This Time, I Won’t Save Her

My hopelessly lovesick best friend married my womanizing stepbrother. While she was pregnant, she found out he was cheating. In my last life, I urged her to end the pregnancy and get a divorce. I helped her leave him with nothing, then made her a partner in my firm without asking her to invest a cent. But after she became financially independent, she secretly got back together with that scumbag! Worse, she stole confidential files from my firm and destroyed everything I had built. I wasted away and died. As it turned out, she hated me. “Emily Hayes, you killed my baby with Ryan! You deserve to die with my child!” When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day she discovered his affair. The crash of breaking dishes came from outside my bedroom. “Ryan Carter, how could you do this to me? “You kept saying she was just someone you went to middle school with. But you’ve been sleeping with her this whole time!” Chloe Bennett’s heartbroken voice rang through the living room. I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. It took a long time to accept that I had come back to life. On this same day in my last life, my best friend—who was also my sister-in-law—had received a text from an unknown number. The message was simple: a photo of Ryan sleeping shirtless. Pink lipstick marks covered his face and neck. There was no mistaking what he had done. Chloe had pounded on my bedroom door, sobbing. Once I understood what had happened, I couldn’t stand my stepbrother’s shameless attitude or the calculations written all over my stepmother’s face. I took Chloe back to my rented apartment. The next day, I went with her to a prenatal appointment. The doctor discovered a congenital defect and recommended terminating the pregnancy. So I firmly urged her to end it and divorce Ryan, making sure he walked away empty-handed. For a long time afterward, I protected her and did everything I could to keep that cheating bastard away. After all, I believed a man either never cheated or never stopped. After the divorce, I helped her secure full ownership of their marital home, even though Ryan’s name had been on the deed. Then I brought her into my newly established firm and paid her a generous salary without asking much of her. I took her to see spring blossoms in the South, snowy landscapes in the North, and moonlit skies overseas. I knew she lost all reason when it came to love. Still, I believed that once she no longer had to worry about making ends meet, once she saw more of the world, she would move beyond her failed marriage and find happiness again. But I never imagined that the girl who had held my hand through our teenage years—the girl who had crossed half the country in the middle of the night to be with me when my mother was critically ill—would stab me in the back at the height of my career! After she got back together with Ryan, she stole my firm’s confidential files. To protect me, my fiancé took the blame and went to prison! As I lay dying in a hospital bed, I asked her through my tears, “Why?” Her childhood kindness had been swallowed by bone-deep hatred. She ground out the words through clenched teeth. “Emily Hayes, you killed my baby with Ryan! The doctor said I can never get pregnant again! Do you have any idea how much it hurts to know you’ll never be a mother? You deserve to die with my child!” She blamed every misfortune in her life on me. I got up and opened my bedroom door.Chloe wrapped her arms around my waist and sobbed so hard she could barely breathe. I was five foot seven and worked out regularly. At barely five foot three, Chloe looked tiny beside me. I stared at the top of her head. For a moment, I wondered how much genuine friendship she still felt for me. “What happened?” I asked, though I already knew. “Emily… Oh, God…” My stepmother sat on the couch, looking positively eager for gossip as she questioned Ryan. “Who’s this other woman? Do I know her? Does she come from money?” “Mom, it’s Jessica. Stop asking.” Her eyes lit up. “Your first girlfriend? I remember her family owns a building supply business, right?” Ryan raised his eyebrows smugly. Instead of being ashamed, my stepmother praised him. “Well done, honey. You two go way back. Bring her over sometime.” Then she spotted me and gave Chloe a tight smile. “Sweetheart, men make mistakes sometimes. You’re pregnant. Try to be a little more forgiving.” “Linda!” Chloe had heard every word between mother and son. She was too hurt to say anything else. “Exactly,” Ryan chimed in. “I was drunk that night…” In my last life, that had been all I needed to hear. I’d stormed out, torn into them, and dragged Chloe away from that toxic house. This time, I told her, “What’s crying going to solve? Before you married him, I warned you he was no good and this family wouldn’t treat you well. You wouldn’t listen. Now you can either put up with it or get a divorce.” “Emily, how can you say—” I glanced at Ryan, and he wisely shut his mouth. After all, he was counting on me to send my father more money every month so he and his mother could keep living comfortably. I carefully freed myself from Chloe’s arms and closed my bedroom door behind me. Ignoring her lost expression, I poured myself a glass of water and sat in the armchair. Chloe finally noticed how different I was acting. “Emily, what’s gotten into you?” Even the two pieces of trash on the couch hadn’t expected this response. They both turned to stare. I ignored them and asked Chloe, “What do you want to do?” “I… I want to go home! Yes, home! Ryan Carter, I’m not coming back until you give me an explanation I can accept!” As though she had finally found her way through the fog, she looked at me hopefully. “Emily, will you come back to my mom’s with me?” “That’s up to you. I’m too busy with work to go anywhere right now.” Ryan nodded immediately. “Emily’s busy. She doesn’t have time to go with you. Besides, you’re pregnant. This isn’t that big a deal. Stop running around. And flying home would just waste money! You have no idea how much it costs to run a household. Be more careful with money.” How a man whose job had been arranged by my father—and who still needed my father to cover his monthly expenses—had the nerve to say that was beyond me. Chloe had quit her job after getting pregnant. She had no income, and Ryan had talked her into spending nearly all the savings she’d brought into the marriage during their first two years together. Depending on someone else for money was never easy when you’d chosen the wrong person.One evening, two weeks later, my father called. Chloe was demanding a divorce, he said. He wanted me to come home and talk her out of it. “Dad, this is between a married couple. Why drag me into it?” “Drag you into it? We’re family! Weren’t you and Chloe always close? What’s wrong with you lately? Get home right now!” And there it was again. He hung up before I could refuse. My father had always relied on my mother and me. Whenever he faced a problem he couldn’t handle, his first instinct was to call and ask us to fix it. He could be a handful, and my mother and I had often been at our wits’ end. But although he had a habit of being foolish, he would usually listen to reason. In my last life, when he called about Chloe wanting a divorce, I’d used the opportunity to suggest they go through with it. Speaking as a lawyer, I explained why it was “in Ryan’s best interests” until Dad agreed to stay out of it. This time, I had no intention of getting involved. I was about to open my own law firm. I had enough to do. Daniel Brooks, whatever I owed you in my last life, I would repay twice over in this one. I didn’t go home. But Chloe and Ryan tracked me down at the firm I hadn’t yet left. With no other choice, I put them in a small conference room. The moment we stepped inside, Chloe grabbed my hand and began crying. “Emily, please help me. I want a divorce!” I pulled my hand away and looked at Ryan. “Since when do you need my permission to get divorced?” “We need a lawyer…” “Then register at reception,” I interrupted. “Someone will arrange a consultation. Pay the standard fees. Why come to me?” Ryan tried to laugh it off. “Hiring a lawyer costs a fortune! We’re family, Emily. Why let an outsider make money off us?” Chloe instinctively caught my hand again. “Emily, I know there are conflict-of-interest rules. I just want to talk to you privately. Can we?” It was a little habit of hers when she was nervous. Before, I would have gently reassured her. Now, I simply rejected her attempt at closeness. “Whatever you have to say, say it.” Chloe sniffled. “Emily, I don’t want anything. I just want to divorce him and get away.” “What about the baby?” Her hands went to her stomach, instinctively protective. “The baby is mine. I can raise it myself.” I nodded. “Your choice.” Even setting aside whether the baby would survive this time, life would be brutal for a divorced woman over thirty with no job and no savings. She had never experienced that in my last life. This time, she would have to fend for herself. Maybe I seemed too indifferent. She bit her lip and asked cautiously, “Emily, what’s wrong? Did I do something to upset you?” I was quiet for a long time. “Chloe.” “What?” “I’m leaving this firm soon. Don’t come looking for me here again.”Three months later, I scrolled past an Instagram post of Chloe showing off her marriage. [You’d better treasure me!] She’d included a screenshot of a money transfer from Ryan and a photo of him kissing her cheek. She looked blissfully happy. The comments were full of praise from classmates and relatives. [You two look so happy! Wishing you a lifetime together!] My stepmother wrote: [A perfect match! ] Well, one was full of schemes, and the other had nothing but romance in her head. A perfect match indeed. Stay together forever. Please don’t get back on the dating market and ruin anyone else’s life. The outcome didn’t surprise me at all. Ryan’s former classmate was his first girlfriend. Jessica was pretty, loved shopping and partying, and came from a comfortable family. She’d never lacked admirers. For a little while, Ryan’s reasonably good looks had tempted her into revisiting an old fling. Then the married man had turned clingy and refused to leave her alone. The spoiled princess got annoyed and sent his wife a text. A fling? Fine. Marriage? In his dreams. My stepmother had nagged my father about it for ages, then urged him to call and ask what I thought. All I’d said was, “If you can afford the six-figure wedding gift her family would expect, maybe it could happen.” That had shut him up. Mother and son did the math. Since Jessica was too expensive, the pregnant wife who had brought half a house into the marriage was still a decent option. A divorce would cost Ryan at least half his assets. Not worth it. When a man was willing to play the devoted husband for a woman whose whole world revolved around him, the outcome was obvious. I closed Instagram and opened my chat with Daniel. The screen happened to show: [Typing…] Daniel: [Emily Hayes. My office.] I could practically hear his slightly disdainful, commanding tone. Yes, Daniel Brooks was famous in our profession for his sharp tongue. He had once been my workplace rival, and he’d graduated from my law school a few years before me. Now he was my business partner. In the future I remembered, he would also become my boyfriend, then my fiancé. Unfortunately… Suddenly, I didn’t want to wait for him to confess his feelings like he had last time. Feeling mischievous, I slipped out of the office and replied, [Court. Running late.] Then I sent him $520 with a message. [Daniel Brooks, be my man.] An independent woman had to make a statement! That night, I received a transfer for $5,200. Sender: Daniel Brooks. Message: [As you wish. A gift, freely given.] Well. Had he just outdone me?Lately, besides constantly posting the clothes and bags Ryan bought her on Instagram, Chloe had started sending me updates about their daily life. Chloe: [Emily, look. Ryan really is sorry, isn’t he? I’ve wanted this bag forever, and he actually bought it for me.] But that bag cost barely over a hundred dollars. Before, she could have bought it herself whenever she wanted. [Emily, don’t be angry anymore. Ryan will change.] [I’ve been craving sour things all through my pregnancy. Maybe it’s a boy! Ryan bought me some sour fruit from that place on East Street. It’s so good. Come over and have some.] In the screenshots she forwarded, Ryan ignored her long, heartfelt messages. She pretended not to notice. One night, Daniel and I met some prospective clients for drinks. Just before we left the noisy bar, I spotted the man Chloe claimed was truly repentant with his arms around another woman. I took a photo of them getting into a cab together, pressed close. Then I opened the conversation I had been leaving on read for ages, selected the full-resolution photo, and hit send. After that, the daily updates finally stopped. The following month, Dad called and asked me to come home. He said he had made my favorite food. The baby Chloe was carrying had once again been diagnosed with a congenital defect. The doctor recommended terminating the pregnancy. My stepmother looked disgusted. “Get rid of it! What rotten luck. Why can’t you even manage a healthy pregnancy? We can’t afford to raise a cripple.” “Linda!” Chloe shouted. “That’s your grandchild! And I didn’t get pregnant all by myself!” Ryan’s expression changed. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Chloe scoffed, her face full of contempt. “It means maybe you caused this by sleeping around. You’re filthy! Maybe that’s what hurt my baby!” She pulled up the photo I’d taken. “You told me you were meeting friends, but you were hooking up with another woman. Ryan, with how fast you finish, how many women could you possibly satisfy?” Smack! No man with Ryan’s ego could tolerate his wife questioning his performance. He lost his temper and slapped her. Five months pregnant, Chloe couldn’t withstand the full force of the blow. She fell to the floor. Blood spread beneath her.