Chapter 1

1: 1

At the party for our tenth wedding anniversary, I caught my husband, Hubert Delgado, with his assistant in the back garden.

Hubert knelt on the ground and begged me to forgive him, while Winifred Galloway stood there half-dressed, cursed and mocked by everyone present.

With both families pleading without end, and for the sake of ten years as husband and wife, my heart softened and I forgave him.

Hubert got up, pulled me into his arms, and thanked me over and over.

After that, he was even more attentive and tender, giving in to me on everything.

Until the day he finally got his hands on my Gilbert family shares. Then, under the excuse of taking me abroad to recover, he had me sent into the Maine underground prison.

He stood in front of the iron cage, his eyes cold and cruel.

"You killed Winifred and the baby both. What right do you have to keep living in luxury?"

"For the rest of your life, you'll stay here and serve these men, and rot to death in this place."

Only then did I learn that after Winifred was disgraced, she had no choice but to go back to her hometown and marry. On her wedding day she hemorrhaged and died.

When she died, she was three months pregnant.

So all along, he had hated me for killing the woman he loved, and he wanted me to die drowning in suffering.

The moment they stripped my clothes off and the crowd closed in, I threw myself headfirst against the iron cage and died with hatred in my heart.

When I opened my eyes again, I was somehow back on the day of the party.

This time, I watched Hubert signal Winifred with his eyes, watched them slip away one after the other toward the back garden, and I did not rush after them.

I turned instead, lifted my glass, and walked toward a few of the Delgado family's business partners, cold ice spreading at the bottom of my eyes.

Hubert Delgado, this life, it's your turn to go to hell.

1

In the grand hall, lights blazing, the instant our glasses clinked, Bertram James laughed and teased,

"Ms. Gilbert, with the Gilberts and the Delgados joining hands, you've swallowed up half of New York. The rest of us can barely scrape by anymore."

"Ms. Gilbert, you and Mr. Delgado are so devoted, a harvest in both love and business. You really make old men like us green with envy."

Kieran Cannon laughed and joined in ribbing me too.

I forced down the sharp ache running through my nerves, held up my most gracious smile, and traded pleasantries with them.

My best friend, Carissa Winfield, carried the hem of her gown and strode over to me, murmuring quickly,

"Polly Gilbert, I just saw your Hubert go out back with that little tramp. Something is definitely going on. You'd better go check."

My fingernails dug into my palm. I smiled and pressed the glass into her hand.

"Carissa, haven't you always admired the great Expert Finch? He's here today. Let me take you to meet him."

Carissa flushed at once and protested shyly,

"That's not true. Don't talk nonsense."

I smiled and took her warm, soft hand, leading her toward Mike Finch in the corner.

Slowly my heart quieted. It was good. They were all still here.

In my last life, when Carissa learned I had gone missing in Maine, she was the first to suspect Hubert. She started investigating everywhere and pulling every connection she could, and in the end the Winfield family was crushed into bankruptcy by Hubert, and Carissa was driven by creditors to sell her body and died of depression.

This life, I would not let her suffer even a little more. I would help her get what her heart wanted.

It was also the first move I set down on the board for myself.

Carissa came back to herself and started tugging at me to go to the back garden.

"Polly, I really did see it. We can't let that shameless pair off today. With this many people here, we'll strip them bare in front of everyone."

I raised a finger, gave a soft shush, and shook my head with a smile.

"Carissa, if a dog wants to eat filth, just let it. Why get yourself stinking over it?"

"The great Expert Finch is watching you. Don't get distracted."

Carissa stared at me in surprise, but in the end I pulled her over to stand in front of Mike Finch.

Watching the two of them smile at each other, I smiled too.

No one knew that a year from now Mike Finch would develop the embedded ultra-thin chip, and no one knew that he actually cared for Carissa too.

It was only that her nouveau-riche father looked down on a poor scholar, and the poor scholar, ashamed, played mute.

I deliberately kept feeding the two of them things to talk about, and twenty minutes later, Hubert came back looking perfectly proper.

His face was bright with pleasure. He strode up to me and slid an arm around my waist.

"Polly, I just stepped out to take a call. We closed the redevelopment project for the South Side old district. Today really is double happiness."

I smiled, quietly pushed his arm away, and swallowed the fury churning inside me.

"Wonderful, honey. I'll back you all the way. Tomorrow I'll have Dad put another billion into us. We have to finish this government project beautifully."

Wild joy flashed through Hubert's eyes. He grabbed me at once and kissed me on the forehead with a smack.

"Sweetheart, thank you. I always knew you were the best wife a man could have."

All the guests crowded around, showering Hubert with compliments and fawning over him.

I praised him too, smiling, and watched the smugness flicker at the corner of his eye.

Hubert Delgado, go ahead, laugh. The South Side project will be the knock on the door to your hell.