My One Year Husband Wants Me Forever

Chapter 4

FIONA

After waking up in the past, I understood something important very quickly—if I told anyone what I remembered, they would think I had lost my mind. No one would believe that I had died on a wet street five years in the future and somehow returned.

So I said nothing. I kept my memories locked deep inside my head like a dangerous secret.

Instead, I watched. And I got prepared.

During the day, I behaved like the same quiet, awkward Fiona everyone knew. I avoided arguments with my mother, ignored Anna’s sharp comments, and kept my head down like I always had.

But at night, everything changed. While the house slept, I worked. The old laptop I owned became my most important weapon. I spent hours learning, studying, and practicing things I had already known in my previous life—but this time I learned them earlier, faster, and deeper.

In my past life, I had helped Tommy build his company from nothing. Every idea, every strategy, every breakthrough had come from endless nights of research and work.

Back then, I had shared everything with him because I thought we were partners.

This time, I shared nothing.

Every new plan I created was written down and stored in encrypted files only I could open. I learned how to lock documents behind complex passwords and hidden folders. Each project I designed was carefully registered in my name alone.

I also learned something else during those long nights—paperwork was power.

In the past, I had trusted Tommy to handle the legal side of things. I had been too focused on building ideas to worry about contracts and ownership.

That mistake had cost me everything, but it was one that was never to be made again.

Months passed quietly like that. Tommy and I got closer and closer, and then one afternoon, the moment I had been expecting finally arrived.

Tommy asked me to meet him.

Even though I had lived through this moment before, my heart still beat a little faster when I saw him waiting outside the café.

He looked exactly the same—tall, confident, smiling like the world already belonged to him. For a brief second, I remembered the old Fiona—the girl who had loved him. But that girl was gone.

“Fiona!” he called when he saw me. “Hey.”

I forced a small smile.

“Hi, Tommy.”

He pulled out a chair for me as we sat down at the outdoor table. After the usual pleasantries, he wasted no time in letting me know why he wanted to see me.

“I’ve been thinking about something,” he said.

I already knew what he was going to say, but I listened carefully, still.

“I want to start a business,” he continued. “Something big. Something that could really grow.”

I tilted my head slightly.

“That sounds exciting.”

His eyes brightened.

“I was hoping you could help me,” he said. “You’re smart, Fiona. You always come up with amazing ideas.”

Of course I did.

I kept my thoughts hidden behind a gentle expression.

“What kind of business?” I asked.

He leaned forward, clearly excited. And just like before, he began describing the same dream. The same plan. The same future.

Only this time, I was already ten steps ahead of him.

Over the next few months, I helped him exactly the way I had before. But now every move had a purpose.

When Tommy suggested marriage later that year, I didn’t hesitate. I said yes. The old Fiona had seen it as love. But now, I saw it as an opportunity.

I made one important adjustment. This time, I was the one who made sure the marriage was never properly registered.

Tommy never noticed. He trusted me with paperwork and documents because he believed I was loyal and naive. He had no idea how carefully I had arranged everything.

To the outside world, we were husband and wife. But legally, we were nothing. That small detail would matter later. Very much later.

Over the next three years, Tommy’s business grew exactly as it had in my previous life. I built the marketing strategies. I connected him with clients and investors. Every success he celebrated came from work I had quietly done behind the scenes.

But this time, I protected myself.

Every project had contracts. Every idea had ownership rights. Every document had proof. There were certain agreements I even backdated so that they would hold stronger legal weight in the future.

Tommy never questioned it.

Why would he?

In his mind, I was still the same lonely girl desperate for his approval. But I was patiently building something far more powerful.

Eventually, the moment that had once destroyed me came—the day I discovered his secret affairs with Anna.

In my past life, I had been heartbroken when I discovered the truth. This time, I simply waited. And when everything finally collapsed, just like before, I walked away calmly.

Our “marriage” ended quietly.

Tommy had been nonchalant when he realized I was aware of his affair with Anna, but he had no idea what I had already secured.

A significant portion of the business legally belonged to me. The intellectual property. The marketing systems. The digital framework. They were all mine.

Years of careful paperwork made sure of that.

I was so sure he would be completely stunned when he finally realized what had happened. What had hit him in the face.

For the first time in years, I felt calm. I felt like a true winner. This time, I wasn’t walking away with nothing. I was walking away with money, freedom, and control over the future.

That night, I decided to celebrate.

I found myself sitting in a quiet bar across town, a glass of whiskey warming my throat.

The place was dim and calm, nothing like the loud, crowded bar where I had been years before.

Still, the memories lingered.

The betrayal. The anger. The years of pretending.

By the time I finished my third drink, exhaustion had settled deep into my bones.

“Rough night?”

A deep voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up.

The man sitting beside me was tall, broad-shouldered, with sharp features and dark eyes that studied me carefully.

There was something confident about him. Something dangerous, even.

“I guess you could say that,” I muttered.

He chuckled softly.

“Celebrating or escaping?”

“Both,” I admitted.

His lips curved slightly.

“I’m Gio,” he said. “Let me buy you a drink.”

She stared at him for a few seconds before she noddee, holding out her hand.

“Fiona.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Fiona.”

One drink turned into two. Then three. For some reason, talking to him felt easy.

I didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the fact that he was a stranger who knew nothing about me.

Or maybe I was simply tired of carrying everything alone.

Eventually, the words began spilling out. I told him about the betrayal. About the lies. About the years of never truly belonging no matter how hard I tried.

He listened quietly, his expression unreadable. When I was done, he eyes softened slightly as he spoke to me, in a way that made something in my chest loosened.

For the first time in a long while, I allowed my guard to drop.

The rest of the night blurred together, and soon it went from our quiet conversation to us laughing hysterically. Soon, I felt the warmth of his hands around me and hours later, we ended up in his bed where we both had s*x till we both passed out.

It wasn’t love or something I planned. It was just two broken moments colliding in the dark. And for that one night, I allowed myself to forget everything.

When my eyes opened very early the next morning, I struggled to recognize where I was for the first few minutes. When I finally came to, my eyes dropped to the man who lay beside me sleeping peacefully, and then the memories of the previous night flooded my mind just then.

For a moment, I berated myself inwardly for being so careless enough to end up in bed with a stranger. I got up from the bed slowly, putting on my clothes as quietly as I could. When I got to the door, I paused just enough to confirm that he was still asleep. And without thinking, I slipped out of the room, the door clicking shut behind me as I dashed out of the room.