Chapter 2
Jennifer had just collected her thoughts when her heart was jolted again.
A man and woman stepped out of the car, fawning over Alexander as they approached.
“So you’re really giving our Nicole that villa? Now our family of three can live together,” Mrs. Harris said while signaling Nicole with her eyes.
Seizing the moment, Nicole pressed against his chest and gushed about how wonderful he was to her.
Jennifer stood frozen, silently witnessing Alexander’s perfect harmony with her family.
In her previous life, even getting him to take in her mother had required kneeling in the rain for twenty–four hours.
The memory forced Jennifer to swallow her bitterness alone.
As she turned to leave, Alexander’s voice suddenly rose. “My home is always open if you wish to come. I’ll have the housekeeper prepare rooms for all three of you.”
The four exchanged satisfied smiles.
So the shelter she’d begged for her mother was publicly just housing for his live–in help.
An invisible fist clenched Jennifer’s heart, sour and suffocating.
Alexander’s gentle smile–one she’d never seen directed at her–curved his
Chapter
lips.
Just as she stepped off the curb, the light turned red. A speeding car whipped past, grazing her.
She jerked back in terror.
Crossing the street away from them, memories of her past life stormed in.
They’d met through business, and she became his most capable assistant.
Through their time together, he’d grown attached and confessed his love. They married within a year, making her Mrs. Smith.
But happiness never came.
Alexander’s first love Nicole had returned.
After graduation, Nicole studied abroad and they broke up.
The night Alexander hired Jennifer, drunk and drowning his sorrows, he’d vaguely said she resembled someone from his past.
He never divorced Jennifer, but shared every intimacy with Nicole.
He never looked at Jennifer properly again.
(
On her deathbed in that previous life, she’d called Alexander to ask if he’d ever loved her.
His icy, emotionless voice delivered the final blow like a punch to her death sentence: “Never.”
As her eyes closed, her sole wish was for another chance–to never love Alexander again, to never be Mrs. Smith.
Chapter 2
By the time Jennifer reached home, dusk had fallen but the living room. light remained on.
She went upstairs to pack her essentials. Photos with Alexander, his shirts, and every letter filled with hollow affection were tossed into the courtyard and set ablaze.
Flames converged into a beam that seemed ready to ignite the night itself.
