Chapter 2

The memories of my past life weren't just flashes; they were a thirty-year film playing on a loop in my head. A tragedy I had starred in, naively thinking it was a love story.

I remembered our wedding day. His parents had paid for everything, a grand gesture of their gratitude. They genuinely loved me. Mrs. Johnson held my hands before the ceremony, her eyes wet with tears. "Thank you, Sarah. For saving our foolish boy. You are a blessing to this family."

Mark had stood at the altar looking handsome, but his eyes were cold. He went through the motions, his vows sounding rehearsed and hollow. I told myself he was just stressed, that the embezzlement scandal had shaken him. I was a fool. He was already dreaming of Brittany.

Life after marriage was a quiet, draining affair. I worked tirelessly, climbing the ladder in my finance career, while Mark' s performance at his family-friend' s company stagnated. He blamed it on the "stain" of the investigation, a stain I had wiped clean for him. All my earnings went into our joint account, an account he dipped into freely for "business dinners" and "client gifts" that I later realized were trips and presents for Brittany.

He never touched me unless he had to. Our nights were spent with an ocean of space between us in our king-sized bed. He would come home late, smelling of a perfume that wasn't mine. When I asked, he would fly into a rage.

"Are you accusing me of something, Sarah? After everything? I'm working my ass off to rebuild my reputation, and this is the thanks I get? Constant suspicion?"

He was a master of turning his guilt into my fault. I would always end up apologizing, feeling ashamed for doubting him.

Then came Lily. I thought a child would change things, that it would bring us together. I was so happy when I found out I was pregnant. I showed him the positive test, my hands trembling with joy.

He just stared at it. "Are you sure it's mine?"

The question knocked the air out of my lungs. I had never been with anyone else. The accusation was so vile, so out of the blue, that I couldn't even speak.

He saw my shock and backtracked, forcing a smile. "Sorry, bad joke. That's... great news, Sarah."

But the damage was done. From that day on, he treated my pregnancy as an inconvenience, a chain that bound him even tighter to a life he despised.

He was never there. Not for the doctor' s appointments, not for the sonograms. When Lily was born, he held her for a moment, his face unreadable, before handing her back to me and saying he had an urgent meeting.

As Lily grew, the real poison started to seep in. He would arrange "playdates" with his "friend's daughter," which was just an excuse for Lily to spend time with Brittany. Brittany, with her bright clothes and easy laughter, was everything I wasn't. I was the tired mom who came home late from work, the one who insisted on homework and bedtimes. Brittany was the cool "aunt" who gave her candy and took her to amusement parks.

"Mommy, why can't you be fun like Aunt Brittany?" Lily asked me once. She was six.

Mark, who was standing right there, just chuckled. "Your mom has to work hard to pay the bills, sweetie."

He framed me as the provider and them as the fun. A perfect, insidious trap. He even tried to harm her, our own daughter. Twice. Once, he "forgot" to buckle her car seat before driving recklessly. I caught it just in time. Another time, he left the gate to the swimming pool unlocked when she was just learning to walk. I found her teetering on the edge. He claimed it was an accident, that I was being paranoid. But I knew. In his twisted mind, if Lily were gone, his last chain to me would be broken.

The day of the earthquake was Lily's tenth birthday. I had taken the day off, a rare occurrence. I planned a special party for her. Mark had promised to be home early. He wasn' t. He was with Brittany. The earth started to move just as I was lighting the candles on her cake.

The rest was a nightmare. Pushing them to safety. The crushing weight. The darkness.

And their voices.

Lily's voice, sharp and angry. "She ruined everything! If it wasn't for her, Daddy and Mommy Brittany would be together! We could have been a real family!"

Then Mark' s. He didn't even try to defend me. "You're right, sweetheart. I've always loved Brittany. I've hated your mother since the day I met her. She's a cold, calculating bitch who trapped me."

His words were the final blow, more painful than the concrete pinning me down. He confessed his disgust for me, his lifelong love for another woman, while I lay dying because I had saved his life.

The last thing I saw in my mind' s eye before everything went black was their joyful faces, celebrating their new life, built on the rubble of mine.

So no, in this life, I would not be his victim. I would not be his savior. I would not be his fool.

This time, he and Brittany could have each other. Entirely. I was eager to see how their great love story would hold up without my money and my sacrifice to prop it up.