Chapter 1

When I saw the mill manager's son dragging my fiancée into the distribution center warehouse, I didn't rush in. I simply turned around and walked away, pretending I hadn't seen a thing.

In my past life, I had risked my entire future to burst in and beat that man to a pulp. But instead of being a hero, I was framed for trying to rob the warehouse.

When the security guards arrived with the sheriff, my fiancée had already torn her own clothes. She cried, claiming she and the manager's son were trying to stop my crime, and that I had assaulted and violated her.

From that day on, I became a pariah. I was a criminal everyone spat on, a man avoided like the plague.

The rumors were so suffocating that her parents forced me to marry her. I thought it was my duty, but that marriage was the true start of my hell.

She lived like a queen at home while telling everyone I was starving her. When she got pregnant, she intentionally threw herself against a table and screamed in the yard that I was a domestic abuser who hated his own child.

My parents, desperate to save me, borrowed money from everyone they knew to buy her a comfortable office job. But the moment she felt secure, she framed my father for stealing steel from the mill.

My father died in prison within six months. My mother couldn't take the shock; she fell ill and followed him shortly after.

Years later, when a wall collapsed on me at a construction site, she didn't call for help. Instead, she picked up a brick and repeatedly smashed my skull.

"If you hadn't played the hero back then, Jace and I would have been together years ago. You wasted my life!" she hissed.

My head was crushed, and my life ended under that rubble. Now, I've opened my eyes to find myself back at the warehouse door, hearing the familiar, flirtatious murmurs of my fiancée from inside.

1

I stood in the shadows, my body trembling despite the sweltering summer heat. My mind was a whirlwind of the horrors I had endured in my previous life.

The crushing weight of that past felt all too real, but I forced myself to stay calm. I suppressed the urge to kill them both right then and there.

I turned on my heel and walked back toward the company dinner being held at the nearby grill. It was a celebration for the regional manager, and things were still in full swing.

I sat down at the table with the mill workers and grabbed a glass. Suddenly, a hand slapped my back.

"Silas, how can you just sit here drinking? Your girl just ran off with another man!" my old friend Quentin whispered urgently in my ear.

I didn't even look at him as I took a sip. "Stop talking nonsense. She's not my wife yet," I replied coldly.

I was afraid that if I looked at him, I'd wrap my hands around his throat. In my last life, he was the one who stole my college scholarship by sabotaging my reputation.

He used to come over during his breaks just to brag. Every time he did, Wynter would start a massive screaming match with me.

"Silas Reed, why did I marry a loser like you? You're as useless as a pig that only knows how to eat!" she would scream.

Back then, I would try to defend myself. I would remind her that my scholarship was taken because of her, but she'd just play the victim.

"Oh, so it's my fault? You wanted me to tell everyone the manager's son tried to touch me? Our families would have been ruined!" she'd wail, sitting on the ground until the neighbors came to beat me.

Later, I learned the truth from Quentin himself while I lay dying under that wall. He had known about Wynter and Jace all along and lured me to the warehouse just to take my spot at the university.

I wasn't going to fall for his trap this time. Quentin, seeing I wasn't moving, grabbed my arm.

"I'm serious, Silas. I saw a guy drag Wynter into the warehouse. If something happens, how will you face her mother?"

I shook him off with a look of disgust. "Jace Bennett, the manager's son, told me he was walking her home because she had too much to drink. Are you saying Jace is a predator?"

I raised my voice on purpose. The regional manager and several mill foremen at the next table stopped talking and looked over.

"What's going on over there? What about Arthur Bennett's son?" the manager asked.

I stood up, acting perfectly indignant. "Mr. Thompson, Quentin here is slandering Jace! He's saying Jace is trying to assault my fiancée in the warehouse!"

I continued, my voice firm. "I know Jace is a man of integrity. He would never do something so disgusting!"

The men who were friends with Jace's father immediately chimed in. "That's right! We've known that boy since he was in diapers. Quentin, you want to keep your job, or are you just fond of lying?"

Quentin's face went pale, and he nearly fell out of his chair. "I… I wasn't lying, they really…"

I cut him off before he could backtrack. "Manager Bennett has always been good to me. I won't let his son's name be dragged through the mud!"

"I'm going there right now to prove Quentin is a liar!" I declared.

The foremen stood up, fueled by the drama. "We're coming too. This is serious. If you're making this up, Quentin, there will be consequences!"

I looked down to hide the smirk tugging at my lips. I hauled the shaking Quentin up and led the crowd toward the warehouse.