo of Elodie's name on his neck, smiling faintly as the flames took him.
After he died, I wandered through life half-dead myself until illness finished the job.
When I woke up in the past, staring at two betrothal contracts, I didn't hesitate—I picked the guy everyone swore was insane.
Stanley and my dad? I handed them right back to Elodie.
This time, I wanted no meetings, no memories, no strings. Ever again.