CHAPTER 1

“I can't wait to get there.” Diana texted to her fiance Damien. Today was their anniversary and she was eager to get home and see him. This was their first anniversary with a ring on her finger.

She couldn't wait so she called him again in the taxi. She got his voicemail again.

“Maybe he's preparing a surprise for me, I shouldn't pressure him.” She smiled to herself, putting her phone back in her bag.

Once at their apartment she stopped in the hallway looking at a pair of white pumps next to Damien's loafers. She knew those fancy shoes anywhere. She'd seen them days earlier in a box hidden in their walk in closet.

Diana had assumed it'd been a present for her. But why was it out here?

She walked into the house going up the stairs. The study door was slightly ajar, light pouring out into the corridor. She could hear his deep laughter.

“You're the only one I love.” Damien said.

Diana stopped by the door. Her heart thumping against her chest.

“After tonight it's all over.”

“Really?” A female voice. Diana recognised it. “Everything she has will be ours?”

“Every single penny. She owns nothing.”

“I love you.”

Diana dared to look into the room and she unfortunately caught the sight of Damien's lips on Lucy's. Her best friend stood there wrapped in her fiance's arms. She couldn't believe it.

Lucy met her eyes and almost screamed.

“Oh my—”

Damien stood upright, his arms still around Lucy. “Diana, what are you doing—”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Diana demanded.

“Can you calm down for a moment?”

“Calm down? Have you lost your mind?”

“Actually, I'm quite sane Diana.” He crossed his arms over his chest walking towards her.

Diana swallowed, trying to remain calm. She glared at Lucy.

“You piece of filth. Is this what you garnered my trust for? To stab me in the back? To steal my fiance from me?”

Lucy looked away from her adjusting her hair over her shoulder. Diana moved to meet Lucy but Damien stood in her way.

“Whatever you want to talk about is with me, not her.” Diana shoved him as hard as she could. But he grunted, grabbing her and shoving her back into the side of the door. “You've always been so stubborn, you know that?”

Diana held unto the side of the door, her back throbbing slightly.

“You said you loved that about me.” She spoke her voice low then she spat at him. “Liar.”

“I lied about a lot more than your stubbornness. But you made things easy, I'll say.” Damien grinned, his eyes having a strange glint. One she'd never seen before. “You were so naive. Believing every single thing I fed your pitiful self. That I liked. I loved that about you.”

Diana's eyes burned.

“Why would you do that to me? After everything I did for you.”

“And what do you think you did? You greedy little bitch.”

“How could you say such a thing? I helped you with every single time. I invested in your business. I supported you when things didn't go well, even when you were sick and dying. I was here!”

“Damn, you're giving me a headache.” He put a hand to his forehead. “ So? Want me to grovel to you and tell you the sweet words you want to hear?”

“I don't even know you anymore.” She whispers, tears streaming down her face.

“To be fair, you never did.” He shrugged.

“Did you ever love me? Did I do something wrong for you to do this to me? To cheat on me with her?”

“Geez, could you wrap this up already?” Lucy groaned from behind Damien. “Her sob story is getting despicable.”

Damien chuckled with a wicked smile. “ She's hurting give her some credit.”

“Yeah right,” Lucy rolled her eyes.

“And you, Lucy?” Diana looked up at her. “What did I ever do to you? I treated you like family—”

“Family? You're crazy. We were never family.” She laughed, mockingly. “Is that what you thought this was? You really are naive.”

“Then why?”

“What else?” She gestures all around her. “Look at all this. You think it's easy to get all this luxury with the crappy jobs Damien and I do? Why struggle, when we could easily fast track that with you?”

Diana paused to breathe, the words Lucy had just said echoing in her brain. Gold diggers. Both of them. They were only here for her money. One which she'd managed to make for herself.

Lucy joined Damien where he stood planting a gentle but demanding kiss on his lips. He responded by wrapping his arms around her, kissing her back.

Diana's chest ached, her heartbeat echoing in her ears. The sight of the two made her stomach turn.

“Get away from him.” She hadn't realised when she lunged at Lucy pushing her off of Damien. Lucy fell back to the floor clutching her wrist. “You're nothing compared to me. You always will be.”

“What did I say about touching her?” Damien shoved her back out the door.

“You're protecting her over me? Is that all my love was worth?” She smacked his chest multiple times.

Damien shoved her off each time.

“I don't owe you anything Diana. I won't be despicable enough to beg for you when you have nothing I need anymore.”

“I loved you with everything I had in me Damien. How could you do this? This isn't fair.” She screamed at him, tears blurring her vision.

Before Damien could reply Lucy charged at her. Diana stumbled back from the push losing her balance as she went tumbling down the staircase.

She rolled to a stop near the hallway where those white pumps glared at her. White hadn't even been her favourite colour. But if he had gotten it for her she wouldn't have bothered. She loved him.

As the darkness grabbed at her she heard Damien's voice for the last time.

“It's okay, she's gone now.”

CHAPTER 2

Her head throbbed seriously. And her body was cold yet wrapped around by something. Where was she?

Diana struggled but she opened her eyes. The bright sunlight almost blinding her. She sat up almost immediately, looking around. This was her old apartment. The same one her dad had got for her. But she had moved out months ago. Why was she here?

She got from the floor where she'd woken up rushing into the bathroom to look at her face. Any injuries or bruises. Nothing. Even her haircut was different.

“That's impossible.” She murmured. “I was just with Damien and…Lucy….the stairs, I fell…. I—”

She ran back to her room searching frantically for her phone. The second she found it she looked at the date gasping.

It was the same Wednesday but a year earlier. Just days before Damien proposed. Just when her career was about to take off.

“How did I get here?” She wondered aloud.

Multiple texts came up on her phone. One was a reminder of her pitch to investors about her architecture firm today, one from Lucy and one from Damien.

She didn't know which to read. So she ignored them both tossing the phone to her bed. She had to get ready for work.

At work, she walked into the architectural firm and almost couldn't believe it. Everything looked the same.

“Good morning Diana.” Someone greeted her with a smile.

“Morning.” She waved back awkwardly.

She walked into her office taking a seat. It was all too surreal.

“I just need to go through the day.” She thought. “Yeah, that's all I need.”

And go through the day she did. On her way back from her pitch, it was lunch. She stepped into her office and froze almost immediately.

“There you are. I've been waiting for almost five minutes.” It was Lucy. She got up from one of the seats closing in to give Diana a hug.

She shifted abruptly out of her best friends arms after a few seconds. Walking towards her table her chest pounded and her hands shook.

She turned to face Lucy with only one thought in mind.

“You killed me.”

“What's with that look?” Lucy asked, an unsuspecting smile still on her face.

“What are you doing here?” The blunt response visibly caught Lucy off guard.

“For lunch?” She gestures to the paper bag on the centre table. “I thought you got my text. I said I'd come by and have lunch with you since you'd be having your pitch today.”

Diana eyed her carefully, her hands still shaking softly.

“Is that why you're behaving off?” Lucy then gasped startling her. “Did it not go well? The pitch?”

Diana paused, breathing in and out deeply.

“I don't know. I don't think they liked it.” She lied, taking a seat.

Lucy pulled out the food packs from the paper bag setting them on her desk. She took a seat opposite her.

“Just eat up. You'll feel better.”

After work Diana dragged herself home. Sitting in her living room she contemplated a lot of things and it all made her head hurt badly.

Her phone rang. It was Damien. She stared at the phone for a long while before picking it up.

“Hey, sweetheart, how are you?” Diana shut her eyes at the sound of his voice.

“I'm alright. Same thing everyday.” Her voice shook slightly.

“Are you sure? Lucy told me your pitch didn't go so well.”

“Of course she did.” Diana thought to herself before replying him. “I don't know how they took it. I guess we should just hope for the best.”

“I’m sure you did great. You're amazing like that.” She didn't reply. “How about to cheer you up, we go on a date this weekend?”

Her breath hitched. In her past life Damien proposed after she successfully did her pitch. But this time she had to delay it.

“Honestly, I don't feel like it. I rather stay home.”

“Well, how about I come over?”

“No.” She blurted out to quickly. Biting down on her lips she swore under her breath. “I mean, I just need to be alone.”

“Was it that bad?” She didn't reply. “You can talk to me Diana. I'm here for you.”

Once upon a time she would've believed it. But even though her heart ached to invite him over and let him cure her troubles she couldn't. He was lying to her.

“I know.” She choked out. “But this has to be me. You understand right?”

Damien sighed on the other end. “Yeah, I do. Take care of yourself. I love—”

She hung up. The tears in her eyes falling out. Her body shaking more as she hugged herself. Time passed and she stared at her ceiling now, muttering to herself the same words they'd said to her before she died.

“You were so naive. Believing every single thing I fed your pitiful self. That I liked. I loved that about you.” She croaked out Damien's statement then Lucy's next.

“Look at all this. You think it's easy to get all this luxury with the crappy jobs Damien and I do? Why struggle, when we could easily fast track that with you?”

Diana laughed, her mouth bitter.

“You wanted my money. You both wanted what you could never work enough for. You betrayed me. Toyed with my feelings. I'll make you both pay for that. “ She cleaned her tear stained face getting up to go to her bathroom.

She washed her face looking at herself in the mirror.

“You thought I would die easy?” She asked her reflection seeing and image of Damien and Lucy behind her. “I'll make you suffer, both of you.”

She sat in her room thinking through every major event that happened in her past life. She had to be ready for anything, even the slightest thing they would throw at her.

She wouldn't wait till they left her out and dry, she would dry them up from the inside out. And watch them crumble after.

CHAPTER 3

Diana stood in the back of the beautifully decorated room filled with other dignitaries on this calm Saturday evening. Glasses clinking in background while the sound of a soft piano notes rippled through the air.

The complex but swift movement of the pianist fingers stole her attention. She watched Kasper Hayes, seated on the piano bench, his head bent low. The strands of his dark brown hair following his head’s movement.

Diana released a slow breath, sipping from her champagne glass. Kasper looked different from what she remembered, a once warm and relaxed aura now drawn tight into a cold, sharp embrace.

“How bad did Damien hurt you?” she murmured underneath her breath.

She couldn’t fully remember it all but Kasper and Damien had more than a business relationship. In her previous life, they’d been good friends and Damien almost didn’t let her hear the end of it when it came to him.

But, someway, somehow, they cut ties and the worst followed soon after. Which was why she was here. If anyone else knew Damien well enough besides her, it was Kasper.

The song playing came to an end. The surrounding audience giving a polite applause, Kasper stood and gave a curt nod in return.

The moment he started walking Diana did the same. Taking a full champagne glass from a waitress’s tray, she made her way to him.

“That song you played was beautiful.” She called his attention the moment he stopped next to the bar.

“Why thank y—” Kapser paused mid turn. His lips down turning to form a frown.

She extended the glass to him. he looked at it, then her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I—”

“In fact, who let you in here? This event doesn’t encourage the likes of you.”

“You know that’s not very nice.”

“That was the point.”

“How I got in here isn’t what matters.”

“I’m not inclined to know why you’re here.”

“You haven’t even heard what I have to say.”

“I’m not interested.”

Diana placed the champagne glass on the bar counter next to him.

“It’s about Damien.”

He glitched abruptly, doing a double take.

“All the more reason why this”—he gestured between them both—“should not even be happening.”

“Kasper, this is not about me—”

“I don’t care if it is.” The tone was sharp. “I don’t deal with Damien’s messes.”

“I’m not his mess.” She shot back.

He scoffed. “Well, you’re in his orbit. Same thing.”

He was turning away from her. She had the urge to drag him back to slap some sense into him.

“I’m here to help you.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “And how do you intend on doing that, huh?”

“Your family’s charity fundraiser. I can help.”

“Is this some game Damien’s playing? Hasn’t he done enough? Or are you his useless pawn now?”

“I’m anything but a pawn.” She snapped.

“Because I cannot for the life of me, grasp why you’re here, beckoning on me to let you help my family. Since when did we need help from the likes of you.”

Diana swore internally. It was like talking a brick wall. Damien had truly run his course with Kasper, because she could blatantly relate and understand why he wanted to keep his distance. But she had to fill him in before things got worse.

She downed the remaining champagne in her glass. “There you go again. Clumping both of us together, when we’re not.”

The look on his face didn’t agree with her statement.

“I’m here on my own accord, not with Damien’s direction or anyone’s will. Just me.”

He looked at her for a long while but then he shook his head turning to walk away. But before she could react, he turned back to her. Just by his steps alone, she could tell he was aggravated.

“Let me give you a little advice Diana.” He kept his voice low but clear enough, eyes locked on hers so she didn’t miss anything. “You’re a way better person than that lowlife you’re with. If I were you, I’d reason things out and put a thousand mile distance between you and him. Not even you are safe when he starts hunting.”

He took the champagne glass she’d left for him earlier in his hands downing the contents. Returning the glass to the counter he trudged off.

Diana sighed massaging the side of her head. She needed a drink. Champagne wasn’t going to do it tonight.

She unconsciously bit her thumbnail. She had to get through to Kasper. She’d stayed up trying to recollect all that she could from her previous life regarding the fundraiser. Damien and Kasper had suddenly cut ties. Damien hadn’t seemed to pleased about it when he told her but looking back he looked too calm. Especially when he made allegations that they’d wronged him in some way. She remembered comforting him about it.

Not long after, an audit had gone on in the Hayes family business. The results incriminated Kieran Hayes, Kapser’s older brother of corporate fraud. The setup had seemed too convienient and once again, Damien had been oddly nonchalant towards the news. She needed to get Kapser on her side.

“Diana, are you listening to me?” Diana blinked. Damien’s dark blue eyes met her green eyes. One emotion shared between them being worry.

“I’m sorry what?” Diana shook her head.

“You didn’t listen to a word I said did you?”

“No, no.” she tried to save it. “I was listening.”

“You don’t have to lie to not hurt my feelings.”

Diana stared at his face on her phone screen.

Oh, I’ll hurt you alright, just you wait.

“Diana.”

“Huh?”

“There you go again.”

She wouldn’t say sorry.

“You’ve been distant since your pitch day. Yesterday was our Saturday date night, you didn’t pick my calls. What’s going on? did I do something?”

Diana gazed at him, with a soft smile and a shake of her head.

“Nothing, it is nothing at all.”

CHAPTER 4

“Do you think this is fair to me Diana?” Damien asked, shifting a little closer to the edge of his chair.

“Oh my goodness, what are on about?”

This wasn’t how she’d planned to spend her day off from work. It was a hot Wednesday afternoon and having her mood match the temperature wasn’t in her bingo cards. She stared at Damien with a hand to the side of her head.

“What am I on about?” he paused in disbelief.

Diana adjusted her sitting position on her living room couch. Taking multiple breaths in and out she tried to center herself. She had to play her cards right. If Damien suspected anything, he wouldn’t hesitate to clamp down on her. She had to be stupid in love. Just the way he liked her.

Even if it meant apologizing when she clearly didn’t want to.

“I’m sorry.” She started. “That came out wrong. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Obviously not, you’re making me look stupid. I don’t like that.”

She bit back a comment.

“Sorry.” She murmured.

“I’m not just here because of anything you know, I love you.” He reiterated. “And I care. That’s why you need to talk to me. I know the pitch event got to you but others will come along. I can set ‘em up if you want.”

“You don’t need to do that, I’m fine.”

“You’re clearly not.” He pressed. “If it means helping me through this time, which you refuse to talk to me about then I’m here for you. I’ll help you the best way I can.”

“I’m really okay Damien, you’re stressing a bit too much.”

“Am I?” he leaned forward a fraction.

Unconsciously Diana leaned back. Something about that statement wasn’t friendly. It held no fondness. It almost resembled a brimming pot of water.

“Yes, you are.” She said. “I know I’ve been distant, and I agree, the pitch event got to me just a little. But, I’m not a kid that you need to worry about twenty-four seven, I can take care of myself.”

He opened his mouth to speak but she continued.

“I know you care. I know you’re doing your best by being here for me but I’m really fine.”

I just don’t like the sight of you in my living room.

“Okay I hear you.” He scooted closer to the edge of his chair again. This wasn’t over. Something worse was coming. She braced herself. “Then where were you on Saturday?”

“I’m sorry?”

Damien licked his bottom lip, tonguing his cheek for a brief moment. Diana knew that face. It was one she’d failed to avoid in her previous life. His scheming face. He had set a trap, and he was about to pull the carpet from under her.

“I ask the questions Diana.” He didn’t blink. “You didn’t answer my calls. I even had Lucy contact you and nothing. It’s almost like you intentionally ignored me.”

“I wasn’t ignoring you. I was busy with work.” She lied.

She’d been baited. She just knew it. He was bidding his time while she pranced about in his trap. She wanted to see where he took it.

“Work?” he asked.

“Yeah, work.”

“Work.” He repeated. “Does your work involve Kasper Hayes?”

Ah, there it was. Diana almost laughed.

“Okay, so it wasn’t work.”

“What do you think you gain when you lie to me Diana?” she didn’t reply. “Of all the people to hang around, it’s Kasper. That bastard that had his brother toss me out for no good reason a few months back. That same jerk is who you’re hanging out with.”

“I didn’t go to hang out with him. I attended the gala and he was performing there. We bumped into each other and had a little chat, that’s all.”

“That’s all? What do you think I am, a complete moron?”

“What are you trying to say Damien?”

“You’re blatantly cheating on me and lying to my face.”

“I’m cheating on you?” she flared, sitting up straighter than before. He was the one going around with Lucy behind her back and he had the audacity to call her cheater.

“What else does it look like? You’re having your pitch breakdown or something and since your emotions were all mixed up you decide to sleep around with Kasper just to get my attention.”

“Are you listening to yourself? Does that make any common sense to you?”

“If it doesn’t then what does.”

“Oh, I don’t know, what I’m telling you?”

“That’s not plausible.”

“To hell with plausibility.” She stood on her feet now ready to pummel him with her fists. “After all we’ve been through together, you have the bloody nerve to accuse me of cheating?”

He stood up and she slapped him almost instantly. He hadn’t seen it coming.

That’s for cheating on me with Lucy.

He faced her again and she gave him another one.

And that’s for having the nerve to gaslight me.

He faced her again and just as she was about to land another one he grabbed her arm pulling her close to him.

“If you hit me again—”

“Then what?” she sneered. She shoved herself off of him but he still held unto her arm. “Get out of my house, now.”

His predatory face morphed into another familiar one. The one he had used to make her fall in love with him. He pulled her close to him again, this time gentler.

“I’m sorry.” He murmured into her ears. “I overreacted.”

She tried to get out his grip but he kept her there.

“I was just worried. I know what kind of guy Kasper is and you don’t. I'm just trying to protect you.”

Now she had him.

“I was only at the gala because I was interested in the charity event. That’s it.” She said softly looking into his eyes. Damien didn’t say it but the flash of concern through his eyes told her everything she needed to know.

He didn't like that.