Chapter 17 

In Derick’s private wine cellar, crystal glasses caught and refracted the amber glow. 

He had already emptied half a bottle of Macallan, yet the bitterness in his throat lingered. The memories that alcohol couldn’t dull only grew sharper. 

“Idiot,” he muttered into the empty air. It was uncertain whether he meant the Adrianna of his past life or himself for repeating the same mistake in this one. 

When his glass ran dry again, a low, humorless laugh slipped out. 

How ironic. In this life, he had planned to quietly stay by her side, waiting for the day she might finally turn. and see him. 

But fate had other plans. She did turn back, only to be carrying the guilt of a past life. 

“Derick Ashford, you really haven’t learned a thing.” 

He tilted his head back and drained the last of his drink, the bottom of the glass striking the marble counter with a dull thud. 

A cold hand suddenly closed around his wrist. 

Derick turned to find Adrianna standing behind him, though he had no idea when she had arrived. 

She wore no shoes, her bare feet pressing against the cold floor. She simply stood there, quietly watching him. 

The moment their eyes met, Adrianna’s pupils contracted sharply. 

She had never seen Derick like this before-shirt collar undone, his usually impeccable hair tousled and falling across his forehead, eyes bloodshot and weighted with exhaustion. 

“You…” Her voice caught. 

“How did you get in?” His voice was so hoarse it barely sounded like him. 

Adrianna jingled the key in her hand. “Won it in a bet.” 

Only then did Derick remember the spare key had been with her all along. 

He turned his face away. “Here to watch me make a fool of myself?” 

– Adrianna took the glass from his hand and knocked back the last of the liquor in one swallow. 

The sharp burn of the alcohol in her throat made her wince, but she stubbornly pressed on, “I’m here to tell you I didn’t choose James, not because he betrayed me. 

“And I didn’t choose you out of guilt.” 

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Her fingertips brushed the old scar at his brow, the one from a fight they had had at 15. 

“It’s because, in this life, I finally see who’s worth it.” 

The wine cellar fell into absolute silence, broken only by the faint rise and fall of two breaths. 

Derick’s throat bobbed. 

He meant to push her away, but his fingers betrayed him, closing instead around her slender wrist. 

“Adrianna,” his voice was low. “Do you know why I never came to your birthday parties?” 

She shook her head. 

“Because the year you turned 22,” he continued, his thumb brushing over the steady pulse at her wrist. “I watched you walk toward James, and I told myself if that’s what you want… If you can be happy, then I’ll let you go.” 

A tear slipped from Adrianna’s lashes, landing on the back of his hand. 

Derick shot to his feet as if scalded, but Adrianna clutched at the hem of his shirt. 

“Derick…” she asked through tears. “If I still chose James in this life, what would you do?” 

His jaw locked until the muscle ached. It was a long while before he forced the words out between 

clenched teeth. 

“I’d keep watching.” 

“Until I die in front of you again?” 

The question landed like a blade, slicing through the last barrier between them. 

Without warning, Derick bent and swept her into his arms, striding toward the stairs. 

Adrianna struggled against his hold. “Put me down!” 

“Shut up.” 

He kicked the bedroom door open with a forceful kick, yet gently placed her onto the bed. “Your feet are 

covered in blood.” 

Only then did Adrianna realize she must have stepped on shards of glass in the wine cellar. 

Derick returned moments later and dropped to one knee. He began extracting the fragments from her sole, one by one, with a tweezer. 

When the alcohol swab grazed the wound, she flinched. 

“Serves you right,” he muttered, though his hands grew gentler. 

Once he had finished bandaging her, Derick rose to leave, only to feel her arms wrap around him from behind. 

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“On the first day I was reborn, I bought a ticket to Swarenthia,” she murmured, her face pressed against his back. 

Derick froze. 

“I waited at the airport the whole day, but because of the weather, the flight went from delayed… to canceled.” 

Her arms tightened around him. “Right then, I thought, I’ll just wait for you to return. In this life, no matter what, I’m going to hold on to you.” 

Moonlight spilled through the sheer curtains, weaving crisscrossed shadows across the floor. 

Derick slowly turned, cupping her face in his hands. His thumb brushed the dampness from the corner of her eye, his gaze unreadable. 

“Adrianna, aren’t you afraid that we’ll make the same mistakes in this life?” he asked softly. 

She rose on tiptoe and kissed the corner of his lips. “Then I’ll see you in the next life.” 

The kiss was light, yet it brought down Derick’s defenses completely. 

He cradled the back of her head and deepened the kiss, the scent of ambergris and whiskey flooding Adrianna’s senses. 

When they finally drew apart, Adrianna realized her fingers had somehow become entwined with his. 

And his palm was searing hot. 

At the first blush of dawn, Adrianna awoke in Derick’s arms. 

He slept deeply, the furrow between his brows at last smoothed. 

She gently traced the contours of his face with her fingertips, from the sharp arch of his brow down to the prominent bridge of his nose. 

Suddenly, her phone buzzed. A breaking news alert lit up the screen. 

“Breaking! Emmons Corporation is suspected of financial fraud. Stock price plunges by 50%.” 

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