Chapter 1

In the fifth year of my marriage to Hunter Levine, the boss of the Black Phoenix Gang, two of the women he kept on the side, his "sugar babies," found themselves pregnant.

He gave me a single order: 'Take care of the mother and child. If anything went wrong, my entire family would be buried with them.'

The moment those words hit my ears, my vision went black, and I passed out cold.

This was the third time I'd been forced into the role of nanny.

In my first life, everyone in the gang said his feelings for Christy Winters were unlike anything they'd ever seen. I dragged Christy to the hospital for a blood test. Sure enough, she was pregnant. I cared for her diligently until the day she went into labor.

I didn't even have the chance to ask Hunter for a reward or claim credit before his men knocked me out and dragged me away.

Seven days of brutal torture followed. I bled out and died right there.

It wasn't until the end that one of his men casually mentioned that Hunter's true love had never been Christy. And because I hadn't taken proper care of the mother and child, they both died on the operating table.

In my second life, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I watched as Hunter personally placed his most prized wristwatch on Patricia's wrist. I acted fast, putting together a hundred men to protect her around the clock, and humbled myself, even becoming her personal caregiver.

But when Patricia Morgan went into labor, Hunter stormed in, furious. He shot through my temple, then gouged out my eyes.

"You can't even recognize faces," he snarled. "Then these eyes of yours are useless. Trish and the child are dead. Go die with them. In your next life, don't just grow a pretty face, grow a brain!"

Thinking back to the events of my previous lives made my head spin. I nearly died from the sheer anger.

He was already calling her Trish.

She held the baby really tight, with a fiery look in her eyes.

If it wasn't Patricia, who could it possibly be?

——

When I didn't respond immediately, Hunter's patience, what little of it he had, finally ran out. He pulled out his gun, cocked it, and slammed it onto the table with a sharp, metallic noise.

"Lily, I'm talking to you," he said coldly. "If your ears are deaf, I'll happily replace them for you. Don't forget who you are. If you're not even worth this much, your whole family can join you in the afterlife."

I was furious and terrified, but I had no right to lose my temper with him. All I could do was swallow my humiliation and play the part of the fragile, pitiful wife.

"Honey, you're being too harsh," I said softly, deliberately lowering my voice and forcing a hint of sweetness into it. I lifted my gaze to him, my lashes trembling just enough to seem fragile. "Your other woman is pregnant. I'm your wife. Can't I be sad for a moment?"

I pressed a hand lightly to my chest, taking a shallow breath as if still shaken, my eyes glistening as I looked at him again.

"Look," I added quietly, my voice barely above a whisper, "you scared me so badly my heart is still racing…"

I still didn't know who that woman was, so I changed tactics and gently probed. But as I set his gun on the table and pressed my hand to my chest, he slapped it away.

"Enough with the act," he said impatiently. "We're just business partners. Don't tell me you've actually fallen for me. If I weren't worried about my enemies going after them, do you think I would've married you and kept you as a shield? Fine to play pretend outside, but at home, when it's just the three of us, I suggest you know your place."

Tears fell from my eyes on cue.

Then, I slipped off my coat and leaned closer, only to get kicked hard in the stomach.

"Get lost," he snapped. "Just looking at you disgusts me. Did you hear me? I only give orders once."

I cursed inwardly, realizing I had no talent for using seduction as a weapon. However, I couldn't simply ask him directly who he wanted me to take care of.

First, the villa was under constant watch by his men, but there was always the risk of enemies sneaking in.

Hunter was overly cautious. He never talked about anyone important at home or revealed his weaknesses.

Second, if I asked again, it would be clear I hadn't been listening before. That would only make him angrier, and the result would still be the same: death.

Wiping my tears, I looked up at him with red eyes and tested the waters.

"All right," I said quietly. "I'll arrange for two maternity nannies and twenty men to stay with Christy. If anything happens, they'll be there to protect her, and she'll be taken care of."