Lost You in Two Lifetimes

"I never called my stepbrother, Victor Rossi, "brother." I loved him.In my previous life, I forced him to marry me, and we became the most infamously miserable couple in New Hampston's mafia circles.On Monday, he threw me into a lion's cage after starving the beast for three days.On Tuesday, I tied him to a spinning wheel and forced him to play Russian roulette.He hated me for tearing him away from the woman he loved. I hated him because we had grown up side by side, yet even after ten years of marriage, he could not forget the woman from the fishing village.Even in bed, wrapped around each other, we hurled the cruelest curses at one another.When the cruise ship went up in flames, Victor gave me his chance to live. He shoved me onto the last lifeboat, his voice gentler than it had ever been. "This life was exhausting. I don't want to fight with you anymore. Live well. In the next life, let me go."I watched the fire swallow him along with the ship. The deep sea buried everything. The light in my eyes went out with it.I threw myself into the freezing water and ended that absurd, painful life with my own hands.When I opened my eyes again, I returned to the moment I forced him to marry me.In this life, I would not destroy us both.As I watched him kneel before me, defiant even in the face of death, I did not drive away the woman he loved as I had before."I will let you have her." Under Victor's stunned gaze, my eyes reddened as I spoke softly. "This time, I am the one who does not want you.""