Chapter 1

I opened my eyes again. The cold still clung to my skin.

The terror from my final moments — that suffocating grip on every nerve — hadn't left me yet.

I was locked in a psychiatric facility. So how am I back here, on the day I married Ethan?

I've been reborn.

A rush of wild joy swept through me.

Does this mean I can change the fate of myself and my family?

In my past life, Ethan had crushed my entire family into bankruptcy — all for the sake of his first love.

Then, after he'd destroyed everything we had, he had me committed. The orderlies were free to do whatever they wanted to me. I died slowly, broken, in the cold of a winter night.

This time around, I had spent my days scouring the world for women who looked like her — like Catherine, his precious first love.

This time, I want to see for myself just how unshakeable this great love of yours really is.

In my past life, Ethan and I married as part of a business arrangement between our two families. At first, we managed a civil enough distance.

Then his first love, Catherine Cole, came back from abroad — and everything changed.

I didn't care how many women he kept on the side. Our marriage was a bridge between the Song family and the Lu family, and that was all it needed to be.

But I underestimated how cruel people could be. And I overestimated how much that bridge meant to him.

All it took was Catherine saying she refused to get involved with a married man.

That one sentence was enough for Ethan to make up his mind. He planted spies inside my family's company, stole our most valuable technology, then turned around and accused us of wrongdoing.

He drove the Song Group into bankruptcy. My brother and my father were sent to prison.

When my mother heard the news, she stepped off the roof of the Song Group building.

And me — I went after Ethan with nothing left to lose. He had me committed to a psychiatric facility for it.

I endured the orderlies' endless cruelty until one winter night, they left me outside in the cold and I never came back in.

Thinking about it now, I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek until I tasted iron.

Ethan. This life, it's your turn to pay.

After the wedding, Ethan and I moved into his villa up in the hills. I hadn't noticed before, but the whole place was soaked in memories of him and Catherine.

The pink stuffed animals on the couch. The bow-tied curtains. The sweet floral diffuser in the bathroom.

Eight years, and he'd kept every trace of their life together perfectly intact.

First thing the next morning, I called the housekeeper and had all of it removed.

When Ethan woke up and found the house completely transformed, he came at me furious.

"What did you do? You completely rearranged my house without even asking me?"

I looked at him with a calm smile, mockery tucked just beneath the surface.

"Your house? We're married — I live here too. Why can't I change what I don't like?" I tilted my head. "Or are you saying you never actually intended to make this marriage work?"

Ethan's move against my family wouldn't come for another two years. Right now, he still needed the Song family's support, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger.

"I'm sorry. I lost my temper. That was out of line."

He stared at me, his words slow and deliberate.

I pretended not to notice the fury in his eyes. I didn't even bother responding.

After breakfast, I went back to the office at Song Group.

My brother, Marcus, looked up in surprise when he saw me walk in.

"Why didn't you take a few more days? Aren't you two supposed to be on your honeymoon?"

I laughed it off. "I wasn't feeling it. I'm young — I have plenty of time to travel. Right now I'd rather be building something."

Marcus shook his head with a grin and gave me a light knock on the head.

"Relax. Even if you turned out to be completely useless, I'd still take care of you."

My throat tightened. I almost cried right there.

My brother. This wonderful, ridiculous man. In my last life, he ended up in prison because of me, beaten so badly he walked with a permanent limp.

I pushed the rage back down and called my assistant over. I handed her a photo and a USB drive.

"Find me at least five women who look as close to this person as possible."

"Have them study the videos on that drive. Every gesture, every expression — I want them to learn how she moves, how she smiles."

"It has to be convincing. So convincing that even I can't tell them apart from the real thing."

What I was doing didn't stay secret from my parents or Marcus for long.

At dinner, my father glanced at me carefully, then finally spoke up.

"Ava... who is this woman you've been looking for?"