Introduction

I signed the forms, my final act of defiance against a cruel inheritance.

My time was short, a merciless illness stealing my future, just like it had taken my mother and grandmother.

So, I had to hurt the man I loved, Ethan, make him despise me, so he wouldn't mourn what he thought he'd lost.

I had built a fortress of hatred around myself, shielding him from the truth of my fading life.

He became cold, rich, and brought women home, his vengeance a constant reminder of my fabricated betrayal.

But his latest paramour, Isabelle, proved to be far more vicious.

She found my hidden medical files, uncovering the terminal secret I'd fought so hard to keep.

Then, in a fit of cruel jealousy, she caused the accidental death of Leo, our beloved ginger cat, my only comfort and last tangible link to the Ethan I once loved.

Isabelle then delivered her brutal ultimatum: "End it quickly, or I'll tell him everything about your illness, about your deception, about how you manipulated him into thinking you only cared for money."

She threatened to strip away the bitter peace I was trying to leave him.

The choice was excruciating: allow Ethan to grieve a villain, or force him to bear the unbearable truth of my sacrifice and his own unwitting torment during my slow demise.

My heart ached with the silent agony of this final cruelty.

How could I possibly let him find out the truth?

It tore at my soul, but there was only one path left for me to take.

So I cooked his favorite meal, whispered a final, hateful lie, and then, in cold earnest, ended my own life, leaving him with the memory of a mercenary wife, sparing him the grief.

But death rarely keeps its promises.

I awoke, gasping, in a time that shouldn't exist, finding myself on the precipice of a fate I had already lived, a second chance I never asked for, ready to make a different choice.