Reborn, I Ditch My Husband to Die

The day I was reborn happened to be when Damien Thorne got ambushed by his bastard half-brother in that godforsaken alley.

This time? No cops. No playing the hero.

I just popped in my earbuds and walked the hell away without a backward glance.

Result? Damien ended up with a shattered left leg and permanent blindness in his right eye.

As for me? I disappeared like a ghost - new identity, one-way ticket out of the country, vanished before he could even blink.

In my past life, I'd loved that man with every fiber of my being. For him, I'd taken slashed wrists, lost my hearing, became a shell of myself.

He played the doting husband so well - all tender care and false devotion.

Then on our tenth anniversary? Shoved me right off a fucking cliff.

"You ruined my life and killed Isabelle," he'd snarled. "Letting you breathe this long was mercy!"

As I fell, my last sight was him kissing a photo of his precious Isabelle.

That's when the truth hit me like a freight train.

He'd always believed I'd trapped him - that saving his life was just some calculated move to force marriage.

In his eyes, I was the villain who stole his happiness.

Well, not this time.

Reborn, I chose freedom first.

Let them have their toxic love story.

The sensation of falling vanished abruptly.

I jolted awake to the sickening sound of flesh meeting fists from the nearby alley.

Damien's muffled roars followed.

Holy shit. I'd actually been reborn - and right on the day Caleb Vance was beating Damien to a pulp.

"Caleb, you spineless piece of shit! I know it's you!" Damien's voice rang out between punches. "Got the guts to do it, got the guts to own it!"

I peeked around the corner.

There was Damien, stuffed in a burlap sack like trash, while Caleb and his goons wailed on him.

"Caleb, I swear to God, let me go now or you'll regret it every damn day of your pathetic life!"

The threat only fueled Caleb's rage.

"Damien, you never learn, do you?" Caleb spat, picking up a blade. "Came here to end you today."

The others drew their knives too, steel glinting ominously in the dim light.

A shiver ran down my spine.

Then I jammed in my earbuds and power-walked away just as Damien's scream tore through the air.

Last life? I'd rushed in before the knives even came out.

Threw myself over him like a human shield.

Took every punch, kick, stab meant for him.

Caleb's knife left me permanently disabled.

The Thornes were "grateful" - paid my medical bills, forced Damien to marry me.

My family's dojo got a massive investment, expanded nationwide.

Post-wedding, Damien played the perfect husband.

Weak hands? Hired maids.

Deafness? Top-tier hearing aids.

Paralysis? Personal care from him.

Never let me feel neglected.

Everyone said my suffering was rewarded - that this was my "hero's blessing."

I drank that poisoned Kool-Aid for years.

Actually believed we'd grow old together.

Until our tenth anniversary.

He cleared everyone out, carried me up the mountain himself.

At the summit during sunset, I leaned into him, whispering about wishing for forever.

His response?

"You don't deserve it." Voice like Arctic ice.

"Ten years ago, you orchestrated that 'rescue.' Used my family's guilt to trap me."

"You destroyed my life."

"Got Isabelle killed."