The Woman Who Came Back Twice

I opened my eyes again. The cold still clung to my skin.

The terror from my final moments that suffocating grip on every nerve hadn't left me yet.

I was locked in a psychiatric facility. So how am I back here, on the day I married Ethan?

I've been reborn.

A rush of wild joy swept through me.

Does this mean I can change the fate of myself and my family?

In my past life, Ethan had crushed my entire family into bankruptcy all for the sake of his first love.

Then, after he'd destroyed everything we had, he had me committed. The orderlies were free to do whatever they wanted to me. I died slowly, broken, in the cold of a winter night.

This time around, I had spent my days scouring the world for women who looked like her like Catherine, his precious first love.

This time, I want to see for myself just how unshakeable this great love of yours really is.

In my past life, Ethan and I married as part of a business arrangement between our two families. At first, we managed a civil enough distance.

Then his first love, Catherine Cole, came back from abroad and everything changed.

I didn't care how many women he kept on the side. Our marriage was a bridge between the Song family and the Lu family, and that was all it needed to be.

But I underestimated how cruel people could be. And I overestimated how much that bridge meant to him.

All it took was Catherine saying she refused to get involved with a married man.

That one sentence was enough for Ethan to make up his mind. He planted spies inside my family's company, stole our most valuable technology, then turned around and accused us of wrongdoing.

He drove the Song Group into bankruptcy. My brother and my father were sent to prison.

When my mother heard the news, she stepped off the roof of the Song Group building.

And me I went after Ethan with nothing left to lose. He had me committed to a psychiatric facility for it.

I endured the orderlies' endless cruelty until one winter night, they left me outside in the cold and I never came back in.

Thinking about it now, I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek until I tasted iron.

Ethan. This life, it's your turn to pay.

After the wedding, Ethan and I moved into his villa up in the hills. I hadn't noticed before, but the whole place was soaked in memories of him and Catherine.

The pink stuffed animals on the couch. The bow-tied curtains. The sweet floral diffuser in the bathroom.

Eight years, and he'd kept every trace of their life together perfectly intact.

First thing the next morning, I called the housekeeper and had all of it removed.

When Ethan woke up and found the house completely transformed, he came at me furious.

"What did you do? You completely rearranged my house without even asking me?"

I looked at him with a calm smile, mockery tucked just beneath the surface.

"Your house? We're married I live here too. Why can't I change what I don't like?" I tilted my head. "Or are you saying you never actually intended to make this marriage work?"

Ethan's move against my family wouldn't come for another two years. Right now, he still needed the Song family's support, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger.

"I'm sorry. I lost my temper. That was out of line."

He stared at me, his words slow and deliberate.

I pretended not to notice the fury in his eyes. I didn't even bother responding.

After breakfast, I went back to the office at Song Group.

My brother, Marcus, looked up in surprise when he saw me walk in.

"Why didn't you take a few more days? Aren't you two supposed to be on your honeymoon?"

I laughed it off. "I wasn't feeling it. I'm young I have plenty of time to travel. Right now I'd rather be building something."

Marcus shook his head with a grin and gave me a light knock on the head.

"Relax. Even if you turned out to be completely useless, I'd still take care of you."

My throat tightened. I almost cried right there.

My brother. This wonderful, ridiculous man. In my last life, he ended up in prison because of me, beaten so badly he walked with a permanent limp.

I pushed the rage back down and called my assistant over. I handed her a photo and a USB drive.

"Find me at least five women who look as close to this person as possible."

"Have them study the videos on that drive. Every gesture, every expression I want them to learn how she moves, how she smiles."

"It has to be convincing. So convincing that even I can't tell them apart from the real thing."

What I was doing didn't stay secret from my parents or Marcus for long.

At dinner, my father glanced at me carefully, then finally spoke up.

"Ava... who is this woman you've been looking for?"

I swallowed my food and answered quietly.

"Ethan's first love. He never got over her." I set down my fork. "I figured why wait for her to show up and blow everything apart? Better to get ahead of it. Kill it before it starts."

My parents exchanged a long look. Neither of them spoke.

Marcus stepped in.

"Ava's handling her own marriage, and she's doing it for a reason. Our job is to have her back." He glanced at me. "When has she ever done anything without thinking it through?"

I shot him a grateful look. My parents didn't push further, though the worry never left their eyes.

That evening, I came home to find Ethan on the couch, looking dark.

I had no interest in engaging. I walked straight past him and headed upstairs.

The sound of glass shattering stopped me on the stairs.

"Ava. We've been married one week. Is it too much to ask where you've been?" His voice rose. "I came home expecting to have dinner with you. I waited three hours!"

I turned and looked at him, my voice flat.

"Ethan, this is a business arrangement. What exactly did you think was going to happen that we'd actually build a life together?" I held his gaze. "And for the record, don't wait on me for dinner. I'm not here to cater to you."

I ignored the crash of something else hitting the floor behind me and locked my bedroom door.

Three months later, my assistant reported back: the women were ready. She asked me to come review them.

Five near-identical versions of Catherine stood in the dance studio, lined up and waiting. They greeted me politely in unison.

"Miss Song."

The college student Zoe was the most convincing of them all.

The moment Ethan spotted her at the charity auction, something shifted in him.

"Catherine?"

I watched his hand tighten around the railing.

"What's wrong?" I asked, playing innocent.

A flicker of something crossed his face. "Nothing. I thought she was someone else."

He didn't say another word for the rest of the evening.

I spent the night happily putting Ethan's credit card to good use, bidding on a necklace I'd had my eye on a massive, deep blue sapphire pendant they called the Heart of the Ocean.

Zoe brought it to me with both hands, her head slightly bowed. Her hair smelled like gardenia, which was exactly the scent I'd told her to wear.

Catherine's scent.

That same night, Zoe messaged me. Ethan had already reached out to her.

The fish had taken the bait.

After meeting Zoe, Ethan stopped coming home. He set her up in a private villa on the outskirts of the city.

Two months later, I arranged for another Catherine lookalike to apply for the position of his personal assistant.

She got the job without a hitch.

Then came the elder Mr. Lu's birthday.

Ethan came to pick me up but someone was already sitting in the passenger seat.

His new personal assistant, Jessica. Catherine number two.

I stood outside the car, arms folded, and just looked at him.

Jessica played her role perfectly, greeting me with a bright smile.

"Ma'am, Mr. Lu says I'm required to accompany him at all times. I hope that's not a problem?"

I made a show of irritation and fixed her with a cold look.

"Get out."

She reached for the door handle, but Ethan's hand shot out and stopped her.

"Stay where you are. That's your seat."

Then he turned to me.

"If you don't want to ride with us, you're welcome to drive yourself."

I turned and walked toward the garage. That was exactly what I'd been waiting for him to say.

By the time I arrived at the Lu estate, everyone was already assembled.

Jessica stood at Ethan's side, playing the gracious companion as he greeted guests.

When I walked in, the room went quiet.

Jessica moved to greet me and managed to splash red wine all over my dress.

Every person in that room read it the same way: Ethan's mistress putting his wife in her place.

Ethan stepped forward and put himself between us, shielding her.

"Jessica didn't mean it. Just go change."

I didn't say a word. I simply looked at both of them.

Sensing the tension, Ethan's mother cut in and slapped him on the arm.

"Who told you to bring someone like this to a family event?"

To his credit, Ethan wasn't stupid enough to embarrass his parents over a kept woman. He hesitated, then quietly told the butler to see Jessica out. Her eyes went glassy, and she looked up at him with the expression of someone trying very hard not to cry.

"Behave. I'll come find you when this is over."

Then he shot me a look of pure disdain as if I were the one responsible for her being sent away.

Everyone present could see exactly what he was doing. He was humiliating me, and he wasn't trying to hide it.

On the drive home after the banquet, with the elder Mr. Lu present, I brought up the matter of compensation.

"What you do on your own time is your business. But if you want me to keep covering for you, that's a separate conversation."

Ethan had drunk more than usual. He let out a short, contemptuous laugh.

"Ava. You really do have a price for everything."

I didn't flinch.

"I want the position of Director of Human Resources at Lu Group. Is that unreasonable?"

He opened his eyes and looked at me sideways.

"What would you want that for?"

The elder Mr. Lu cut him off with a quiet nod in my direction.

I understood. It was his apology for his grandson's behavior. And his way of asking me not to make a scene.

In the days that followed, I installed Catherine number three as a live-in housekeeper at the hill villa.

Then I arranged for Catherine number four to take up a regular spot at the bar Ethan liked to visit.

Each of them had her own personality but every one of them moved with a trace of Catherine in the way she carried herself.

Every single one of them pulled at something in Ethan he couldn't control. He welcomed all of them, one by one.

But after a while, even the things you're drawn to start to lose their pull.

Ethan began coming home more often.

That irritated me.

I did the math. Catherine would be back in the country in six months.

It was time to make sure he was completely, thoroughly worn out on her face before she arrived.

His university's alumni anniversary was coming up. As his wife, I was expected to attend.

I planned something special for the occasion.

I'd heard the story of how they first met at a campus gala. Catherine was the emcee. Ethan, as student body president, was called up to give a speech. As they passed each other on stage, she turned her ankle.

That stumble was where it all began.

I decided to recreate it. Catherine number five was booked as the emcee for the event.

Right on cue, she stumbled as she passed Ethan and fell neatly into his arms.

But something unexpected happened.

Ethan paused for only a moment. He didn't seek her out afterward.

If anything, he surprised me completely. After the speech, he walked directly toward me, took my hand, and led me over to the faculty members and administrators gathered nearby.

"I'd like you all to meet my wife, Ava. I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce her to the people who've meant the most to me here."

I smiled and greeted them warmly.

One of the professors an older man chuckled and said, almost to himself, "Didn't you spend half your university years chasing after that girl... what was her name, Catherine? You two were absolutely inseparable."

"Half a semester, you were skipping my class for dates. If I hadn't gone easy on you, you would have failed."

Ethan took it in stride, laughing and making an apology to his old professor.

Still, I wanted to be thorough. To make certain that face had completely lost its hold on him.

On the drive home that night, Ethan had been drinking. I suggested we walk a little to clear his head.

He agreed easily enough.

We were passing a narrow alley when a woman's voice rang out from the darkness crying for help.

The voice was identical to Catherine's.

Ethan grabbed my hand and told me to call the police. Then he went in himself.

By the time the police wouldn't have even arrived, he was already walking back out with Catherine number five in his arms.

But the moment he got her to the hospital and made sure she was settled, he turned to leave, pulling me along with him.

I was surprised.

"You're not going to stay with her?"

He gave me an odd look.

"Do we know her? We helped her that doesn't mean we're responsible for her. Come on, let's go home."

I let myself smile.

When the white-moonlight fantasy stops working, what comes next isn't indifference.

It's revulsion.

On my instructions, Zoe who had recently been broken up with began making a scene.

Every day, she packed a homemade lunch and waited outside Ethan's office building, eyes red-rimmed and brimming.

One afternoon, Ethan happened to be walking a client out when she spotted him and ran over, not caring who was watching.

"Ethan, please don't do this. You said you'd love me forever were you lying?"

The clients turned to stare. The expressions on their faces said everything.

Ethan's face went through several shades. He shook her off hard.

"Security get her out of here!"

Zoe stumbled and hit the ground. The carefully packed lunch she'd brought him scattered across the pavement.

Afterward, she sent me a message confirming it was done.

I raised my glass.

Ethan. This is only the beginning.

The second one to cause a scene was Jessica.

Ethan and I had just come home from a dinner event when we found her blocking the entrance to the villa.

He'd spoiled her. She knew it.

She yanked open the car door and pulled me out by the arm before either of us had a chance to react.

I stumbled and barely caught myself.

"Jessica, what the hell"

Her eyes were red. Her voice shook with barely contained fury.

"You said you'd never fall for her! You said you only loved me! You said I could do whatever I wanted!"

The tears came then, fast and uncontrolled.

"I'm not accepting this breakup. If you leave me, I'll kill myself."

That woke Ethan's temper up fast.

He stepped in front of me, then turned and slapped Jessica hard across the face.

"Don't ever threaten me. You want to? Go ahead."

His coldness chilled something inside me.

This was the same man who, in another life, had turned on me after two years together without blinking.

Even for someone he'd actually cared about, he could walk away without hesitation.

His assistant called shortly after Jessica had gone home and slit her wrists.

Ethan's only response was to mutter that it was bad luck. He didn't go see her. He didn't even look up. Just sat there looking mildly inconvenienced.

Two months left before Catherine's return.

I was getting anxious. I couldn't let last time repeat itself.

To be sure, I had the remaining lookalikes turn up the pressure pushing every boundary until, within a single week, Ethan ended things with all of them.

That evening, Marcus called me out for dinner.

He leaned back in his chair and gave me a look that was almost reproachful.

"Ava, since you moved into Lu Group, I've noticed you've been pulling some of our people over there." He paused. "Can you tell me why?"

I stared at him. My grip tightened on my fork.

After a long pause, I finally spoke.

"What if I told you that Ethan is going to come after us? Would you believe me?"

Marcus went still.

"How could you know that? Did he do something to you?"

My eyes burned. I felt the tears coming before I could stop them.

So I told him everything. The whole truth the other life, the rebirth, all of it.

I wasn't sure he'd believe me. But the secret had been crushing me for months. I couldn't carry it anymore.

What I didn't expect was for him to stand up immediately and pull me into a hug.

"Ava. I'm so sorry. You've been carrying all of this alone."

I grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and finally let myself fall apart crying until I couldn't breathe, letting out everything I'd been holding back across two lifetimes.

When I finally steadied, Marcus asked what my plan was.

"I'm not completely sure whether Ethan went after us purely because of Catherine or whether there were other factors. But we can't afford to assume anything." I steadied my voice. "The people I moved from Song Group to Lu Group they're the same employees who sold our core technology last time. Given how greedy they are, a little persuasion is all it'll take to get them selling Lu Group's secrets back to us instead."

"And Jessica already handed over everything she could access evidence of Lu Group's connections to some very questionable business dealings."

"This time, we're going to be ready. By the time we're done, Ethan won't have anything left to stand on."

Marcus held my shoulder and told me not to worry. This time, he promised, he would protect me.

The two months passed quickly.

The contact I'd placed near Catherine sent word: she'd bought a return ticket. She'd be landing next Monday.

That night, I overheard Ethan on the phone. His voice was calm, measured but he agreed to pick her up from the airport.

At arrivals, the moment Catherine saw Ethan, her eyes lit up.

But Ethan something was different. The instant he saw her face, an inexplicable irritation rose inside him and didn't stop climbing.