Adrian stared at me for several seconds.

—You want Clara and me to be together?

—Yes.

His expression became colder.

—What do you want in exchange?

I almost laughed.

Even now, he thought everything I did had to be a trap.

—Nothing.

—I don’t believe you.

—You don’t have to.

I stood and closed the suitcase on the floor.

That was when he finally noticed it.

His gaze moved from the suitcase to the empty shelves.

Then to the photographs I had removed from the walls.

—Where are you going?

—Abroad.

His eyebrows tightened.

—For how long?

—A few years.

—Lina.

He stepped in front of me.

—Stop playing games.

I looked at him calmly.

—The wedding is canceled.

—The engagement is over.

—Your family’s debt to mine ends here.

—You owe me nothing.

Every sentence made his face darker.

In my previous life, I had begged this man to stay.

Now I was giving him everything he had asked for.

Freedom.

So why did he look angry?

His phone rang again.

Clara.

Adrian looked at the screen.

In the past, he would have answered immediately.

This time, he rejected the call.

I froze.

—Why didn’t you answer?

He looked at me.

—Why do you care?

—I don’t.

That answer seemed to irritate him even more.

He reached for my suitcase.

—You’re not leaving tonight.

I pulled it back.

—You don’t get to decide that.

His fingers stopped.

For a second, an image flashed through my mind.

Twisted metal.

Snow.

His coat around my body.

His voice weakening beside my ear.

“Lina Reed, in the next life… let’s not torture each other again.”

My chest tightened.

I lowered my eyes.

—Adrian, I’m doing exactly what you wanted.

His voice became strangely quiet.

—What I wanted?

—You wanted your life back.

—You wanted Clara.

—You wanted a marriage without me.

He stared at me.

Then said something I had never heard in the previous life.

—I wanted you to stop forcing me.

I looked up.

He continued.

—That’s not the same thing as wanting you to disappear.

My fingers tightened around the suitcase handle.

Too late.

Those words were five years too late.

Or perhaps one life too late.

The next morning, I left before sunrise.

Grandfather tried to stop me.

Father threatened to freeze my accounts.

Adrian’s family called six times.

I ignored everyone.

At eight thirty, my flight departed for Geneva.

I watched the city disappear beneath the clouds and finally breathed.

No wedding.

No five years of hatred.

No divorce.

No snowy road.

History had changed.

Or so I believed.

Three months passed.

I rented a small apartment.

Started working at an investment firm.

Cut my hair.

Changed my number.

For the first time since I could remember, nobody knew me as Adrian Blackwood’s future wife.

I was simply Lina.

And slowly, I began to believe the previous life had finally released me.

Until one Monday morning, my assistant entered my office looking nervous.

—Ms. Reed, there’s someone waiting for you downstairs.

—Who?

She handed me a business card.

My blood turned cold.

Adrian Blackwood.

I stared at the name.

—Tell him I’m busy.

—He said he would wait.

Of course he did.

Three hours later, when I left the building, Adrian was still there.

Dark coat.

No tie.

Exhausted eyes.

Exactly like the night before we died.

My steps stopped.

He looked at me.

—You really disappeared.

—That was the idea.

He walked closer.

—You changed your number.

—Yes.

—Your grandfather wouldn’t tell me your address.

—I asked him not to.

Adrian laughed without humor.

—You really thought you could cancel a wedding and vanish without explaining anything?

—There is nothing to explain.

—Then explain why you knew.

My heartbeat stopped.

—Knew what?

He took something from his pocket.

Two rings.

My rings.

The ones I had thrown into the trash outside the hotel.

I stared at them.

—Where did you get those?

—From the trash.

I slowly looked at him.

Adrian continued:

—You threw them away before I even returned home.

—You packed before anyone discussed postponing the wedding again.

—You sold the apartment furniture before my father officially agreed to cancel the marriage.

His eyes narrowed.

—And three days before Clara’s condition suddenly improved, you transferred money to the hospital anonymously.

My breath caught.

That last part was true.

In my previous life, Clara’s treatment had been delayed because a specialist was unavailable.

This time, before leaving, I had quietly arranged another doctor.

Not for Clara.

For myself.

Because I didn’t want Adrian to have another reason to sacrifice everything for her.

—Coincidence.

—No.

His voice was calm.

Too calm.

—And there’s something else.

He removed an old photograph from his coat.

My blood went cold.

It showed the wrecked car from our previous life.

The same highway.

The same snow.

The same crushed passenger side.

Impossible.

I stepped backward.

—Where did you get that?

Adrian’s face changed.

Not anger.

Pain.

—So you recognize it.

I couldn’t speak.

He came closer.

—For three months I’ve been having the same dream.

My hands started shaking.

—A car accident.

—Snow.

—You bleeding beside me.

I stopped breathing.

His voice dropped.

—And you laughing at me because you said I would never marry Clara.

The street noise disappeared.

Everything disappeared.

Adrian looked directly into my eyes.

Then he said the words that destroyed the certainty I had built in this new life.

—Lina Reed…

—Why do I remember dying with you?