Chapter 1

In my past life, my rival and I were both top-tier Wall Street tycoons. I gave up my entire fortune for my fiancée, only to be set up by her and her lowly bodyguard, dying a miserable death in a pool of blood.

Reborn on the night of our engagement bidding, she sat on her high horse, demanding I hand over my hundred-billion-dollar empire.

All of New York was waiting for me to wag my tail like a good dog and sign the papers just to win her over.

But what she didn't know was...

The prestigious family she was so proud of was nothing but a rotting shell. The moment I cut off the secret cash flow keeping them afloat, her so-called "true love" wouldn't survive a single day in this vanity fair.

She thought she was choosing a pure, noble romance. In reality, she just bought a one-way ticket to hell.

————

Freezing rain mixed with the pungent stench of blood poured frantically into my nose.

These were the last few minutes of my life.

The orchestrated crash had torn my Maybach apart. My lower body was pinned mercilessly, and my life was draining away with every drop of blood.

Just minutes ago, I thought the mastermind behind this murder was Julian Sterling, the nemesis I had been fighting for ten solid years.

That was until a pair of polished black leather shoes stepped through the motor oil and stopped right before my fading vision.

"Mr. Vance, it's truly a pleasure to see you lying here like a dead dog."

The voice was soft, yet dripping with the malice of someone who had lain in wait for years and finally succeeded.

I struggled to roll my eyes up, finally making out the face.

Damian. My wife Chloe’s personal bodyguard. The servant who always trailed behind her in a black suit, a man not even worthy of pouring drinks for Julian and me.

"Surprised?" Damian squatted down, a smirk playing on his lips. "You and Julian, you two idiots drained each other's cash flows fighting over Chloe, only for me to swallow it all whole."

"By the way, some good news," he whispered into my ear, his voice full of vicious glee. "The police have already surrounded Julian's estate. Your death, and the assets siphoned from your company's accounts—I left behind the perfect trail of evidence. It all points directly to him."

I gritted my teeth hard. There was no evenly matched corporate warfare, no clash of brilliant minds. Damian had used the most pedestrian trap imaginable, and both Julian and I had walked right into it.

Julian and I had guarded against each other our entire lives, only to be played by this bodyguard and Chloe, bled completely dry!

Right then, the sound of high heels clicking against the puddles echoed.

Chloe, wearing a pristine white Givenchy trench coat, walked over to the wreck without a spec of dirt on her.

She didn't even glance at my mangled body. Instead, she leaned naturally into Damian's embrace, her eyes welling with an innocent shimmer of tears.

"Arthur, why did it have to come to this? If you and Julian hadn't fought so madly, things would never have turned out this way." Chloe frowned, looking down at me as if scolding an unreasonable child.

She sighed lightly, her tone dripping with self-righteous complaint. "You two always used money to pressure me, fighting over me like property. That terrifying need for control only suffocated me. Damian is different. He doesn't want anything from me, and he never forces me to do anything."

She looked at me, her voice as soft as ever, entirely devoid of guilt. "Didn't you say before that you'd do anything as long as I was happy? If that's true, why not just let us be?"

Julian, Chloe, and I had grown up together. We both loved Chloe, believing we would do anything for her happiness. But right now, all I wanted was to crawl up and punch her in the face to shut her up forever.

I tried to speak, but only coughed up bloody froth.

"Rest easy, Arthur," she said, even giving me a moved, tender smile. "As long as you let go of this competitive obsession, I'll keep you in my heart forever. Go in peace."

Hearing her self-absorbed, delusional speech, the burning rage inside me was suddenly extinguished as if doused by ice water.

There was no hatred left. Only a nauseating disgust that made me want to throw up my own stomach acid.

She didn't even realize she was a venomous viper conspiring with her lover to murder her own husband.

If there's a next life...

...

"Gasp—"

My eyes snapped open. I bolted upright in bed, gasping heavily, cold sweat soaking my silk pajamas.

No pouring rain. No crushed car cabin. The air was filled only with the familiar scent of agarwood incense.

I froze for a few seconds before stumbling into the bathroom, turning on the faucet, and splashing cold water onto my face.

My gaze fell on the watch resting by the sink. The date on the dial burned clearly into my retinas—

Exactly three days away from what would have been the so-called "Engagement Bidding of the Century" in my past life.

I was reborn. I had returned to the very starting point of my fall into the abyss.

In three days, New York's entire high society would gather at the Bennett Estate. And at that banquet, Chloe would evaluate Julian and me as if we were products on a shelf. Using "security" as an excuse, she would righteously force us to sign that absurd agreement to set up an independent trust fund, stripping away our core equity.

In my past life, driven by that damned desire to win and my blind obedience to her little games, I gritted my teeth and signed it just to beat Julian.

Afterward, I got exactly what I wanted. I got Chloe. We got married, and I threw all my resources into saving her struggling family, bailing out the Bennetts time and time again when they faced ruin. Chloe was grateful, and I thought I was the happiest man in the world. But Julian refused to give up; he was always scheming to defeat me and prove himself to her.

Consequently, I focused all my defenses and hostility against my rival, Julian, completely overlooking the utterly unremarkable bodyguard lurking right beside me—Damian.

What even was the Bennett family now? Just a hollow shell putting on a brave front. Without my financial bailout after the marriage, that family would crash and burn in less than a few years.

Where did Chloe get the audacity to live in a mansion and then turn around and despise us?

It was my bottomless indulgence that gave her the delusion she could leach off us while standing on the moral high ground.

I grabbed a towel, slowly drying my face. Looking at myself in the mirror, I suddenly felt incredibly light.

I didn't want to scream and shout like a maniac, nor did I have any interest in ripping apart her hypocritical facade.

For a woman who could never face reality, the cruellest punishment wasn't killing her. It was forcing her to wake up to reality, and making her watch helplessly as she sank into the mud.

Since you despise the monetary shelter that "suffocated" you, and truly believe that a bodyguard's selfless love is real—then this time around, I'm taking everything back.

I turned and walked out of the bathroom, stepping up to the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.

At the banquet in three days, you will be eagerly waiting to watch me fight out of jealousy for you.

I can hardly wait to see the look on your face when you realize that the man who always caught you when you fell has not only withdrawn all his protection... but threw you away like trash.