Chapter 1

My husband of five years has a woman he could never forget. Her name is Bianca Blanche, and she owes a fortune to some very dangerous people.

On the day the loan sharks came to collect, my husband pushed me toward them to save her. I was humiliated and tortured until my last breath.

As I lay dying, he was holding Bianca tightly in his arms. I begged him not to leave me, but his voice was as cold as ice.

"Bianca is nine months pregnant and about to give birth! You have the System. Is it really that hard for you to stand in for her and deal with the creditors?!"

He thought my System allowed me to resurrect forever.

He didn't know that the System only gave me nine chances to cheat death. The time he pushed me toward those monsters was my ninth life.

Later, when my cold body was brought before him, he finally realized I was gone for good.

The man who never believed in God spent nine hundred hours kneeling in a temple. He begged the heavens for me to return to his side.

1

I have been dead for three hours. It has also been three hours since Bianca Blanche went into labor.

"Both the mother and the baby are safe. Congratulations! It's a healthy baby girl!" the doctor announced.

The nurse carried the baby out, but Jude Sterling didn't even look at his child. He rushed straight into the room to check on Bianca.

"Bianca, are you okay?" he whispered, his face full of concern.

Seeing her pale face from the premature birth broke his heart. He was a professional OB-GYN, yet he had been too nervous to perform the surgery himself.

I watched them as a translucent spirit. I saw their intimacy and let out a self-deprecating laugh.

She was fine, of course. I was the one who was dead.

Today was supposed to be my birthday. Bianca insisted on tagging along, and Jude said it was hard for her to be alone while pregnant.

Against my better judgment, I agreed. On the way to pick her up, I tried to talk to him.

"Is Ms. Blanche really joining us for dinner?" I asked quietly.

I had prepared a surprise for him. I wanted us to have a romantic evening, just the two of us.

"Cora Quinn, it's just a meal. Why are you being so difficult?" Jude snapped.

"Bianca just divorced her husband and has nothing. She's pregnant and alone. Don't be so heartless."

Jude didn't even give me a chance to finish. He shut me down instantly.

I clenched the fabric of my dress and bit my lip. I didn't say another word.

When we picked her up, Jude told me to move to the back seat. He wanted Bianca to sit in the front so he could look after her.

He smiled tenderly at her and occasionally rubbed her belly. They looked like the actual married couple.

The sight made my heart ache. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

"Pull over, Jude," I said, my voice trembling. "I don't want to celebrate my birthday anymore."

It was the first time I had ever stood up to him. He looked at me through the rearview mirror with disbelief.

"What's wrong with you now?" he growled.

He was always so impatient with me, yet so gentle with her. My sudden defiance made Bianca's face turn pale.

"Jude, I'm sorry," she sobbed, her eyes welling with tears. "I didn't mean to make Cora unhappy."

With just one sentence, Jude's anger toward me doubled. He pulled the car over and turned around to yell.

"I married you! You are my wife! But Bianca has nobody to rely on! What more do you want?!"

He seemed to think his words weren't enough to hurt me. He wanted me to submit.

He got out of the car, opened my door, and dragged me out onto the sidewalk. We argued loudly on the side of the road as he demanded I apologize to her.

During our struggle, several large, muscular men approached us. They looked like they stepped out of a nightmare.

"Which one of you is Bianca Blanche?!" the leader barked.

These were professional debt collectors from the underworld. They had tracked Bianca's phone to this exact location.

"She is!" Bianca screamed from the car, pointing her finger directly at me.

Jude saw that these men meant trouble. Yet, he still chose to help Bianca by pushing me toward them.

"We've been looking for you, lady! When are you going to pay back the millions you owe?!"

They didn't give me a chance to explain. They grabbed me and threw me into the back of a black van.

I looked at Jude, begging for help with my eyes. He looked away, pretending not to see.

For a split second, he seemed like he might step forward. But then, Bianca let out a scream from the car.

Her water had broken.

The men took me away, convinced I was Bianca. When I kept denying it, they grew frustrated and tied me inside a heavy sack.

They took me apart, piece by piece. Even as they cut into me, my consciousness remained.

It wasn't until they carved out my heart that I finally stopped breathing.

Jude didn't know that this was my very last life.