3: 3

03

I found out how my sister felt the day Nathaniel came home from the hospital.

I took care of him at home, gave it everything I had.

He said he wanted soup, so I spent an hour busy in the kitchen.

By the time I carried the fresh pot upstairs, Nathaniel was gone.

The bedroom window stood wide open, the wind lifting the curtains high.

I panicked, terrified something had happened to him, and rushed to the window, only to see my sister standing down in the courtyard.

She demanded, "Why didn't you tell me it was you?"

Nathaniel's eyes were red, his whole body taut with restraint. "Better that I grieve alone than the two of us grieve together."

That was how I learned my sister had once had a boyfriend.

An online relationship. They'd never met, never even known each other's names.

Later the man was pushed into marriage by his family, and the two of them broke it off.

My sister was sick for a long time over it, wasted away to almost nothing.

Nathaniel drank himself under every day, in agony.

Neither of them knew they were meant to be husband and wife.

It was only by some cruel mix-up that I ended up wedged between them.

Nathaniel was the first to realize it.

At the wedding, the moment he heard Augusta Pruitt speak, he recognized the woman he loved.

My sister cried until she nearly fell apart. She grabbed Nathaniel by the collar and demanded like a woman gone mad, "You recognized me, so why did you still marry her? You could have called off the wedding, you could have made me the bride. Why didn't you!"

"If I'd done that, what would have happened to Antonia?"

My sister froze.

She'd grown up used to taking whatever she wanted from me, never once thinking about how humiliated I would have been if Nathaniel had called off the wedding that day.

A second earlier I'd been aching at the discovery of what the two of them felt for each other, but hearing Nathaniel say that, something sweet rose up in me despite everything.

I thought Nathaniel probably loved me. Otherwise why would he speak up for me instead of taking my sister's side?

But the next second, his words shattered every illusion I had.

"Most of all, the Sanchez family is too complicated right now. I don't want you to suffer."

What suffering was there in the Sanchez family?

Nothing but a few jabs from the elders, a few sneers from the cousins on the side branches.

What kind of suffering was that?

It wasn't even as hard as my days at home.

Yet even that small amount of suffering, they refused to let my sister endure.

Augusta Pruitt held Nathaniel's sleeve, tipped her face up to him, and asked, "Nathaniel, once the Sanchez family settles down, will you divorce her? Please?"

I stared hard at Nathaniel, even more on edge than Augusta.

Nathaniel gently tucked the loose strands of hair from Augusta's forehead behind her ear, and said, "All right."

I couldn't say what I felt in that moment, only that my future had already been given its ending.

And now, all I feel is relief.

Thank God I've been given this life again, a chance to set all of it right.

When I told my parents that Nathaniel was my sister's online boyfriend, they hesitated.

They didn't know how much my sister loved this boyfriend, but they knew she'd fallen gravely ill over him, had wasted away.

They ached for their daughter.

But the Sanchez family was in too much chaos now, and they were afraid my sister would lose out if she married in.

That was when I laid down my second bargaining chip.

"I hear the Griffin heir's father has ordered him to marry within the month. I'm willing to marry into the Griffin family instead."

4: 4

04

The harbor city had plenty of great families out in the open, but underground there was only one: the Griffins.

Rumor had it they held countless casinos, and could make more in a single night than most old families earned in a lifetime of grinding.

And the Griffins had only one heir, Gordon.

By all logic, people should have been clamoring to marry into the family. In truth, everyone kept their distance.

Because Gordon Griffin was cursed to bring death to his wives.

He had married seven times, and every wife had died a terrible death.

So no one in the harbor city dared marry him.

But I had no choice.

He was my only way out of the Pruitt family.

My parents hesitated.

Not because they thought marrying me off to Gordon Griffin was a bad idea, but because they were wondering whether Augusta would have a good life married to Nathaniel Sanchez.

I closed my eyes for a moment, then said, "Once I marry into the Griffin family, Gordon becomes Nathaniel's brother-in-law. The Sanchez family won't dare touch him or Augusta. And he loves her so much. She's sure to be happy."

Father mulled it over, then made the call. "I'll go see old Mr. Griffin tomorrow."

And just like that, the marriage was settled.

I went back to my room, and before I could even let out a breath, the phone rang.

An unsaved number.

But I knew it well.

It was Nathaniel Sanchez.

In my last life, we hadn't exchanged contacts until after we were married.

So I was certain. He had come back with me too.

I pressed answer, and Nathaniel's low voice came through.

"Antonia, I knew it. You came back too."

There was a smile in his voice, and it made something in me tremble.

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

He was still smiling as he said, "Antonia, I'll come to the Pruitt house to see you tomorrow."

My heart skipped a beat.

I found myself wondering if I'd decided too hastily. What if, this time around, Nathaniel and I could be happy together?

What if he loved me too?

I drifted through the whole night in a daze.

When morning came, the dream was over.

Nathaniel did come to the Pruitt house. He wasn't there for me. He was there for Augusta.

He told Augusta who he was.

At first she couldn't believe it. Then she cried and thanked the heavens for arranging it, or the two of them would have missed each other.

I listened to the commotion from my room, strangely calm inside.

This was the outcome I'd seen coming all along, wasn't it?

Only after the house had gone completely quiet did I come out of my room.

Just Mother was left.

She told me Father had gone to the Griffins, and Nathaniel and Augusta had gone to Iceland.

Because Augusta's greatest wish was to see the northern lights in Iceland, just once.

I lowered my eyes and said flatly, "The Griffin marriage. Make it quick."

That same night, Father came back with news.

The Griffins were even more anxious than we'd imagined.

They wanted me to go with Gordon the very next day to file for the marriage license and move into the Griffin house.

Father had been hesitant at first, but the Griffins said they'd sign over three of their companies to the Pruitt family.

The moment he heard that, he agreed without a second thought.

So the minute he got home, he was pushing me to pack, telling me to be at the county clerk's office the second the doors opened the next day.

I had no complaints. I packed my things.

And when the Griffins sent someone to collect me, I got in the car without a fuss.

Meanwhile.

In Iceland, Nathaniel's eyelid twitched all at once.

He didn't feel that anything bad had happened, only that Iceland, locked in its endless night, was a little dull.

But he couldn't leave yet.

He owed Augusta too much in his last life, so in this one he meant to take her through everything she wanted to do.

And then marry Antonia with a clear conscience.

The thought of Antonia brought a faint smile to his lips.

"What are you smiling about?" Augusta asked, tilting her face up at him.

His smile dimmed a little. Every time he looked at Augusta, he thought of everything Antonia had suffered in the Pruitt house.

Still, he answered mildly. "Nothing."

He spent a month traveling abroad with Augusta.

She was reluctant to leave and pouted at him. "Nathaniel, let's stay a little longer, please? I don't want to go home!"

He felt a flicker of irritation. It was almost the time when he and Antonia had married in his last life.

This time, he wanted to give Antonia a grand wedding.

So for the first time, he refused Augusta flatly.

Augusta cried, heartbroken.

He didn't go to comfort her.

His mind and eyes were full of Antonia, and the thought of taking her as his wife again made him smile despite himself.

But when he returned to the Pruitt house, something felt off.

Calvin and Samantha asked him, all warmth, when he would be marrying Augusta.

He pushed down the unease in his chest and said in earnest, "Uncle, Aunt, there's been a misunderstanding. The one I want to marry isn't Augusta. It's Antonia."

"But Antonia's already married!"