“You are the center of my universe, Anya. For you, I’d take on the world!” When Rhys Thorne knelt before me, his eyes brimming with what looked like devoted passion, publicly proposing marriage, I felt no happiness. Only a cold wave of dread and profound fury washed over me. No one else knew this was the third time he had asked me to marry him. In the first life, I had tearfully accepted, imagining a lifetime of perfect happiness stretching before us. It was only after the wedding that I discovered Rhys had been financially supporting another woman, a sleek-haired marketing executive named Talia Vance. I confronted him, the argument escalating until I demanded a divorce. That was when he pinned me down and, with a terrifying tenderness on his face, choked the life out of me. In the second life, I had refused his proposal outright. Rhys went on to marry Talia, but he stalked me relentlessly, an unshakeable shadow. When Talia finally crumbled, tearfully demanding he release me and grant her a divorce, Rhys had held her close, whispering undying vows of love to her even as his other hand clamped firmly over her mouth and nose, suffocating her. After he killed Talia, he had turned to me, his gaze still unsettlingly tender, and said, “Anya, promise me you’ll never leave me. Say you won’t, my love.” I remember staring at him, paralyzed by terror, wanting to scream, to call the police, before his hands were around my own throat again, squeezing the air out of my lungs for the final time. Dead twice now, what was I supposed to do when faced with this sociopath’s third proposal? Who the hell did he actually love? 1 My hesitation made the look in Rhys’s eyes soften even further, becoming dangerously gentle. He spoke with deep sincerity, loud enough for the onlookers. “Darling, we’ve been together for so long. You know who I am.” “You are my absolute one and only. I cannot live without you.” “I swear, from this day forward, I will never give you cause to doubt me.” Rhys’s friends, all tailored suits and expensive watches, started to whoop and cheer from the sidelines. “Anya, what are you waiting for? A perfect catch like Rhys? Miss this, and you’ll regret it forever!” “Rhys is worth billions, looks like a top male model, and is the most devoted guy in the city. He’s every woman’s dream. Don’t be foolish, Anya. Say yes!” “He’s got a massive wedding planned! The dress is a custom creation by a European master, worth a fortune.” “And he bought that two-hundred-million-dollar estate just for you. Just waiting for the two of you to move in after the honeymoon!” The chorus of advice and encouragement left me untouched. In fact, I wanted to laugh. To the world, Rhys Thorne was the ideal man: successful, handsome, and deeply in love. Who could ever suspect that this man, who looked at me with such fervor, was a monstrous, psychologically twisted killer? I once thought his true love was Talia, especially after the first life when he killed me over her. But the end of the second life had plunged me into deeper confusion. The question was still screaming in my mind: Who was the psychopath truly obsessed with? I took a sharp breath, staring down at Rhys, who was still kneeling, my disgust curdling into cold hatred. I spoke in a voice that was low and clear. “Mr. Thorne, please. I have my heart set on someone else.” The entire room went silent. Rhys froze for a beat, a faint crease appearing between his eyebrows. He still managed to keep his tone warm and gentle. “Anya, please don’t joke. You couldn’t possibly have feelings for anyone else.” “My devotion to you is absolute, the heavens are my witness…” I didn’t wait for him to finish. My voice was a block of ice. “Believe what you like, but I will not, under any circumstances, marry you.” With that, I turned and walked away, ignoring the stunned silence and the frozen faces of his friends. Behind me, Rhys let out a heavy, dramatic sigh. “Anya, whether that’s true or not, my feelings for you remain unchanged.” “I will wait. I’ll wait until you come back to me, until you’re ready to spend forever by my side.” His words prompted another round of commiseration from his friends, who began tut-tutting about my poor judgment while praising Rhys’s unbelievable devotion. I didn’t look back. My scalp was tingling, and my heart hammered with raw panic. In the second life, I had rejected him, but he clung to me like a sickness even after marrying Talia. There was no shaking him off. I had been given a third chance. I absolutely could not repeat the same mistakes. My first thought was to escape. But I had tried that in the second life, too—even fleeing to Europe. Rhys had tracked me down every time, as if he’d implanted a GPS chip beneath my skin. How could I possibly get rid of this man for good? Lost in thought, my phone vibrated in my hand. I looked at the screen, and my breath hitched. My pupils contracted instantly. Talia Vance was calling. Hesitantly, I answered. Before I could speak, Talia’s voice, raw and panicked, rushed through the speaker. “Anya! Did you just refuse his proposal?” “That sick, twisted bastard just called me. He wants to propose to me now.” “What am I supposed to do?” Talia’s frantic words sent a shockwave through me. I didn't even think before I spoke. “You’ve been reborn too?” 2 It was late evening at a discreet corner cafe downtown. Talia and I sat facing each other, surrounded by an awkward, heavy silence. In the past, we had hated one another, each convinced the other was the vile mistress who had destroyed her marriage. Now, as we looked at each other, our eyes held a shared, profound pity and a sense of shared trauma. Talia was the first to speak, her voice raspy. “I wasn’t a mistress. He never ‘kept’ me.” “In the first life, I truly didn’t know he was with you. I was a fool, Anya. I bought the perfect boyfriend act. I was utterly deceived.” “It wasn't until you showed up and confronted me that I understood. After he killed you, I tried to call the police, and he strangled me with a length of rope.” I sighed heavily. “If you knew what a monster he was, why on earth did you marry him in the second life?” Talia rubbed her face, her jaw clenched. “My memory of the first life didn’t fully return until after the wedding. It was late, Anya. Too late.” I lowered my voice. “In the second life, no matter where I ran, he found me. He was like a leech, impossible to scrape off. The moment he killed you, he came straight back for me.” “I still don’t understand. Who the hell does he love?” Talia gave a bitter, humorless laugh. “I initially thought the psycho only loved himself. But in the second life, I started to notice things.” “The woman he truly loves—she has to be connected to us somehow.” “We’re both just substitutes for her!” I nodded, the pieces of my own memories starting to fall into place. “I noticed things in the second life too.” “He always had a faint, strange scent on him. It wasn’t a cologne or any perfume either of us wore. It was odd—almost like a musty, earthy, medicinal smell.” “And every month, he would disappear for a few days without explanation.” Talia pounded her fist lightly on the table, frustrated. “If he has someone he loves, why torture us? Why the obsession?” “What is going on in that monster’s mind?” It’s impossible for a normal person to understand a psychopath’s logic. Talia and I talked for hours, long after the cafe had emptied. Her plan was to accept Rhys’s latest proposal, but only to secretly cooperate with me. We needed to find out who the real woman was. If we could find her, we could finally expose Rhys’s hideous true face to the world. As we walked out, I had a strange, prickling sensation on my neck. It felt like my paranoia from the second life had returned. I couldn’t shake the feeling that a pair of eyes was watching us from the shadows. Back at my apartment, I sat in front of my laptop, listing all the connections and confrontations I’d had with Rhys, hoping to find a pattern. A few days later, Talia and Rhys were married. She was contacting me frequently, sharing her findings. “Rhys’s study has a secret vault beneath it. I have no idea what he’s hiding.” “That strange smell he carries? It comes from that vault.” “I’m convinced she’s hidden down there. I’m looking for a window of opportunity to sneak in when he’s away…” I cautioned her to be extremely careful. I also told her what I had uncovered. “Whether he married you or me, he always makes his move exactly one week after the wedding.” “I checked the traditional calendar. That day is the third of the third lunar month. It must be a date of profound significance to him.” “If you’re going to get into that vault, you have to do it before that day.” Talia and I were both electrified with nervous hope. For the first time, we saw a sliver of light in the darkness. ... The third of the third month was tomorrow. Talia hadn’t contacted me all day. I felt a building anxiety, a cold knot in my stomach. Based on Rhys’s previous pattern, he would make his move tomorrow. Had Talia found his secret? Did she have the clue to the woman he truly loved? I called her several times, but it went straight to voicemail. Had something happened? Just as my heart began to pound with certainty that the worst had happened, my phone chirped with a new message. It was from Talia. She said Rhys had gotten absolutely drunk and passed out. This was her chance to slip into the secret vault. She asked me to come to the house immediately. 3 I didn’t hesitate. I threw on a jacket and raced to Rhys’s sprawling estate. The heavy front door was ajar, and the thick, pungent smell of expensive liquor spilled out into the night. My shoulders dropped in relief. Talia had done it. I didn’t care how she’d managed to get him drunk, but if Rhys was truly out cold, our plan might still succeed. I slipped quietly into the house. I knew this home intimately. After all, I had been the woman Rhys intended to make its mistress—twice. I navigated the sprawling, immaculate halls to the study. The heavy oak door was slightly ajar, just as Talia had indicated. As I reached to push it open, a sudden, primal tremor ran through me. Something was wrong. I couldn’t name it, but my heart started hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. This was the same instinct, the same chilling premonition of danger, I had felt in the moments before Rhys had killed me in the previous lives. Without a second thought, I spun around to flee. But I was too late. The study door swung open, and a hand like a steel clamp shot out, seizing my arm. Rhys stood there. He looked perfectly fine, still holding that warm, gentle expression. His grip was impossibly tight. No matter how hard I twisted or struggled, I couldn’t break free. My heart sank into the icy depths of dread. Rhys was not drunk. Not even close. He smiled at me, a soft, chilling smile. “Anya. You finally came.” “I saw you and Talia together. I worried you might fight, but it seems you’ve become the dearest of friends! That makes me so happy, Anya. You are my greatest love, and she is my other great love. Seeing you two get along so well…” “So I decided to use her phone to invite you over tonight.” He had been tracking us? And he knew about my alliance with Talia? My entire body went cold. I glared at him, grinding my teeth. “What did you do to Talia?” “You sick, twisted bastard, I should have—” He didn’t let me finish. He dragged me violently into the study, his smile unchanged. “Don’t worry, darling. She’s sleeping peacefully now.” “You’re too agitated, Anya. You should rest as well.” “After tonight, we will all have a new beginning.” Before I could process his words, he slammed a cloth over my mouth and nose. The smell was acrid, chemical. I fought, but my vision blurred, and the world went dark.
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