Introduction

It was Valentine's Day, also my daughter Lily's fifth birthday, and our San Francisco house buzzed with her party.

Her innocent wish, spoken in perfect French, shattered my world: "I wish Mommy and Daddy would divorce, and Uncle Julian could be my new daddy."

My wife Izzy confirmed her chilling desire, and the subsequent divorce papers, the mere fifty-million-dollar check, and pervasive public humiliation felt like the final blows.

Every person I cared for-my wife, my daughter, my very own parents-echoed the same brutal sentiment: I was nothing but a convenience, easily discarded.

Years of devotion, of caring for Izzy during her coma and raising Lily, yielded only cold dismissals and public scorn.

My heart, already weakened by a secret chronic illness, shattered repeatedly, leaving me hollowed out and completely unvalued.

Was my loyalty a curse?

Had I truly been nothing but a 'placeholder'?

With nothing left but bitter pain, a mysterious entity offered an 'exit'-a chance to leave this life behind.

But death, it seemed, was merely a new beginning.

I awoke to a reality where I was reborn, the highly respected screenwriter Ethan Cole, cured of my past ailments.

Until a ghost from my previous life, my ex-wife and daughter, appeared, ready to 'reconquer' me.

This time, the game was on my terms.