Second Life, Cold Heart

This time, I was back at the beginning of my downfall.

It was the day my fiance was secretly stealing company money to spend on the man she truly loved. But unlike before, I didnt foolishly sell all I owned to cover for her. Instead, I took the evidence straight to the police.

While she was held for questioning, I quietly ended our engagement. And just like that, I disappeared from her life completely.

I did it because in my last life, Id loved her completely for thirty yearsyet she never once smiled at me. She even claimed Id trapped her into having our daughter, and more than once, tried to kill our child with her own hands.

Then came the earthquake. I was crushed under rubble after shielding her and our daughter. Once they were rescued, they calmly stopped the rescuers from coming back for me.

My daughter, whom Id cherished for over twenty years, was affectionately calling another man Dad. She told me, If you hadnt forced Mom to marry you with your money, wed have been happy long ago.

My fiance, Isabelle, wept happily in that man Marcuss arms, saying, Its over. We can finally be together openly.

So in this life, I decided to let go. Id let these true lovers have their happy ending.

"Bryan, do you have any cash right now? Could you transfer me fifty million? It's

an emergency."

"Just think of it as an early wedding present from you to me!"

The familiar voice and words snapped me back to reality.

In my last life, when I hesitated, she went ahead and stole the company funds

anyway. When she was caught, she came to me in tears, begging me to cover for

her.

I couldn't bear the thought of her going to prison so young, so I drained my

family's savings, even took out loans from loan sharks.

Only later did I learn the truth. The money wasn't for a family medical

emergency. It was for a grand, reckless gesture to win a trophy piece for her

true love at a high-end auction.

This time, I refused to be the fool. I hung up the phone.

Then I called her boss and told him everything.

Sure enough, the next day, Isabelle was taken away by the police for embezzling

company funds.

A colleague approached me, his voice cautious.

"Bryan, I heard from the boss that if Isabelle can pay back the money, he won't

press charges."

"She's your fiance, after all. Aren't you going to help her out? Otherwise, she

could be facing over a decade behind bars."

I just shook my head. "I want to, but I can't. Fifty million is no small sum. I

could sell both my kidneys and still not come close."

My colleague nodded, murmuring, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

After he left, my mind drifted back to my past life.

I was the one who had sacrificed everything to fix her mistake.

Her parents, grateful, had pushed for our wedding to happen immediately.

But Isabelle saw it as a trap. She believed I had orchestrated the whole thing

to force her into marriage.

As revenge, she carried on her affair with Marcus behind my back.

She even had his child.

And that very child, the daughter I had spoiled and adored for nearly three

decades, was the one who stopped the rescuers from saving me.

She said my money had torn her real family apart.

That I was the monster responsible for her parents' separation.

That I deserved to die.

And my beloved wife? Not only did she fail to silence her, she joined in the

condemnation.

"Bryan, if you hadn't guilt-tripped me, I never would have married you. The only

man I have ever loved is Marcus."

"Besides, I never forced you to help me. Even without you, I know Marcus would

have saved me."

"Do you know why I could never stand to be in the same room with you? Because

every time you touched me, I felt sick to my stomach! You've had me for thirty

years. My daughter and I want to spend the rest of our lives with Marcus."

With that, they turned their backs on me, walking away arm-in-arm with Marcus,

the perfect picture of a happy family.

Trapped beneath the crushing weight, my heart flooded with rage, despair, and a

grief so profound it suffocated me.

I couldn't hold on long enough for another team to arrive. I died of a broken

heart.

But fate gave me another chance.

This time, I would not lift a finger for her. I would not be the fool again.

This time, I was morbidly curious to see if Marcus would really be the knight in

shining armor she believed him to be.

During her days in custody, Isabelle tried to contact me repeatedly.

I ignored her calls. So, she had the audacity to call my parents.

"Isabelle said she just made a stupid mistake," my mother told me over the

phone. "She said she was trying to invest the money so you two would have a

better life after you got married."

"Bryan, you're going to be husband and wife. You have to be there for each other,

in good times and in bad. If you can help her, you should. Your father and I

have some savings, you could"

I cut her off. "Mom, she's lying to you. She took that money for another man."

I laid out the whole story for her.

My mother was silent for a long time. "But honey, your father and I have known

Isabelle since she was a little girl. Are you sure there hasn't been some

misunderstanding?"

"There's no misunderstanding, Mom. Just don't you and Dad worry about this."

After hanging up, I booked my parents a month-long cruise. With them out of the

city, they wouldn't be caught in the middle of this mess.

I never expected to see Isabelle again so soon, but there she was, at a friend's

party.

Apparently, she'd cut a deal with her company, promising to return the full

amount within two weeks. In return, they temporarily dropped the charges.

Out of courtesy, everyone avoided the topic, but the glances they shot between

me and her were charged with a strange tension.

I couldn't have cared less.

But when my eyes met hers, and I saw the pure hatred simmering there, a jolt

went through me.

My gut told me: she's been reborn, too.

Just as the conversation in the private room was getting lively, the door was

kicked open.

Isabelles beloved Marcus stormed in, his eyes blazing with fury as he glared at

me. "Bryan, what kind of man are you? Your fiance is locked up, and you don't

even bother to visit her once!"

"It's a good thing you two aren't married yet. You would have ruined her life!"

I glanced coolly at the raging man, then my eyes flickered to Isabelle.

I saw her entire face light up at the sight of Marcus, an undisguised tenderness

in her eyes.

I couldn't help but think of my last life. Even after thirty years of marriage,

she had begrudged me a single smile, let alone a look like that.

Well, that wasn't entirely true.

She could put on an act when she needed something from me.

And every single time, it had something to do with Marcus.

Like when she begged me to give him our house to live in, rent-free.

Or when she asked me to empty our life savings to fund his startup.

Or when she pleaded with me to donate half of my liver to him.

Isabelle never tried to hide her feelings for Marcus.

And I wasn't blind. I knew.

I just thought that if I loved her enough, if I was good enough to her, one day

she would see me.

I forgot that some people's hearts are made of stone. You can't warm them, no

matter how hard you try.

My silence only fueled Marcus's anger. He grabbed the collar of my shirt,

roaring, "Didn't you hear me? I'm talking to you!"

"Isabelle is your fiance! Are you really going to let her go to prison? Are you

even human?!"

His outburst started a ripple of whispers among our friends.

"Bryan always seemed so devoted to Isabelle. I can't believe he'd just abandon

her the second she got into trouble."

"Well, they're not even married yet. It's every man for himself when things go

south."

Listening to them, I finally understood Marcus's little performance.

He and Isabelle were trying to use public pressure to force my hand.

Too bad for them. The reborn me didn't give a damn about any of it.

I shoved Marcus's hand away, my voice like ice. "For an outsider, you seem a lot

more worked up about this than her actual fianc. I guess it's no wonder my

fiance would embezzle company funds just to buy you a trophy."

The room fell silent.

Every eye was now on Isabelle and Marcus.

Isabelle's face went through a kaleidoscope of colors. She shot me a look of

pure disgust. "So, you knew."

I glanced at her, my voice flat. "And if I hadn't, were you planning to just

soft-soap me into cleaning up your mess?"

In my last life, I only found out the truth after our wedding.

We had just returned to our new home when Marcus showed up at our door.

He held a diamond ring, one bought at that same auction, and slid it onto

Isabelle's finger, right in front of me.

Then, he looked at me with a smirk. "I'm sure you don't mind, Bryan. After all,

you basically paid for it."

That was when I learned that her so-called "investment" was a lie.

The money my parents and I had scraped together, selling almost everything we

owned, had been spent on Marcus.

When I confronted her, Isabelle just said it was the price I had to pay for

tearing her and Marcus apart.

Fine. In this life, I wished them a lifetime of being chained together.

I thought that by laying the cards on the table, there would be nothing left for

them to say.

I was wrong. Marcus pointed a finger in my face and spat, "Bryan, you're a real

piece of work!"

"The only reason Isabelle was even at that auction was because you said you

wanted that pair of matching rings! She wanted to buy them for your wedding."

"Now that she's in trouble, not only do you wash your hands of it, you try to

drag her and me through the mud with you."

As he spoke, Isabelle looked at me with a wounded, resentful expression.

I was certain I had never said any such thing.

But our friends didn't know that. The way they looked at me started to shift.

"I always thought Bryan was a stand-up guy. I can't believe he's so twisted

behind the scenes."

"Poor Isabelle. To have a fianc like that."

"Isabelle, we've known you for years. We trust you."

"Isabelle, you need to break up with him before you get married. You can't be

with a man like that."

They all started comforting Isabelle, one after another.

With red-rimmed eyes, Isabelle thanked them.

In that moment, it was as if I were the villain, the one who had betrayed her

trust, the scum of the earth.

But in my last life, I had treated Isabelle and her daughter like queens for

thirty years.

What had I done wrong?

Why did I deserve such an end?

I reined in my emotions. I had no intention of playing along with their little

act.

I was confident that my true friends wouldn't doubt my character based on a few

words from a stranger.

As for the others, once they walked out of this room, I had no intention of ever

seeing them again.

When it became clear that I wasn't going to cave and offer to pay her debt,

Marcus started to get antsy.

Just as I raised a glass of juice to my lips, he swatted it out of my hand.

The glass shattered on the floor, the sound silencing the room once again.

"Bryan, you've caused Isabelle so much misery, and you have the nerve to sit here

and drink juice?"

At this point, I was just tired of it all.

I looked up, my eyes cold as I stared at him. "Isabelle embezzled that money for

you. All the items from that auction ended up in your pocket. How dare you say

I'm the one who caused this?"

Marcus sneered. "If you hadn't demanded those rings, Isabelle and I would never

have even gone to that stupid auction!"

"And what do you mean, the items are in my pocket? They're all in your new

house!"

"Bryan, you go on and on about how much you love Isabelle, but when it comes down

to it, you're just trying to use her as a shield. Don't you have a conscience?"

Isabelle stood up then and, without a word, slapped me across the face.

"Bryan, you are the biggest disappointment of my life. I'm breaking our

engagement!"

Her friends immediately chimed in to support her.

"This is about more than just breaking up. Bryan, since this all started because

of you, you're the one who has to fix it for Isabelle."

"Exactly! If all those auction items are yours, how can you let a woman pay for

them? That's just pathetic."

"If Isabelle actually goes to prison because of you, will you be able to live

with yourself?"

Listening to their accusations, I ran my tongue over the inside of my cheek

where she'd hit me.

I looked up and met Isabelle's triumphant gaze.

Did she really think a little public pressure would make me bend to her will?

I turned on the TV in the room and connected my phone.

A security video played for everyone to see.

It showed the scene after the auction. Isabelle was walking out, arm-in-arm with

Marcus.

"Marcus, did you have a good time tonight?"

"I did. But Isabelle, what about that fifty million you embezzled? How are you

going to pay it back?"

"Don't worry. I've got that fool Bryan wrapped around my finger. All I have to do

is cry a little, beg a little, and he'll find a way to get me any amount of

money I need."

"Isabelle, you're so good to me"

Then, without a care in the world, they started kissing.

I looked at Isabelle's deathly pale face and smirked.

"About that broken engagement you mentioned I agree. After all, I have no

desire to be anyone's fool."

With that, I turned and walked out of the room.