Chapter 4The Second Time You Chose Her

On the way to the warehouse, Adrian let out a quiet sigh.

“I know you came back, too.”

A bitter smile touched my lips.

“What difference does that make? Does knowing what happened in our first life make you any more willing to choose me?”

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

I shook my head, no longer knowing what else there was to say.

“Two lives, Adrian. And those are still the only words you have for me.”

Without warning, he leaned across the seat and kissed me hard.

I shoved him away, but he caught the back of my neck and pressed his forehead against mine.

“Evelyn, this is the last time I’ll ever ask you to endure something for me. We’re only going to the warehouse to pay what they’re demanding and bring Celeste home. Nothing will happen to you.”

His voice dropped into the solemn tone he always used when making promises he had no intention of keeping.

“After this, I’ll speak to both families. I’ll marry you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for everything I did.”

My lips moved, but my voice came out hoarse.

“I only have one question left for you. Can’t you see that Celeste did this deliberately? She went there alone because she wanted everyone’s attention. She knew you and Julian would rush in to save her.”

Adrian fell silent and turned toward the window.

“I don’t know.”

I stared at his reflection in the glass.

Did he truly not know, or did he know and prefer to pretend otherwise?

It was almost laughable. They both understood Celeste’s games, yet when she created another disaster, they still chose to push me into danger to protect her.

The warehouse office was dimly lit, its heavy steel doors shutting out every sound from the road. Debt notices and copied contracts covered the long table in the center of the room.

Celeste had been tied to a chair near the loading bay. Her makeup was streaked with tears, and the moment she saw us, panic and pleading flooded her eyes.

Julian rushed toward her.

“Celeste, are you hurt?”

“Not another step.”

The man behind the table snapped his fingers, and two armed guards immediately blocked Julian’s path.

“We’re not interested in your family reunion,” the manager said. “You either repay her debt before dawn, or we put her in that sedan and send it into the flooded quarry. By the time anyone finds the wreckage, it will look like an accident.”

Adrian’s hands curled into fists.

“How much does she owe?”

The manager pushed one of the documents across the table.

“Eighty million dollars. She signed her family’s name to every page, so we expect every dollar.”

“Eighty million?” Julian stared at Celeste in disbelief.

Neither family could produce that much available cash in a matter of hours.

Julian looked from the debt documents to Celeste. Then his gaze slowly shifted toward me, and something frantic and cruel began to take shape in his eyes.

“Evelyn is a Hart, too,” he said. “Keep her instead.”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard him.

Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward me.

Adrian’s voice dropped dangerously low.

“What did you just say?”

Julian gave a cold laugh, as though his suggestion were perfectly reasonable.

“Celeste only came here because Evelyn humiliated her and refused to hand over the Lisbon division. Celeste wanted to prove herself. None of this would have happened otherwise.”

He pointed at me.

“Keep Evelyn as collateral. We’ll take Celeste home, raise the money, and return before dawn.”

The manager studied me with open interest.

“She controls the Lisbon assets, doesn’t she? In that case, she may be worth more to us than your fiancée.”

“No,” Adrian said immediately.

Celeste suddenly began sobbing so violently that her entire body shook.

“Adrian, please help me. I don’t want to die in that car. Please take me home.”

The certainty in Adrian’s expression wavered.

His fists tightened as his gaze moved between Celeste and me. Finally, he stepped closer and spoke in the careful, gentle voice he always used when asking me to sacrifice something for her.

“Evelyn, I know you don’t truly want Celeste to be hurt. Stay here for a few hours while we arrange the money. I’ll come back for you before they can do anything.”

The blood in my body seemed to freeze.

I looked at him and forced a smile that felt uglier than tears.

“Did I hear you correctly? You want to leave me here so you can take her home?”

Guilt and conflict filled his eyes, but neither emotion was strong enough to make him change his mind.

“I’ll come back for you,” he said. “I swear.”

Julian frowned impatiently.

“They’re only asking you to wait while we raise the money. Celeste has already been trapped here for hours. Why can’t you do the same for her?”

Because Celeste could be certain that they would return for her.

What could I expect them to return for me with?

Before the guards could drag me toward the chair, I used all my strength to catch Adrian’s wrist.

“Are you really going to leave me beside another car?”

His entire body stiffened.

I tightened my fingers around him and forced him to look at me.

“You remember our first life. You remember pushing me in front of that SUV and watching me die. Are you really going to do it again?”

Adrian lifted his other hand as though he meant to pull me away from the guards.

Before he could touch me, Celeste threw herself against him. She tore my fingers from his wrist and clung desperately to his arm.

“I’m terrified, Adrian. Please take me home. I can’t stay here for another second.”

The struggle in his eyes disappeared as he looked down at her.

He put an arm around Celeste and turned to me.

“I know this is unfair, but Celeste can’t die here. She’s always dreamed of having a family and children of her own.”

A bitter laugh escaped me.

“So you’re asking me to die in her place.”

“You won’t die.” He spoke quickly, as though he were afraid he might change his mind if he hesitated. “I’ll start raising the money as soon as we leave. Once I bring you home, we’ll get married immediately. I’ll make everything right.”

The guards restrained my arms while Julian untied Celeste.

She rushed into Adrian’s embrace, and he held her as though she were the only person in the room who needed protection.

As they walked toward the exit, Adrian looked back at me one last time.

“Wait for me, Evelyn.”

The steel door slammed shut behind them.

The warehouse fell silent.

The fear vanished from my face.

The guards immediately released me, while the manager swept the debt documents from the table and replaced them with two glasses of champagne.

I slowly straightened my coat and looked toward the closed door through which Adrian had abandoned me for the second time.

Then I raised one hand.

“Continue with the plan.”

The men who had been posing as guards lowered their weapons and bowed. One of my family’s soldiers stepped forward, and I handed him the Hart signet ring containing the chip that monitored my vital signs.

He placed it on the concrete floor and crushed it beneath his boot.

Within minutes, every member of the Hart family would receive the same message:

Evelyn Hart was dead.

The warehouse manager lifted his glass to me, an amused smile appearing on his face.

“To your new life.”

I picked up the second glass.

From that moment on, Evelyn Hart was dead.

The woman reborn in her place would make every last one of them live in terror.