Garland’s POV
Then she’d push me away, saying, “I’m going to take a shower.”
That was how our days went—for eight long years… until a business party a year ago.
Someone spiked Cherity’s drink. Disoriented, she ended up sleeping with Barrett Durnam, the underprivileged student I had sponsored.
It was as if the gears of fate suddenly shifted. Everything started spiraling out of control.
In my past life, when Cherity found out she was pregnant, she became obsessed—desperately looking forward to the twins’ birth, longing for a family.
She was even willing to hide her lover in a gilded cage.
When I caught them, she didn’t offer a single word of explanation.
Instead, she coldly demanded a divorce.
It wasn’t until I died that I learned the truth.
She had long since fallen in love with someone else.
So this time, I wouldn’t crash their baby’s one-month celebration.
Instead, I myself called the lawyer.
“Please draft a divorce agreement. Yes, the sooner the better.”
I chose to let her go and let her be with her lover.
I thought that as long as I stayed out of their affair this time—if I willingly agreed to the divorce—I could avoid another disaster.
But I didn’t expect that half an hour later, Cherity kicked down my door in a rage.
“Garland!”
Her eyes were bloodshot as she stormed in, grabbing my chin with brutal force.
“Talk! What did you do to Barrett? Where the hell is he?”
I stared into her eyes in shock, my breath catching in my throat.
“I didn’t. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Clearly, in this life, I hadn’t gotten involved between them at all.
Weren’t they supposed to be hosting their baby’s celebration in their private villa right now?
Suddenly, Cherity let out a cold, mocking laugh.
“Cut the act. I know you were reborn,” she spat.
“Last time, you’d rather die than sign the divorce papers—all because you couldn’t let go of your status as the head of the Windermeres. Now you knew today was our baby’ celebration, so you used that damn sponsorship to threaten Barrett into disappearing, didn’t you?”
I was so stunned I couldn’t even speak.
She gripped my neck tighter, cutting off the last of my air. I clawed at her hand, my chest heaving as I struggled.
I choked out, “You’ve got it all wrong! I swear… I don’t know anything—”
“Garland,” she hissed, “my patience has limits.”
Then she flung me aside and barked orders at the bodyguards. They tied me up while she stood there, unreadable, lighting a cigarette.
“I’ll give you five minutes. Tell me where Barrett is. Or I’ll make sure you lose the only family you have left.”
My head snapped up, my eyes blazing red. “Don’t you dare!”
My parents died when I was young. The only family I had left was my younger brother Ashwyn. We relied on each other to survive.
Cherity understood human nature all too well.
She knew exactly where my weak spot was.
But my brother had already paid the price once. There was no way I’d let her drag him down again.
I dropped to my knees with a thud, begging her with everything I had.
“Cherity, please. For the sake of the eight years we were married, believe me—just this once,” I began.
“I didn’t do anything to Barrett,” I said. “I don’t know where he is. I’ve already agreed to the divorce. Ask the lawyer if you don’t believe me!”
I was frantic to prove my innocence, but Cherity just stared at me, her eyes like ice.
She let out a sharp laugh.
“You think lying like this will buy you time? If you’d been so willing to divorce me in our past lives, your brother wouldn’t have died right in front of you!”
The next thing I knew, she pressed the lit end of her cigarette into my collarbone.
A wave of searing pain hit me, and I couldn’t stop the groan that tore from my throat.
But her gaze just stayed merciless.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” she sneered. “Barrett’s gone. The pain I feel? It’s a thousand times worse than this.”
She glanced at the burn she’d left on my skin. Something flickered in her eyes before she finally tossed the cigarette away.
