In my past life, Daniel was injured while skiing and missed Isabella’s last birthday. He resented me until his dying breath.

I shook my head.

“No. If your father is upset, just tell him it was my idea not to go.”

Daniel froze, surprised at my refusal. Then he sneered.

“So you’ve learned to play hard-to-get? Whatever tricks you’ve picked up, I’ll never fall for you.”

Seeing me bow my head in silence, he frowned again.

“Upset just because I scolded you? If you want to ski, just say it. I’ll pick you up in two days.”

He was always like this—dangling false hope just when I resolved to stop loving him.

I gave a bitter smile and raised my head calmly.

“Daniel, I don’t want to go.”

This time, I wouldn’t repeat the same mistake.

His face darkened.

“Emma Scott, you say no now, but later you’ll run to my father complaining about me.”

So that was the reason for his rare compromises—fear of my “complaints.”

Before I could respond, Isabella suddenly appeared.

She looked startled, then clung timidly behind Daniel.

“Miss Scott, I didn’t mean to intrude. Don’t be angry. Daniel left his tie at my house last night. I just came to return it.”

Her fingers wound the tie around and around, her smile taunting as she glanced at me.

“Daniel, explain to Miss Scott quickly. Don’t let her misunderstand.”

But Daniel snapped, furious:

“Why should I explain anything to her?”

“Emma Scott, how dare you bully Isabella in front of me! Just because she comes from nothing, you’ve looked down on her since childhood. Is this the Scott family’s idea of manners—using power to oppress others?!”

See? I didn’t even need to act. In his eyes, I was already guilty beyond redemption.

When Daniel was twelve, his family’s housekeeper died. Out of gratitude for her years of service, the Carters adopted her daughter—Isabella.

One accusation—that I’d pushed her down the stairs—was all it took for Daniel to cut ties with me.

I liked him back then. To please him, I swallowed countless humiliations and apologized to Isabella again and again.

Every time she teared up, Daniel would stand firmly by her side, forcing me to bow my head.

Even in death, she was a thorn in his heart.

A thorn that pierced through our ten-year marriage.

But I was tired now.

“Daniel, if you love Isabella so much, then let’s cancel the engagement between our families. I’ll set you free.”

He frowned, but before he could speak, Isabella dropped to her knees, tears brimming.

“Miss Scott, please don’t make things difficult for Daniel. Yesterday, he only slept in my bed because he was drunk after fighting with you.”

I laughed softly.

She cowered behind him as if I were a monster.

The sight stabbed at Daniel, and he gently pulled her up, his voice full of pain.

“Isabella, don’t kneel to her. Emma loves me too much to cancel the engagement. She’s just putting on a show because there are cameras here, so she can complain to my father later.”

For the first time, I felt disgust toward him.

“Daniel, you really think too highly of yourself. Who said I wanted to marry you?”

I brushed past him coldly.

I thought he would finally understand. But suddenly, he grabbed my wrist.

For the first time since our break, he touched me of his own accord.

“If you won’t marry me, who will you marry? Emma Scott, if you apologize to Isabella right now, I’ll keep my word and make you my wife.”

Isabella’s face turned pale, her head shaking.

“Daniel, I’m not worth such a sacrifice.”

But Daniel looked at me as if I had dishonored him.

“I’ve already agreed to marry you, and you still won’t apologize to Isabella?”

And why, exactly, did he believe the daughter of the Scott family had no choice but him?

With Isabella’s triumphant gaze upon me, I sneered.

“My wedding will take place in three days, as planned. But the groom won’t be you, Daniel—it will be Adrian Hughes.”

The Hughes family, upon receiving news of the alliance, immediately sent several billion-dollar contracts as a betrothal gift.

Yet somehow, rumors spread that it was the Carter family proposing to us.

Worried I’d be upset, my father told me to pick out dowry gifts at an auction house in New York.

But the moment I stepped inside, I ran into Daniel and Isabella.

She trembled and clung to him again.

“Daniel, maybe I should leave. If Miss Scott sees me, she’ll get someone to punish me again.”

Daniel pulled her close protectively, glaring at me with rage.

“Emma Scott, I underestimated you. Spreading lies to the media that my family was proposing to yours was bad enough, but arranging men to defile Isabella? If I hadn’t arrived in time, her whole life would have been ruined!”

His words sparked a wave of mocking whispers.

“I heard Emma Scott was Daniel’s lapdog. Didn’t think she’d be this shameless—willing to do anything to marry into the Carter family.”

“And look—he’s humiliating her in public. If I were her, I wouldn’t show my face again. What a disgrace to the Scott family.”

In my past life, my obsession with Daniel made me a laughingstock. Even after marriage, he never gave me respect.

At banquets, he’d rather bring his female assistant than me.

He never clarified any scandal. I was Mrs. Carter in name only.

All of it was meant to humiliate me.

I only hated myself—for needing to die once before finding the strength to leave him.

Seeing me stunned, Daniel grew impatient.

“Nothing to say? Emma Scott, when did you become so vicious?”

In my past life, Isabella’s accusation—that I had hired men to assault her—came a week later. Now, just because of a media report, she had accelerated her scheme.

I spent that life trying to explain, but Daniel never believed me.

He knew I feared heights. To avenge Isabella, he had men throw me from a helicopter.

That day, the chopper circled all over Seattle. I lay in the hospital for three days and nights—and he never once came to see me.

Even later, when he discovered it was all a misunderstanding, he never apologized.

Because Isabella was already dead.

Now, he grabbed my collar, his eyes cold.

“Emma, what are you to me? Someone who obeys without question? Who gives her all, swallows every grievance, kneels to apologize to a housekeeper’s daughter whenever I demand it?”

His hand tightened around my throat, veins bulging.

“Shut up! Do you really think I wouldn’t hurt you? Afraid Isabella might stand in the way of our marriage? You could’ve found another way. Why send sick men to ruin her life?”

His grip grew stronger.