Chapter 1

My father wanted my sister and me to enter arranged marriages with the heirs of two powerful mafia families.

From the moment the sole heir of the Harrington family stepped into the Vance estate, his eyes were glued to my sister.

As for me, I was assigned to Killian Hayes—a man rumored to have been crippled in a brutal family power struggle and discarded as a useless pawn.

In my past life, seeing Killian covered in bullet scars and burns, I felt a deep, foolish pity for him and decided to love him with all my heart.

After our wedding, I risked everything scouring the black market for top doctors to treat him, even using the secret resources my late mother left me to help him rise back to power.

Even though he treated me with nothing but cold indifference, I stupidly believed that if I was just patient enough, I could melt his frozen heart.

That was until a rival mafia stormed our estate, guns blazing, and the man who had supposedly been paralyzed for years suddenly vaulted out of his wheelchair.

Without a single shred of hesitation, he threw me right into the enemy's hands to shield my sister.

I was knocked out, dragged away, and subjected to three days and nights of brutal torture.

Countless times, I waited for him to rescue me. In the end, the only news I got was that he had pulled every string he could to find doctors around the world for my sister.

At that moment, the truth hit me:

he was never paralyzed, and he was never an outcast.

He had only married me because my sister had chosen someone else.

By marrying me, he could continue to watch over her under the guise of being "family."

Before I died, the last phone call he ever made to me contained only two freezing, pathetic sentences:

"I'm sorry, Elena. I lied to you. But I couldn't just stand by and watch Vivian die."

"I'll make it up to you in the next life."

When I opened my eyes again, I was right back to the day my father forced us to choose our husbands.

This time, I refuse to make the same mistake.

……

"Let Elena choose first. She’s younger, and I don't mind letting her have her pick," Vivian said, putting on her usual act of the sweet, selfless older sister, just like in my previous life.

But the lingering, loaded glances between her and Cole Harrington gave everything away.

Everyone in our circle knew they had been secretly sleeping together for months.

Today, our father was inevitably going to arrange for Cole to marry her.

In my past life, completely blind to their affair and wanting to be a good sister, I had stepped forward and volunteered to marry Killian Hayes.

Back then, I thought I was doing a selfless deed. I had no idea I was choosing a direct ticket to hell.

Before I died, I was tortured for three excruciating days, every bone in my body shattered.

Yet Killian didn't waste a single second trying to save me. His entire universe revolved around Vivian, who only had a tiny scratch on her arm.

She had clung to Killian, sobbing delicately:

"Killian! It hurts so much! Please, you have to save Elena!"

"It's all my fault... I shouldn't have been so clumsy..."

The onlookers sighed, whispering about how incredibly pure and kind she was, worrying about her sister even at a time like this.

It wasn't until my broken corpse was dumped in a trash heap that she wailed dramatically in front of the press:

"No! This can't be! How could Elena be dead?"

"I don't believe it! Please, someone save her!"

Recalling her tear-stained face, I suddenly wanted to laugh.

She always did this. She played the fragile victim, successfully stealing my father's affection, driving me into an abusive marriage, and ultimately getting me killed.

A cold smirk played on my lips.

"Since you're being so incredibly generous, Vivian, I won't stand on ceremony."

"I choose Cole Harrington."

Vivian stared at me in absolute shock, her eyes instantly welling with tears.

"Elena... you know Cole and I..."

Killian shot a look at me, a flicker of surprise crossing his cold eyes.

My father, instantly enraged, slapped me across the face so hard my head spun.

"Who do you think you are? Cole Harrington is the sole heir to the Harrington Syndicate! You think a worthless bastard like you deserves him?"

"You know damn well he loves your sister, yet you try to steal him? What kind of twisted game are you playing?"

Nursing the burning pain on my cheek, I let out a sharp laugh.

"Since you've already mapped out our lives, why didn't you just force me to marry the cripple in the first place? Were you afraid people would call you a biased hypocrite?"

Vivian’s eyes turned red instantly.

"Elena, you've got it all wrong. Dad and I have always loved you."

As our shouting escalated, the paralyzed Killian Hayes suddenly pushed back his wheelchair and stood up on his own two feet.

"Mr. Vance, let’s make a deal."

"I know you've been eyeing the southern territory. I can secure it for you. In exchange, I want Vivian."

I hadn't expected him to drop his paralyzed act so early this time.

I glared at him. For a split second, those cold, detached eyes softened with a complex, guilt-ridden gaze as he looked at me.

A sudden realization washed over me, and I wanted to laugh. He had regressed too.

So, even after watching me die in his past life...

Faced with a second chance, he still couldn't bear to see my sister marry another man.

To prevent it, he was willing to expose his greatest secret—that he was never crippled, and never a weak outcast.

Yet, in my past life, he had sat by and watched me bleed my mother's estate dry to pay for his medical treatments.

To heal his supposedly shattered legs, I had even gone down on my knees to beg my father for resources.

And Killian had never said a single word to stop me.

Hearing that Killian could hand him the southern territory, a look of pure greed flashed across my father's face.

He was desperate to marry us off anyway, solely to cement alliances with the two biggest syndicates.

Besides, the Hayes family’s power far exceeded the Harringtons'.

He let out a cold snort.

"Since Mr. Hayes wants Vivian, then Elena, you will marry Cole."

Cole’s face turned livid, clearly enraged by this sudden turn of events.

He glared at me, his eyes dripping with venom.

"Elena Vance, you highly overestimate yourself!"

"You’re just an illegitimate nobody. You aren’t even worth a single hair on Vivian’s head!"

"You think I'd marry you? In your dreams!"