Chapter 1
"Rachel, you need to take care of yourself. Stay strong."
I took the death certificate from my best friend, Megan, and called the crematorium.
"My husband just died. I need him cremated right away."
In my past life, I'd been too grief‑stricken to think clearly. I'd cried until I passed out.
By the time I woke up, he'd already been cremated.
While I was still crying over his ashes, the debt collectors showed up at my door.
That was when I found out he'd left me with millions in debt.
10 years later, I was scavenging through trash when my dead husband pulled up in a luxury car—his arm around Megan.
He tossed a coin at me. "Rachel, thanks for clearing all my debts and taking care of my mother all these years. Here's one dollar. That should cover it."
The shock was too much. I coughed up blood and died on the spot.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the hospital—the day he'd been rushed in for a stroke.
I looked at the sheet-covered body on the bed and smiled coldly.
'Since you loved playing dead so much, this time—I'll make sure you stay dead.'
Megan froze. "Rachel, cremation is a big decision. Maybe we should wait."
She poured me a glass of water. "You came in such a rush. Have some water first."
I caught the flicker in her eyes and knew right away—she'd slipped something into that glass.
They needed me unconscious so I would miss Jason's cremation and never see through their scheme.
Thud!
The cup hit the table hard.
Ignoring Megan's stunned expression, I walked straight to Jason's hospital bed.
His face still had a healthy flush, and he looked perfectly fine.
He didn't look remotely dead.
I had simply been too devastated and too foolish in my previous life to see through such an obvious charade.
I raised my hand and slapped Jason hard across the face.
He didn't move at all.
Apparently, he had been given a heavy dose of anesthetic so he wouldn't react and give the game away.
'Even better. That'll make my plan easier.'
Before I could say anything, Megan screamed, "Rachel! Even if you're upset, you can't hit him. We can talk about this."
I remembered how she had shed fake tears in front of me, only to turn around and throw herself into my husband's arms.
My eyes stung with rage.
I kept hitting Jason wherever I could reach.
When Megan looked as though she was about to lose control, I immediately burst into tears.
"I told you not to stay up so late, but you never listened. How could you leave me all alone like this?"
Megan relaxed slightly.
She must have decided I had simply lost control from grief.
But when she saw how hard I was hitting him, genuine distress crossed her face.
"Rachel, be gentler. You're going to hurt him."
I stopped and looked at her as if she were an i***t.
"Megan, you're a doctor. I wish he'd feel the pain, but he's dead." I narrowed my eyes. "Or is he?"
Megan swallowed hard.
She forced an awkward smile.
"Of course he is. I'm sorry."
She couldn't come up with anything else.
I played along. "You want to help more patients as a doctor, but you were too shy to ask for his body donation, right?"
I pulled out my phone and made a call.
"Is this the organ donation department? My husband just passed away. I'd like to donate his organs."
Megan clearly wanted to stop me.
But as Jason's physician, she couldn't openly object.
She clenched her teeth, pulled out her phone, and hurriedly typed out a message.
