Chapter 3

After the papers were signed and the bizarre ceremony was over, my father and Emily were immediately engrossed in a discussion about Liam's care, already plotting the narrative of his "miraculous recovery." I was dismissed, an afterthought.

Alex and I were left in the quiet antechamber, the silence between us heavy and awkward.

"I' m sorry," he said, breaking the silence. He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture I could see was born of habit and stress. "This is... not a normal situation. I know my company isn' t much right now. I promise I' ll work hard. I won' t be a burden to you."

His sincerity was disarming. In my first life, I had barely known him. I' d seen him at Emily' s parties, always smiling, always charming, but with a deep weariness in his eyes that I now understood.

"It' s okay, Alex," I said, and my voice was softer than I intended. "You don' t have to apologize. It' s not your fault." I looked at him, really looked at him, and saw the goodness there, the simple, uncomplicated decency that my family' s world lacked. "I chose this."

He looked surprised. "You did?"

"Yes," I said firmly. "I did."

He studied my face for a long moment, his expression shifting from surprise to something else, something deeper. A flicker of recognition.

"I' m glad," he said, his voice quiet. "I' m glad you chose me this time, Sarah."

My breath caught in my throat.

This time.

The words hung in the air between us. It couldn't be. Could he?

"I saw how much you suffered," he continued, his eyes full of a sorrow that was too old and too knowing for a stranger. "From a distance. There was nothing I could do. I was bound to her."

I just stared at him, my mind reeling. The world tilted on its axis. He remembered. Alex remembered too.

"How?" was all I could manage to whisper.

"It' s... complicated," he said, taking a step closer. The air between us crackled with the impossible truth. "I' m not just a startup founder, Sarah. That' s a role I play. My real nature is different. You might call me a 'luck bringer,' I suppose. My purpose is to support and empower my chosen partner, to help them build something real and good. But the choice has to be genuine. In the last life, Emily chose me. My 'luck' was tied to her, but her goals were hollow. She wanted fame and status, not genuine success. So my gift was twisted. It created a spectacle, a facade, but it couldn't give her happiness because she didn't know what that was. It just amplified her own emptiness."

He looked down at his hands. "I saw what Liam was doing to you. I saw the empire you were building in the shadows, and I knew it was costing you your soul. But I couldn' t intervene. My "luck" was bound to Emily. All I could do was watch."

A wave of emotion washed over me, so powerful it almost brought me to my knees. It wasn't pity or shock. It was relief. A profound, bone-deep relief. I wasn' t alone in this. I had an ally. Someone who knew the whole, insane truth.

Tears welled in my eyes, not of sadness, but of release. For the first time in what felt like two lifetimes, I didn't have to carry the burden by myself.

"He' s dangerous, Alex," I said, my voice thick. "Liam. More dangerous than Emily could ever imagine. He' s not just a disgraced prodigy. He' s a monster."

"I know," he said, his voice firm and protective. "But this time, he' s not your monster to fight. He' s hers."

I looked at this kind, gentle man who was so much more than he appeared. He wasn' t a burden. He was a shield. He was my chance.

"She chose him because she thought he was the source of my success," I said, a bitter laugh escaping me. "She thinks she' s taking my power."

"She is," Alex said, and his gaze was steady and serious. "She' s taking all the pain, all the darkness, all the trauma that came with it. She' s freeing you from it." He reached out, his hand hesitating for a moment before he gently touched my arm. His touch was warm, real. "And now, my luck is tied to you, Sarah. To your goals. To your happiness."

I took a deep breath, the air filling my lungs feeling clean and new for the first time. The weight of Liam's shadow, a weight I had carried for years, began to lift.

"I don' t want an empire," I said, looking him straight in the eye. "I don' t want power or glory."

"What do you want?" he asked gently.

"A normal life," I whispered. "A quiet life. A happy one."

A genuine smile spread across his face, reaching his eyes and making them shine.

"Then that' s what we' ll build," he said. "Together."