Loveless Marriage VK

The antiseptic smell of my deathbed couldn't mask the stench of betrayal.

My wife, Emily, played the grieving spouse, her tears a performance, her whispers to her lover, Daniel, charting my demise.

"He's not going to make it through the night. I'll be free soon, my love."

That name, Daniel Sterling, a family friend I admired, shattered my world faster than my failing heart.

My final sight was Emily's beautiful, lying face, cold and irritated by my inconvenient death.

Then, blinding light. I gasped, sucking in real air, not in a hospital, but my old bedroom, decades younger, strong, unblemished hands.

It was real. I was back.

Memories of my first life flooded me: the loveless marriage, the quiet sacrifices, the children who weren't mine.

Then, the pivotal memory from this timeline, the one that started it all: a party, too much to drink, Emily crying, pregnant, my naive proposal driven by a sense of duty, a lie.

She was already carrying Daniel's child, using me as a shield to protect his budding career.