Third Lifetime Novels & Stories

"The company papers are in my safe. Your birthday is the password. Just make sure you don't lose control of the family business. Trust your husband but don't give him too much power. He's just a nouveau riche in the end." Mia's girlish eyes suddenly turned into a cold look, similar to her grandmother's. The machines warned that the end of Arthur Brown's life was coming, but this time, neither Mrs. Brown nor Mia cried. They just stayed with him until he passed away. Now Mia would make sure that her grandfather's efforts were enough to save his estate, and she would seal his heart so that no one would take from him what was rightfully his.

If Dylan insists on keeping me in the sea for 10,000 years, if Dylan can really let me live for 10,000 years, then I will never see anyone on land again. Francis, Julian, and Elroy, they'll live another 800 years at best, and Caleb, Carolina, Brandon, and Austin, they'll live another 80 years at best. Probably, the last time I met with them may be goodbye forever. In this sad mood, I found that I didn't hate Brandon and Austin all that much. In the time dimension of 10,000 years, 80 years seems so short, so short as to be negligible. I don't want to be stuck alone in my hatred of them for 10,000 years after they're all dead. That would turn me into a pathetic monster as stubborn as Dylan.

I have to go abroad, and Laras lives in Indonesia. ... After three years there, I returned to Indonesia. There is no intention to return to see Laras. Oh, yes, Niar was my ex when I was in high school. But Gunawan doesn't know that. Sisca knows. Only he wouldn't tell anyone. I did meet Niar again abroad, but there was no chemistry whatsoever. Meanwhile, even with Laras, I had no hope. Our relationship ended just like that, without my having the chance to say goodbye at that time.

I shriek at the sight. I want to tell him to stop, but I can't find it in myself. I've given him another chance before and he let me down. He doesn't deserve another chance. That was his last. He's too toxic for this world. When Pierson's claws come up and swipe across his throat I feel nothing. I feel no remorse or sadness. I just feel empty as I stare at his cold lifeless body. It's unmoving and I know for a fact he won't stand again to fight.

“It’s only temporary. Once the wedding is over, she’ll move out.” However, I wouldn’t be here anymore after the wedding. Three days from now, I would be on a flight to Switz to meet my grandfather, whom I hadn’t seen in years, and to reclaim the life that was originally mine. So, I would never come back to this room anyway. At that thought, the pain in my chest eased. I lifted my head and gave a faint smile. “Alright.” It didn’t matter anymore. Since I was leaving, whoever took the room had nothing to do with me.

Then she immediately sent the man away. I walked over and greeted her openly. "Long time no see." Tears instantly filled her eyes. "Long time no see, Logan. I've always owed you an apology." I smiled. "You mean because of our previous life?" A bitter smile crossed her face. "So you really were reborn too. No wonder. "I know I was wrong. More wrong than I can ever make up for. After you died, I finally realized I'd already fallen deeply in love with you. Can we start over?"

I doubt death changed his methods much. I read it a fourth time anyway, at my desk, with the city going dark orange outside my window and my father's old shipping charts still bolted to the wall behind me because I've never gotten around to taking them down. Thirty days. One marriage. One year, uninterrupted, or the whole empire slides sideways into the cousin's lap. It's the kind of clause a sentimental old man writes when he's dying and wants a story out of his granddaughter's life instead of a balance sheet. It's also, if I'm being honest with myself, the kind of gift I have not been handed in a very long time.

Who could possibly have a reason to want him dead so badly? Seeing there was still some time before nine o’clock, I told him everything I had experienced. All of it. "Whether you believe it or not, my doppelganger will appear and kill you." Elan looked unconvinced. "Doppelgangers only appear once every few centuries. And like you said, night-shift officers pass out, surveillance just happens to fail… How could those five minutes be that special?" I stared at him intensely. "That’s exactly why I’m asking you. What’s so special about those five minutes?"

The training ground went quiet for a beat. Everyone was waiting for my response. A gust of wind caught my sleeve, lifting the edge. The claw marks on the inside of my arm burned faintly underneath. The last Healer's words from my past life were still etched into my brain: "Your wolf can't take any more. Three shifts, at most. Any one of them could be your last." Three. I had three shifts left. Every one I used would accelerate the spread of those marks. The next shift might send them straight to my heart.

Time to end this one way or another. ***