Does anyone have a link to this novel? The titwl is My Mate Wanted a Fake Mate. I Found a Real One. Problem?
Chapter 1
Everyone knew Vivian Hale was taken by force.
She had a boyfriend. Dominic Cross paid over a hundred million dollars to make him disappear. When she still refused to come to him, he locked her inside his estate and took from her day and night until she didn't have the strength to get out of bed.
She hated him enough to press a knife to his throat. He just wiped the blood from his neck, barely interested, and smiled. "Go ahead. Keep trying. If you can't kill me, you'll end up loving me."
Everyone knew the Cross patriarch was unhinged. But for Vivian Hale alone, he would have handed over his life.
He stepped in front of a bullet for her. He got down on his knees to put her shoes on. He sang to her in front of a thousand people at a gala.
The glacier melted. Vivian finally let herself feel something.
Then came their third year of marriage, and a business associate brought a college girl home. Her name was Lily Sawyer. Clear-eyed. Uncomplicated. Exactly what Vivian had looked like when they first met.
One night was all it took. Dominic changed.
He brought her home and told Vivian, without looking up from his phone, "I have enough wealth to keep two women. Plenty of men have done worse."
Vivian felt the words like a bolt through her chest. Her blood went cold. "You said. You said this life, only me."
She couldn't accept it. She tore through the mansion until her hands bled. He didn't send Lily away.
Out of options, she went to Lily herself. She slid a check across the table, a number that should have ended everything.
Lily took it. Then turned around and cried her way back to Dominic.
That same day, Dominic had Vivian's parents bound and driven to an industrial warehouse on the edge of the city. He strung them up over a roaring industrial shredder, the blades going below.
He watched Vivian fall apart with cold eyes. "Nod. Let her stay. And I'll let them go."
Vivian stared at the man she had loved to the bone, her vision drowning in tears. "Dominic! Do you remember how you took me? You said you'd only ever want me. Only ever love me. Three years. Three years, and you just. Stop? Just like that? You lied to me. You lied to me and now it's done?"
Dominic's brow tightened slightly, as if her accusation was an inconvenience. His voice stayed flat. "When did I say I stopped loving you? We registered the marriage in Ireland. You know what that means. I can't dissolve it unilaterally. I still love you."
He paused. His gaze moved briefly to Lily, who was trembling in the corner.
"I've just also fallen in love with Lily."
He said it the way someone mentions the weather. "Nod. Agree to this arrangement. I'll release your parents immediately. We can go back to the way things were."
"The way things were?" Vivian laughed until tears ran down her face. "Dominic. A person only has one heart. How can you split it between two people?"
Dominic didn't answer. He raised his hand.
The man at the winch controls began to ready himself.
Then Dominic started counting. His voice was the cold flat sound of a death sentence. "Ten."
"Nine."
The rope holding Vivian's parents began to lower.
"No! No! Mom! Dad!" Vivian screamed and lunged. The bodyguards caught her and held her back.
"Eight."
"Seven."
The rope dropped another length. The grind of the shredder filled the air like it was already inside her skull.
"Dominic! I hate you! I hate you!" Vivian's voice cracked apart.
"Six."
"Five."
Her parents' screams mixed with the noise of the machine and ate through her eardrums.
"Four!"
"Three!!"
Her parents' feet were almost touching the spinning blades.
"Two!!!"
"I agree! I agree!" In the last second, Vivian broke completely. She screamed until her voice gave out. "Let her stay! I agree! Please let my parents go! Please!"
Dominic raised his hand. The rope stopped.
A trace of satisfaction crossed his face, almost cruel. "This is how it should have been from the start. Why make it this ugly? They're the most important people in your life. I didn't want to hurt them either."
He signaled his men. "Release them."
But then, as his men scrambled at the controls, the rope snapped.
"No!"
Vivian watched her parents drop straight down into the roaring machine.
The screaming stopped. The grinding stopped. Both at once.
Only the red, and the fragments that had scattered across the floor.
The world pressed down like silence.
Vivian stared. Her pupils went wide and loose. Sound, image, sensation, all of it left her.
Something hot and metallic surged up her throat.
Blood burst from her mouth and stained the floor at her feet.
She fell straight back. Darkness swallowed her whole.
Chapter 2
She opened her eyes.
The crystal chandelier overhead. Egyptian cotton sheets beneath her. This was their bedroom, hers and Dominic's.
She sat up hard. Heart slamming. She looked at her hands. Touched her face.
She wasn't dead.
She snatched the phone off the nightstand, hands shaking.
The date on the screen. She had gone back. She was alive, back in time, to the exact day Dominic brought Lily home.
The image of her parents falling into the shredder played on repeat behind her eyes. Pain and despair crashed over her all at once.
Dominic. Lily.
She would never love him again. Not one fraction of one inch.
If he wanted Lily, she'd give him everything he wanted. She just needed her parents safe.
She scrubbed the tears off her face and ran.
She nearly fell down the stairs on her way out. She made it home, half-blind, and found her mother in the kitchen holding a tray of fresh-baked cookies, laughing at something her father had just said.
Vivian's eyes flooded. She crossed the kitchen and pulled them both in, held on.
"Vivian? What's wrong? Bad dream?" Her mother rubbed her back.
Vivian held on for a long time before she could look up. When she did, her eyes were steadier than they had ever been. "Mom. Dad. I'm divorcing Dominic. When it's done, we're leaving. All of us. We're never coming back."
Her parents stared at each other.
"Vivian." Her father's brow creased. "What are you talking about? Dominic was extreme at the beginning, yes, but look at these past years. He stepped in front of a bullet for you. He got down on his knees and begged you to forgive him. He dropped a hundred billion in business to take you to Iceland and stand in the snow for a week just because you said once that you wanted to see the Northern Lights. You finally got to where you accepted him, married him. And now out of nowhere..."
Her mother joined in. "Did you have a fight? Every couple..."
"It's not a fight."
Vivian cut them off. The ache in her chest was too sharp for words.
She knew. She didn't understand it, how the man who had loved her that fiercely could flip that easily, could do what he did. But she couldn't tell them about the other life. She could only say it again and again, steady as she could: "Trust me. Once. I have a reason I can't explain. Please."
Her parents looked at her face, at the pain in it and the absolute certainty underneath. They sighed. And believed her.
She calmed them down, then went and handled two things immediately. First, she went to the city precinct and filed a legal death declaration for herself. Second, she applied for legal name changes for all three of them.
She knew Dominic. He would never sign divorce papers. The only way out of the marriage was to be legally dead. And the name changes would cut off any future trail he might follow.
The paperwork would take a few days. To avoid raising his suspicion, she had to go back to the gilded cage in the meantime.
She stepped into the mansion's front living room and found Dominic's arm around Lily's waist, murmuring something close to her ear.
He glanced up when he heard her come in. His tone was the casual indifference of someone giving instructions to household staff. "Vivian. Come here."
He kept Lily close, one arm around her, and said the exact words Vivian already knew by heart from her other life: "This is Lily. She'll be living here from now on. I love you both. My wealth is more than enough for two. I want you to coexist peacefully and stay with me forever."
In the first life, those words had shattered her. She would have screamed and destroyed the room.
This time, she looked at him calmly. The faintest edge of something crossed her mouth. "Fine. I agree."
Dominic's eyes flickered with clear surprise. He hadn't expected compliance. "You're not going to fight me on this?"
Vivian lowered her gaze. Her voice carried nothing. "What would be the point? You said yourself you can love two women and afford them both. As long as you still 'love' me."
She said the word love like it had a splinter in it.
Dominic seemed satisfied by her obedience. He reached over and ruffled her hair. "Good girl. Go set up a guest room for Lily."
Lily immediately softened her voice to something wispy and sweet. "Vivian, don't go to any trouble. I hope we can get along well."
Vivian nodded. She turned and went to make up the room, efficient and quiet, like a well-trained hostess.
At dinner, Dominic and Lily fed each other as if no one else was there. Vivian ate what was on her plate. It tasted like nothing.
That night, Dominic told her plainly: "Monday, Wednesday, Friday I'm with you. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday I'm with Lily. Tonight is her night."
Vivian said, "Fine."
Chapter 3
The mansion was quiet that night. No screaming, no breaking glass. Just the dead stillness that meant she had nothing left to spend on tears.
She had run out in the other life, watching her parents die.
The next day, Dominic threw a gala to announce Lily's arrival. He all but declared to the whole city that he now had two wives.
The guests came in waves. So did the whispers.
Pity, contempt, schadenfreude. The looks landed on Vivian like needles. She barely felt them.
She just needed the paperwork to go through. Then she would disappear.
At the gala, Dominic announced he was signing over ten percent of his company's shares to Lily. Then he produced the Cross family heirloom, an antique diamond bracelet passed only to the matriarch of each generation. The one he had once clasped on Vivian's wrist and told her it represented everything he had and everything he felt.
Vivian watched the bracelet change hands.
She remembered the day he had put it on her. He had looked at her and said: "Vivian, I have everything. But the only thing I ever truly wanted was your love. Now that I have it, I feel like I have the world. Love me forever. All right?"
She had done that.
He hadn't.
A fine pain moved through her chest. She pushed it down and looked away.
Lily basked in the room's attention like a princess receiving tribute.
Then her gaze slid to Vivian, who had been silent all evening. Lily smiled sweetly. "Vivian, what did you get me for a gift?"
Vivian hadn't had time to think about it. "I'll make it up to you."
Lily wouldn't let it go. Her eyes traveled to the simple chain at Vivian's throat. "You don't have to wait. I love that necklace. Could you give it to me?"
Vivian's expression shifted. Her hand moved to the chain before she could stop it. "No."
It was the only thing her grandmother had left her.
Lily pouted. "Yesterday you said we'd be like sisters. You can't even give me a necklace? Don't you want me here, Vivian?"
Dominic appeared from across the room. He frowned. "What's going on?"
Lily's eyes immediately went glassy. She told him exactly what happened.
Dominic looked at Vivian. There was irritation in it. "You agreed yesterday to make this work. Already backing out?"
Then he reached out and yanked the necklace from Vivian's neck.
The chain cut into her skin as it broke. It left a red line.
He pressed the necklace into Lily's hand. "If you like it, take it."
Lily grabbed it with both hands, delighted. "Thank you! I'm going to go try it on!" She skipped up the stairs.
Vivian stood there, watching her grandmother's only belonging disappear into another woman's hands.
She counted to ten. Then she followed.
She just wanted to try to trade something else for it. Anything else.
She pushed open Lily's door. It was already ajar.
What she saw made her blood reverse.
Lily was crouching over a small dog, laughing, and looping the necklace around the dog's neck.
"What are you doing!" Vivian crossed the room in three steps. Her voice shook.
Lily startled, then smiled with her eyes. "Oh, you caught me. I thought the chain was too plain for me. Way better on a dog, right?"
Chapter 4
"Give it back." Vivian reached for it, barely holding herself together.
Lily dodged. She kept dodging, keeping it just out of reach.
Then Lily's foot slipped. She screamed. She fell backward through the open balcony door.
"Ah!"
The noise brought Dominic upstairs at a run. He was fast. He caught her just at the edge.
"Lily! What happened?" He held her, checking her over.
Vivian stepped onto the balcony. She started to speak.
Lily spoke first. She was already crying, pointing at Vivian. "Dominic. Don't blame Vivian. She was upset about the necklace, and she, she just accidentally pushed me a little..."
"I didn't push her." Vivian couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Dominic's eyes went cold. "I asked you to make this work. You agreed. Now this? It's just a necklace. I know it was your grandmother's. But it's an object. Lily wanted it. What's the problem? You really can't stand her being here?"
Vivian felt the shock of it like electricity through her chest.
He had known. He had known from the start it was her grandmother's. And he had ripped it off her throat anyway, for a woman he'd known for two days.
The wound ripped back open. She could barely breathe around it.
"I said. I didn't push her."
"Enough!" Dominic wasn't interested. "You did something wrong, and there are consequences. Go to the front entrance. Kneel. Shine the shoes of every guest who walks through. Until Lily tells me she's satisfied."
Vivian's head came up fast. "You can't humiliate me like this."
"You'd rather I ask your parents to go instead?"
The image of the other life detonated behind her eyes.
"No. Don't bring them into this. I'll go."
Her fingernails went into her palm.
For them. She could take anything.
She knelt at the entrance to the mansion in the glow of the outdoor lights, head down, and worked through every pair of shoes that passed. Guests looked at her with pity, contempt, curiosity. She felt none of it land.
She was keeping the tears locked in her throat.
When she finished shining a pair of sharp stilettos, the woman wearing them didn't move.
Vivian looked up.
The face looking down at her was full of malice and glee.
"Well. If it isn't the untouchable Mrs. Cross. How does it feel?"
Vivian recognized her immediately. Victoria Lang. Daughter of the Lang Corporation. A woman who had been obsessed with Dominic for years and had once slapped Vivian across the face when his back was turned.
Dominic had found out. He'd had someone break Victoria's hand. The Lang family had never recovered. After that, no one had dared touch Vivian.
Until now.
Vivian felt it coming before it happened.
Victoria lifted her foot and brought her stiletto heel down on the back of Vivian's hand.
The pain was blinding. Vivian cried out before she could stop herself.
Victoria laughed, pressing harder, grinding the heel across Vivian's fingers one by one, like she was trying to shatter every knuckle.
"Does that hurt? You walked around like you owned this city because he loved you. Look at you now. He doesn't want you anymore. You're nothing. Just a dog no one will take home."
The pain took over everything. Vivian's face went white. Cold sweat soaked through her back.
Through swimming vision, she looked up toward the second-floor terrace.
Dominic was standing there. A glass in his hand. Watching.
His brow furrowed slightly. His body shifted forward. He almost said something.
Then Lily pressed against his side, tipped her chin up, and murmured something in his ear.
He stopped.
He looked down at Lily. Then he put his arm around her waist. When he looked back down at the entrance, his eyes had already gone flat.
Vivian watched Lily's mouth curve in a smile that vanished almost before it appeared. She couldn't hear Dominic's exact words across the distance, but she could read them plainly.
"...don't worry about her... let her learn a lesson... she won't act out again..."
The last of anything in her chest gave out.
She couldn't hold herself up. The darkness took her.
The night my bar opened, my husband, Lieutenant Ryan Chase, slammed me to the floor. Lydia Chase, you’re under arrest! Drug trafficking! My staff went off. Show us proof or we’ll report you for assault! Ryan didn’t even look at them. Proof? My partner Vivian saw it. That’s all I need! Keep pushing me. When I find something, every single one of you is fucked! How to read My Cop Husband Arrested Me for Her Promotion? Surprise I'm Undercover Novel : Here
"Sixty minutes, Elora." Maya, my wedding coordinator, tapped her silver pen against her clipboard. "Are you ready to become Mrs. Thorne?"
"I've been ready for two years," I said. My fingers brushed the delicate white buds of the baby's breath bouquet. I had specifically asked the florist to wrap them around a few hidden white roses, thorns intact.
"Your dress looks flawless," Maya added. She crouched down, adjusting the heavy silk train of my gown. "Where is your sister? She’s supposed to be helping you with the veil."
"Selene said she needed to fix her makeup."
"Well, find her. I need you both in the staging area in ten minutes."
"Did you confirm the string quartet?" I asked.
"Yes, they are setting up in the garden right now," Maya replied. "Are you absolutely sure about the vanilla frosting on the cake? Kael mentioned he preferred dark chocolate. He called me twice this morning about it."
"I compromised on the venue," I said. "He can compromise on the cake. Besides, vanilla is classic. It's what we agreed on months ago."
"Fair enough. Call Selene. She has the rings, and the photographer wants group shots in the conservatory before the guests arrive."
Maya hurried down the corridor. I pulled my phone from the small bridal clutch on the table and dialed my sister’s number.
It rang twice. Then went to voicemail.
I adjusted my grip on the floral arrangement and walked toward the bridal lounge. The thick carpet absorbed the sound of my steps. The hallway smelled of fresh lilies and expensive wax.
I reached for the brass handle of the lounge door. It sat slightly ajar. A sliver of golden light spilled onto the hallway floor.
A faint, muffled ringtone drifted through the gap. Selene’s phone.
Before I could push the door open, a voice followed the electronic melody.
"Your phone is ringing." Kael's voice was low, rougher than the gentle tone he used with me.
My hand froze in the air.
"Ignore it," Selene answered. A soft thud echoed off the walls. "It's probably just my sister freaking out over a misplaced napkin."
"You should answer it."
"Why? So I can listen to her whine about her perfect day? I'm busy."
"Selene..."
"Are you annoyed, Kael? Does it bother you that she's out there playing the blushing bride while you're in here looking at me like you want to devour me?"
"You talk too much."
"And you think too much. Look at me."
My stomach twisted. The hallway suddenly felt entirely devoid of oxygen. I pressed my fingertips against the cool wood of the door.
"You don't have to do this, Kael," Selene said, her tone shifting to a mocking whisper. "You can still run."
"Don't start, Sel."
"I'm just saying. Look at this wedding. It's a joke. She's so... predictable. A baby's breath bouquet? A pure white dress? She's vanilla, Kael. You hate vanilla."
"Shut up," he muttered.
"Make me."
A sharp scrape of wood against the floorboards followed.
"Are you going to pretend you don't want this?" Selene asked. "Even now? One hour before you sign your life away to a woman who schedules her intimacy on a calendar?"
"I'm marrying your sister."
"That's a fact, not a defense."
"Selene, stop."
"You're the one holding my hips, Kael. If you really wanted me to stop, you'd drop your hands."
"You drive me insane."
"I keep you alive. She bores you to death. Tell me I'm wrong."
I pushed the door inward. Just an inch.
"Tell me to leave," Selene whispered. "Say the word, and I'll walk out of this room. I'll go stand next to her at the altar and smile."
"You know I won't do that," Kael replied.
"Then prove it."
Through the narrow opening, the mirror above the vanity reflected the entire room. Kael had Selene pinned against the edge of the makeup table. His hands gripped her waist, his knuckles white against her dark purple bridesmaid dress.
"You're ruined," he growled.
He slammed his mouth down on hers.
Selene laughed against his lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Her fingers tangled in the dark hair I had lovingly trimmed just three days ago.
My gaze dropped to the floor.
My backup wedding dress—the reception gown I had hung so carefully on the wardrobe door—lay in a crumpled heap on the floorboards. Selene's silver stiletto dug directly into the pure white silk. She ground her heel into the delicate fabric as she kissed my fiancé.
"Kael," she moaned into his mouth.
"Quiet," he ordered. He kissed her harder, his hands moving up her sides. "Someone will hear."
"Let them."
I couldn't scream. My throat locked tight. Instead of a sob, a hollow, empty silence swallowed me whole. A bizarre sense of calm washed over my burning eyes.
I took a step backward.
*Crunch.*
My thin-soled shoe came down on something hard. A dropped champagne flute, abandoned in the hallway, shattered under my weight.
Jagged glass sliced through the satin fabric of my heel. The shards drove deep into my skin.
I didn't flinch. A high-pitched ringing erupted in my ears, drowning out the physical agony. The sound masked the sting in my foot. The world tilted, spinning on an axis of pure betrayal.
My fist closed tighter around my bouquet. The hidden rose thorns pierced through the floral tape. They dug into my palm, snapping under the sheer force of my grip.
Warm liquid pooled in the center of my hand.
"More," Selene begged from inside the room.
I squeezed the stems until the wood cracked. Blood slid down the lifelines of my palm. A single crimson drop fell.
It hit the pure white hallway carpet with a muted splash.
Then another.
And another.
The ringing in my head grew deafening. The scent of vanilla frosting from the kitchens below suddenly made me nauseous.
Inside the lounge, Kael suddenly tore his mouth away from Selene's. His head snapped toward the door.
"What was that?" he demanded. His chest heaved rapidly.
"Nothing," Selene pouted. She reached for his collar, trying to pull him back. "Just ignore it."
Kael shoved her backward. Her spine hit the vanity mirror with a loud crack.
"I said, what was that?"
He took a wide step toward the door. His dark eyes locked onto the narrow opening. He didn't see my face. I stood perfectly still, hidden in the shadows of the corridor.
But Kael's gaze didn't search for a face. His eyes tracked downward.
They fixed instantly on the bright, fresh droplets of blood staining the white carpet just outside the threshold.
Chapter 1
The night I got engaged to Ethan Shaw, a ghost showed up out of nowhere.
"No way I'm letting this happen. Dump him. Now."
I acted like I couldn't see her. She floated straight into my face anyway.
"After you two get married, he's going to harvest your kidney for his precious ex, sell off your daughter, drain your parents dry, and leave you dead at the bottom of a building!."
My whole body went rigid. “Am I really that hard to kill? Who even are you?”
She tapped her chin, tilted her head up with a little smirk.
"I'm your mommy!"
"Ellie, listen to Mom. This man is a walking disaster. Don't walk into it. I'll set you up with someone so much better."
But Ethan had saved my life. And with the Shaw family in freefall, a Shaw-Bennett alliance was the only move that made sense.
***
My eyes drifted to Ethan across the room.
"Just trust me, baby... Mom would never hurt you."
The little ghost sat at my side. Another girl sat at Ethan's.
This was our engagement night, and his mouth was practically pressed to her cheek.
Whatever this was, it wasn't nothing.
Lily Baxter was the bar's new bottle girl. Flat broke, perpetually wide-eyed, the kind of girl who collects sympathy like currency.
She'd spilled a drink all over Ethan, soaking the suit I'd had custom-made for him.
She threw herself against his chest to dab at it. “Sir, I’m so sorry. I can pay for dry cleaning, I promise.”
I'd been ready to wave it off.
Ethan gave a cold laugh. “Dry cleaning doesn’t cut it. Write me an IOU. You’re working off every penny.”
And just like that, she was in his orbit.
Every time he came to this bar after that, he made sure she was the one serving him.
He kept her covered, used his name to protect her.
His explanation to me was always the same: “Just helping her pay me back faster. That’s all.”
When he sent me designer bags, his assistant dropped one off for her too.
When a drunk customer got rough with her, Ethan personally went and handled it.
His friends started whispering. Was something going on there?
Ethan laughed it off every time and pulled me closer. “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s just staff. The only woman I’m marrying is Ellie.”
“Ellie! Lily poured that for you. Drink up.”
He flicked a peanut at me and hit me square in the forehead. I caught a glimpse of him and Lily pressed close together.
He cleared his throat. “Are you jealous? I’ll come sit next to you. Happy?”
I took the glass from his hand. The little ghost opened her mouth again.
"See that? You hate drinking and he doesn't even care. He doesn't think about you at all."
Does he?
I looked up and caught Ethan's eye. He was smiling at me, warm and steady, just for me.
“Come on. Cheers.”
The way he looked at me was focused. Real.
And yet the ghost beside me kept saying he felt nothing.
Chapter 2
I drank and said nothing.
The ghost spoke up again, and I looked over. Ethan was back at Lily's side.
He poured me another whiskey, maybe trying to smooth things over.
"He is the worst kind of man. Ellie, your parents — I died because of him. It was horrific."
As she said it, she reached up and pulled off her own head. Blood spread across her face.
It really was horrible.
Something inside me twisted at the sight of her.
Like we'd once been close. Closer than I could explain.
I was about to say something when a sharp cramp hit my lower stomach.
I was on my period, and I'd just drunk a full glass of whiskey, straight up with ice.
The old Ethan used to watch the calendar more carefully than I did during these days.
I barely made it halfway up before my legs gave and I sank back down. I looked for Ethan.
He was letting Lily pour him a drink.
“You’re not sitting next to me, so you’re gonna throw a fit now?”
He looked at me like I was an inconvenience. Like I wasn't doubled over right in front of him.
The ghost yelled:"Ethan Shaw, you absolute idiot! Can't you see she's in pain? Get her to a hospital!"
She leaned in, concerned. "Ellie, are you okay?"
“Cramps,” I managed, through my teeth.
A glass hit the table. The sound finally got his attention.
He crossed the room fast, lifted me up, and carried me out.
Before my eyes closed, I saw the ghost scrambling after us in a panic.
She cared. I could see that.
And I could also see, with total clarity, that Ethan didn't.
In the haze before I passed out, I slipped back three years.
We were grabbed on a road trip together. Kidnapped.
They locked us in a room with one window. He got us out, held me tight the whole time, and when they came at us, he took a knife meant for me.
Just below his ribcage. An inch to the left and he'd have been gone.
Even unconscious, his hand wouldn't let go of my wrist.
Before I could hold onto that memory, the ghost was there.
She peeled his fingers off me, one by one.
"Wake up! Don't you get it — if it weren't for him, you never would've been taken in the first place!"
"Let me show you what's coming."
She grabbed my wrist and yanked.
Everything went black. Then: a hospital corridor. An OR.
Ethan stood outside. The ghost pulled me through the wall.
The woman on the table was me.
“Kidney’s out. Get it to Miss Baxter’s room stat.”
“Leave Miss Bennett’s incision to the residents.”
Chapter 3
Cold sweat broke across my skin. The ghost slapped her hands over my eyes.
"This is what loving Ethan Shaw costs you."
"Ellie. Walk away from him. Please."
I couldn't believe it. I couldn't make sense of it.
Three years ago, when he stepped in front of that knife, the look in his eyes was love. I was sure of it.
My throat burned. Something ached in the center of my chest.
I came back to my body. Ethan was sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing circles on my stomach.
He saw my eyes open and his whole face shifted. Wide, guilty, searching.
“This one’s on me, Ellie. I’m sorry.”
He stayed for hours. He went out and came back with a container of the tomato soup I loved.
I finally told him to go home and get some rest. He left looking back over his shoulder the whole way.
The tenderness in his eyes. We were in love. I knew we were.
The ghost sat at the head of my bed, quiet.
"He's leaving right now to pick Lily up from her shift."
I didn't believe her. I closed my eyes.
She lunged forward and pulled my eyelids open with her small fingers.
She could actually touch me.
"Don't trust me? Fine. Check his Instagram."
I opened the app. Two minutes ago, Lily had posted: “My Mr. Shaw showed up.”
The photo: two hands laced together. The black mole on the back of Ethan's hand. Unmistakable.
"Break up with him. Right now. Before this gets worse."
The ghost paced in furious circles, wanting to drag me to his door that very second.
I put my phone face-down. I didn't want to look at it.
The next day, Ethan was back. Takeout cream of mushroom, soup this time.
He filled a bowl himself and moved to spoon-feed me.
When the bowl was empty, he shifted in his seat and looked at me sideways.
“Ellie... would you be willing to withdraw from the accelerated PhD track?”
My grip tightened around the blanket. I looked straight at him.
That spot was mine. I'd earned it with a gold medal at nationals.
Ethan stalled. Started and stopped.
“If you pull out, Lily moves up as the alternate. You’re a Bennett. You can afford to be generous. Just do this for me.”
“I’m asking you. Please.”
He laced his fingers through mine. His eyes were begging.
She shook her head violently. "Don't you dare. Don't you do it."
He'd never begged me for anything before.
He'd nearly bled out for me once.
He'd driven three hours each way because I mentioned wanting a specific pastry from a bakery out of town.
He used to say all of that was just how love worked, and that I should never feel guilty for accepting it.
Now he was begging. For Lily.
A woman who was supposed to be nothing to us.
Chapter 4
I pressed my lips together.
And I nodded.
He was out the door before I could say another word.
The ghost threw punches and kicks at the empty space where he'd been, then crept back to my bedside.
"Ellie. Break up with him. I'll find you someone who actually deserves you."
I didn't answer. I closed my eyes.
The morning I was supposed to head to campus, Ethan said he'd pick me up.
He didn't show.
I had my driver take me instead. The second I walked through the main gate, Ethan came tearing out of nowhere and hit me across the face.
My cheek lit up with pain. My ears rang.
He grabbed the front of my shirt, jaw tight.
“You said you’d drop the PhD slot. So why did you sick your people on Lily?”
“You know what, Ellie? You’ve changed. You disgust me.”
I tried to get his hands off me, shaking my head.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Lily stepped forward, eyes wet, lip trembling.
“Ellie, are you really not going to own up to what you did? You sent them after me. You know you did.”
Something dark moved through Ethan's face. He shoved me hard to the ground.
Then he carefully wrapped his arms around Lily and walked away.
The ghost was very angry and yelled: "Ellie! He's garbage. Why are you still holding on?"
I...
Five years. We had five years.
And he saved my life. How could loving him be wrong?
Two months ago, Ethan's father made a call that destroyed three percent of the company's market cap overnight.
I went to my dad on my knees and pushed for the engagement.
I won't pretend it was purely selfless. Who doesn't want to end up with the person who saved them?
But before I could get a word out, I caught the ghost's panicked eyes.
Then something went over my head, and the world went black.
I was lifted and dropped onto a couch. Loud room. Thick with the smell of liquor.
“Get her clothes off. Pour it down. Get the camera on her face.”
Strange voices. Ugly laughter. Something cold and wet hit my mouth, slid down my throat.
“Hey — who are you people? Get off me.”
My clothes were being pulled at. I was shaking. Tears running.
“I’ll pay you. My fiancé is Ethan Shaw. He will” —
Nobody cared. Eyes full of contempt.
I curled up on that couch, barely covered, completely hollowed out.
“Let’s have some real fun...”
The door flew open.
Ethan shrugged off his jacket and laid it over me, then crouched down and wiped my face.
“You scared?”
His voice was calm. His eyes were calm.
He was almost smiling. “That’s exactly how scared Lily was. Touch her again, and I’ll make sure it comes back to you ten times over.”
The men had already cleared out. But Ethan's tone said everything.
He set this up.
He untied the rope from my wrists.
“Be good. In the future” —
I kicked him as hard as I could. Right between the legs.
He went down with no warning, gasping.
“Ellie” —
I looked at him on the floor.
Then I walked out.
Rot in hell.
I need help finding this book 🙏🏽
Chapter 1
The day a buyout offer arrived for the house I inherited from my family, I got a text from my future self.
[In fifteen days, the government survey will find the land isn't suitable for construction. The buyout will be canceled.]
[If you don't want to get stuck with that house, sell it now.]
I didn't hesitate.
I sold the inherited family home that should've brought me ten million dollars for five million instead.
By the time I finished the paperwork and got home, my boyfriend's so-called "girl bro" was sitting on his lap, wearing my silk nightgown.
She laughed so hard her shoulders shook.
"I'm dying! I literally just grabbed some random number and pretended to be Future Simone."
"I told her the buyout wasn't happening, and that idiot actually believed me."
"And she sold a ten-million-dollar property for half its value—just like that."
Her hand drifted lower as she grinned at Wade Voss.
"C'mere. Let me check if sleeping with that moron made you stupid too."
Of course I knew the text was fake.
Because I really had come back from the future.
---
The second Wade saw me, he froze.
He shoved Brynn off his lap and scrambled to his feet.
"Simone, it's not what it looks like..."
Brynn casually brushed her hair back, exposing the vivid marks scattered across her neck.
Her cheeks were flushed as she smirked at me.
"Come on, Simone. I was just sitting on my buddy's lap."
"Don't tell me you're gonna throw another jealous fit?"
Wade laughed awkwardly.
"Simone, you know how it is. I've never thought of her like that."
"We're just buddies. We like to mess around, that's all."
Brynn grabbed Wade's hand and pressed it against her chest, without a trace of shame.
"Exactly. As if I'd ever want this loser."
"See? We can touch each other, and it feels just like touching ourselves. Nothing."
"Right, buddy?"
Wade's throat bobbed.
The way he looked at her made it obvious he wanted far more than friendship.
I felt like a third wheel, a buzzkill to their little make-out session.
I walked past the couch and pushed open the master bedroom door.
The air hit me immediately. The bed was a mess. Their clothes were scattered across the sheets.
Our framed photo was on the floor by the nightstand, the glass shattered.
Wade hurried after me. His voice left no room for argument.
"She's been having nightmares lately. She can't sleep unless someone's with her."
"So she'll take the master bedroom. You can use the guest room."
When I kept staring at him, he rushed to explain.
"I swear, she's just a friend to me. Even if we share a bed, I'm not interested in her."
"Don't be like this, okay? Just be cool."
My gaze dropped to the trash can.
Several used condoms sat inside.
The sting behind my eyes nearly broke me.
"Okay." I said.
Wade blinked. He seemed genuinely surprised that I wasn't screaming, crying, or demanding answers like before.
"Wait, you're... not mad?"
I forced a smile. It probably looked more like a grimace.
"Why would I be?"
"You two are basically buddies."
"It's totally normal for buddies to sleep together, right?"
A strange look crossed his face. He studied me, as if trying to find a crack in my facade.
Before he could say anything, a sharp scream came from the living room.
Then Brynn's irritated voice echoed through the apartment.
"Wade, get your ass over here."
"You suck at this. I told you to stop and you didn't."
"Now I'm hurting, so get your ass over here and take care of me."
I'd already made up my mind to leave Wade.
I thought I was done with him.
But when he rushed to her side without a second thought, pain still tore through my chest.
Chapter 2
I fought back the sting in my chest and pulled out a suitcase to start packing.
But when I opened the jewelry box I kept locked in my dresser, my blood ran cold.
My mother's only keepsake—the heirloom sapphire bracelet—was gone.
Only Wade and I knew the password to that drawer.
In my previous life, Brynn had moved in on this exact day and taken over the master bedroom.
I'd gotten into a screaming match with Wade and called her every name I could think of.
He'd slapped me across the face and chased after Brynn when she stormed out.
I spent the entire night crying alone in a corner.
And until the day I died, I never realized my mother's bracelet had vanished.
I snapped back to the present.
The sound of laughter drifted from the guest bathroom.
My hands trembling, I pushed the door open to find Wade scrubbing Brynn's bare back.
"Ah!" Brynn covered herself dramatically and let out a shrill scream.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Simone? Ever heard of boundaries?!"
Wade pulled her into his arms right away, blocking my view with his own body.
"Simone! You've crossed the line this time!"
I lowered the phone I'd been recording with.
The whole thing was laughable.
A woman had my boyfriend washing her back.
Yet somehow I was the one with boundary issues.
Every time Brynn called Wade away in the middle of the night, he'd tell me she was his best friend and I needed to stop being so insecure.
When they kissed, he claimed it was just a stupid dare and told me not to be so dramatic about it.
Even when I caught them in bed together, and I completely lost it, his friends just called me crazy and said I couldn't take a joke.
Wade always said the same things—that I was overthinking it, that I was just jealous.
He and Brynn were just friends. Friends shared a bed. It was no big deal.
If something were going on between them, they'd already be together—he never would've proposed to me.
Just like now.
Wade stood in front of Brynn after she'd gotten dressed.
The two of them stood united, as if against a common enemy. The table between us felt like a battle line.
Brynn smacked Wade on the ass.
"Seriously?"
"Your fiancée just got a free show, and you're not even going to defend me?"
She rolled her eyes.
"What are you standing there for, you coward?"
"You weren't this pathetic when you were doing me so hard I couldn't take it!"
"So what happened to all that confidence?"
Wade murmured a few words to calm her down before turning back to me. His expression darkened.
"Simone, I told you already. I was just helping her wash her back, that's all."
"Why are you making such a huge deal out of it?"
When I didn't respond, his voice softened, almost as if he were coaxing a child.
"Come on, just apologize to her. She's the bigger person. She'll forgive you."
I stared into his angry eyes and refused to say a word.
His patience was running out.
Before he could explode, I hurled the empty jewelry box at him.
My voice trembled. "The bracelet—did you steal it?"
The words died in his throat. His eyes shifted away.
"Steal? That's a harsh word, don't you think? We're getting married—what's yours is mine."
"You never wore it anyway. It was just sitting there. So I sold it."
"I needed the money to help Brynn buy a house."
My eyes widened in disbelief.
"Wade, you knew that was the only thing my mother left me!"
Brynn examined her manicure without looking up.
Her tone was completely matter-of-fact.
"If my good little buddy hadn't insisted on helping me buy a place, I wouldn't have wanted it anyway."
"Wearing something from a dead person? Talk about bad juju."
Chapter 3
Seeing the confusion on my face, Brynn let out a mocking laugh.
"He never told you? That house you sold—he bought it for me."
"He put down a $1.5 million down payment just to help me out."
My blood ran cold.
Slowly, I turned to Wade.
The guilt written all over his face told me everything.
But even if he'd sold the heirloom sapphire bracelet, it would've only brought in a few thousand dollars.
Where had he gotten $1.5 million?
Then a horrifying thought hit me.
My hands trembled as I opened our joint bank account on my phone.
[Balance: $3.15. Recipient: Brynn. Memo: Voluntary Gift.]
My legs nearly buckled. Eyes burning red, I finally screamed.
"Wade! That was our money!"
"Five years of savings for our wedding home—and you just gave it away to someone else?!"
For five years, I'd scrimped and saved every penny.
Every month, I'd deposited ten thousand dollars into that account.
Then, after my mother passed away a year ago, I added the six hundred thousand dollars from her wrongful death settlement.
Together, we'd saved $1.2 million.
And he'd given every penny of it to Brynn.
When faced with my anger, Wade's voice actually softened.
"Simone, Brynn's my buddy. She's not some outsider."
"You have me. You have someone to rely on. We can save up for another house later."
"But Brynn's such a tomboy. If she doesn't have a house—some kind of security—who's ever gonna want her?"
My eyes burned red.
"Whether she owns a house or not is none of your business!"
"That money belonged to us!"
His expression hardened.
"Simone, why are you being so selfish?"
"If anything, you should be thanking her."
"Without Brynn, that five million dollars would've gone to somebody else."
The absurdity of it all made me laugh, nearly to the point of tears.
"So I should thank you both?"
"For stealing my money, my bracelet, and tricking me into selling a property at half price??"
Wade's face darkened.
"Tricking you? Nobody tricked you. You're just dumb enough to fall for it."
"If someone tells you a property won't get bought out and you immediately sell it, that's on you."
"That house was only worth $1.5 million."
"We paid five. You made a profit, so you should be grateful."
I stared at him, taking in his self-righteous expression.
The sheer shamelessness of it all—it was beyond ridiculous.
What he didn't know, though, was that I really had come out ahead. Because the buyout was never happening.
In my previous life, I hadn't believed the text message.
I'd never met the buyer.
But in this life, I knew his name. Rudy Keane.
Looking back, he did resemble Brynn.
He was probably the younger brother she'd mentioned before.
And his eyes—they were nearly identical to the man who had abducted me on my wedding day.
The man who'd tried to assault me. The man who had accidentally killed me.
After I died, my spirit lingered beside Wade. I watched everything unfold.
Brynn slipped into my wedding dress, claiming the bride had thrown a tantrum and bailed.
She said she was just stepping in to save the day.
And just like that, she took my place.
A few days before the wedding, Wade had sweet-talked me into signing the marriage certificate.
Not long after, my body was found.
As my legal spouse, he inherited the inherited family home.
Then he rushed to marry Brynn.
They thought they were about to become millionaires overnight.
Instead, the government canceled the developer buyout days later.
Their dream collapsed before it even began.
The realization hit me like a bucket of ice water.
My death hadn't been an accident—it was Brynn's plan all along.
A chill shot down my spine.
And Wade—was he in on it too?
I looked straight into his eyes.
For the first time, suspicion took root. And once it did, it spread like wildfire.
"I want my mother's bracelet back."
"And I want my $1.2 million returned."
"If I don't get both back, I'm going to the police."
I grabbed my suitcase. Then I walked out.
Behind me, Brynn's mocking laughter echoed through the apartment.
"See? What did I tell you—it's always about money with her."
"Good thing we didn't bother saving her mom. Letting the old hag die early was a blessing."
"Otherwise, the whole family would've bled you dry."
Chapter 4
I went still.
I stared, incredulous, at Wade, who was desperately clamping his hand over Brynn's mouth.
My voice barely came out.
"What does she mean by that?"
Wade couldn't meet my eyes.
Brynn, meanwhile, shrugged it off as if she were discussing something utterly trivial.
"It means I was the one who hit your mom."
"Actually, she wasn't dead right away—but her lower body was crushed."
"She would've been a useless cripple for the rest of her life."
"She saw my face. She definitely would've tried to shake me down for everything I had."
Brynn shrugged. "So Wade told me to wait."
"We sat there for about thirty minutes until she finally died."
"Then we called 911."
Her expression turned annoyed.
"And the whole thing cost me over a grand."
"Since you're my buddy's fiancée, I never even asked you to pay me back."
My knees nearly buckled. Pain ripped through my chest.
A year ago, I was working late when Wade called.
He told me my mother had been in a car accident and was at the hospital.
By the time I got there, a white sheet had already been pulled over her body.
The overwhelming grief caused me to miscarry my three-month-old baby.
Then I collapsed and spent days unconscious.
When I finally came to, the case had already been closed.
Wade told me the driver was a single parent with cancer. That they were struggling.
He'd signed the letter of forgiveness on my behalf, saying it was to build good karma for my mother.
I had trusted him completely. Never once doubted him.
What I never imagined was that the driver was actually Brynn.
And the two of them had stood there and watched my mother die.
The fury in my eyes must have been obvious.
Wade's face hardened.
"Simone, this isn't Brynn's fault."
"Your mom threw herself in front of Brynn's car. She was trying to scam her."
"It's your mom's fault Brynn was too scared to drive for months afterward."
He kept going. Like he actually believed every word.
"And let's be realistic."
"Even if we'd saved her, the medical bills would've been insane."
"She would've spent the rest of her life paralyzed."
"We just couldn't afford to take care of a cripple."
"I helped her end her suffering—no more pain, no burden on us. A win-win, right?"
Three years earlier, Wade's liver had failed. He needed a transplant.
My mother donated part of her liver without hesitation.
Then she spent three straight months caring for him while recovering from surgery herself.
Back then, Wade had wept and swore that she was his savior, that he would treat her like his own mother and repay her kindness forever.
And this was how he repaid her. By helping Brynn kill the woman who had treated him like family.
I couldn't stop imagining those thirty minutes.
My mother lying there, broken and bleeding, watching the man whose life she'd saved with her own liver just stand by and wait for her to die.
How terrified must she have been? How betrayed?
A weight settled on my shoulders.
Wade grabbed me gently, his voice full of fake concern.
"Simone. You still have me."
"Our wedding's only a few days away. Can we please stop fighting?"
He smiled as if offering a generous compromise.
"Here's the thing—let Brynn wear your wedding dress, just for fun. You can wear the bridesmaid dress."
"Don't worry. You're the one I love, the one I'm marrying."
"Brynn's just a tomboy—nobody else wants her. But you, you have me."
The wedding. At the word, memories of my previous life came flooding back.
I clenched my jaw. "Okay."
This time, I'd settle every score—old and new.
Just like before, the wedding day arrived.
As I was resting in the bridal suite in my bridesmaid dress, a masked man suddenly burst in.
A sharp chemical smell hit me.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
The ceremony was about to begin, but the bride was nowhere to be found.
Panic spread through the venue.
Brynn stood there in my wedding dress, looking not the least bit surprised—almost vindicated.
"See? I told you she was petty."
"All this, just because I wore her dress."
"She throws a tantrum and bails, leaving Wade humiliated in front of everyone."
Wade called my phone over and over. No answer.
His face grew darker with every failed attempt.
Finally, he turned to the guests.
"Simone's throwing another fit. She ran off."
"Luckily, Brynn here is willing to step in and save the ceremony."
Brynn couldn't hide her smile.
She slipped my engagement ring onto her finger.
At that exact moment, the ballroom doors flew open.
A group of police officers rushed inside and flashed their badges.
"Brynn Keane, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Simone Harlow. Come with us."
Would love to read this without paying an arm and a leg. These apps are so expensive I wish they would bring ads back to unlock the chapters.
In search of this novel can anyone help? Please and thank you.
Does anyone know where I can read this?
They gave it a really generic name like remember me probably to make it harder to find with more affordable or free options.
Looking for this novel? Anyone have a link?