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.

"Vivienne, have you lost it?"

The second I said I was gonna marry the so-called psycho from Northvale's Clementine family, Dad's fists balled up. He thought I was just being petty about Elodie.

"What happened at your birthday was nothing. You're really gonna trash your engagement over that?"

Three days ago, Elodie and I both fell into the pool. In front of everyone, Stanley dove in—straight for her—leaving me, his fiancée, floundering like a loser.

"It's not breaking it off," I said, smirking. "I'm just letting him marry my sister."

Dad froze, but I grabbed the betrothal contract, scribbled out my name, and slapped hers in. He opened his mouth to argue, but Elodie was faster, clutching his arm.

"Dad, do you even care about me? Or am I just not good enough for Stanley?" she said, all wide eyes and fake heartbreak.

Dad's eyes flicked between us before he went quiet. Eighteen years raising Elodie—of course he cared about her.

I walked out under her smug little smirk. The night air hit my face, and I tossed the engagement ring straight into the trash.

"Vivienne Weston, what are you doing?"

I spun around. Stanley. Didn't even hear him walk up, but there he was, brows knitted.

"Didn't you swear you'd never let Elodie have that ring, no matter what I offered for it? What's your angle now?"

Old me would've cried, demanded to know who he actually cared about. Not this time.

I lowered my lashes, keeping my voice flat. "You're funny, Mr. Hamilton. It's just a ring. If Elodie wants it, she can have it."

I fished it out of the trash and dropped it into his palm.

His eyes flickered. "I'm warning you—if anything happens to Elodie, this wedding's off. Anytime."

Thinking about how he'd smiled at that stupid tattoo before dying in my last life, I couldn't help but grin. "Relax."

This time, I'd give him the marriage he thought he wanted.

***

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