Chapter 1

I run a company that carries out last wishes, finishing the final wish a dead person leaves behind.

I built it because of one thing my husband, Adrian Prescott, once said: the greatest regret of his life was that he never got to fulfill his own father's last wish.

In seven years of running it, this company has cost me everything. Heirs cut out of their inheritance had me kidnapped and thrown into the sea. I've been targeted, framed, and I lost three children, one after another.

Every single time, it was Adrian who dragged me back from the brink.

I always believed the two of us understood better than anyone what regret really meant.

Until the day of our wedding anniversary, when I found my own name on the company's list of deceased clients.

"I, Yvonne Carrigan, voluntarily surrender all company shares, the core database, and all marital assets, to be taken over in full by Adrian Prescott."

Time of death: September seventeenth.

Today was the tenth.

Seven days until my "death."

I assumed the system had glitched, and I was about to delete the entry when Adrian walked in with Cecily Sutton.

She was wearing my company uniform, my founder's nameplate pinned to her chest.

"Yvonne, please don't misunderstand. The doctors say I might not make it past this month. Before I die, I just want to experience your life for once."

Cecily again.

For seven years, all she had to do was say, "This is my last wish," and Adrian would ask me to step back.

This time was no different. He stood there, frowning at me.

"She's dying. What's the harm in letting her have this?"

I found myself smiling.

It wasn't only my work Cecily wanted to experience.

She had lived in my house, worn my wedding ring, wanted to take over my company, and now she even wanted to know what it felt like to have my husband.

And Adrian had said yes to all of it.

But he had forgotten one thing.

I built this company with my own hands, and every person registered as deceased holds one final right of confirmation.

Once the individual confirms their own death, all last-wish authorizations are sealed permanently. No heir has any power to take them over.

I looked at the screen and pressed confirm.

"Death program initiated. In seven days, all authorizations will terminate permanently."

The next morning, Adrian kissed my forehead like always.

"Once Cecily finishes her last wish, we'll start over."

I smiled and nodded.

"All right."

He didn't know that in seven days, the wife he'd registered as dead with his own hand really wasn't coming back.

……

The next morning, Adrian carried breakfast over to me as though nothing had happened.

"I warmed the milk. Your medicine's here too."

He finished and bent to kiss my forehead, the gesture easy and unthinking.

As if the man who had written "September seventeenth" beside my name on the list of deceased clients last night wasn't him.

I looked up at him. "Adrian."

"Hmm?"

"If one day I really did die, what would you do?"

His hands paused, then he frowned. "What kind of talk is that?"

"Just asking."

He looked at me, plainly impatient. "That was only a system test last night. I already explained it."

"So my electronic signature was part of the test too?"

His face darkened. "The tech department pulled up your old signature template on short notice. I'll deal with it."

I kept my eyes on him. "I want to know why you're in such a hurry to have me dead."

The air went quiet for a few seconds, and his face dropped all at once.

"Yvonne, don't put it so ugly. Cecily just wants a few days to experience your work before her surgery. I moved your access over to her temporarily and used the system to handle the transition. That's all."

So he admitted it at last.

My fingers tightened slowly against the side of the cup. "So you faked my death to clear a spot for her?"

"It's only seven days. After her surgery, everything goes back the way it was."

Adrian rubbed at his temples. "You know perfectly well she's in poor health. Why do you have to keep hammering at some procedural detail?"

I almost laughed. "Procedural detail? My death certificate, my shares, my database, my marital assets, all of it written in there, and to you that's just a procedural detail?"

His expression turned unpleasant. "None of that actually goes to her in the end. I'm just letting her experience it."

Experience again.

I looked at this man in front of me, and I thought of what Cecily had said standing in my office the night before.

She just wanted to experience my life once before she died.

And Adrian was actually making it happen for her, piece by piece.

I asked, "And her experiencing my house?"

"Just a few days."

"The wedding ring? Her experiencing being Mrs. Prescott?"

He was getting irritated. "She's dying. Why do you insist on squaring off against a sick woman?"

That line dropped, and I had nothing left to say.

So the answer had always been the same.

As long as Cecily was dying, she could have anything she wanted.

And because I was alive, I would always be the one expected to give way.

He was about to say something when his phone rang, Cecily's name on the screen.

Adrian answered almost instantly.

"Cecily?"

I couldn't hear what she said, but his face changed fast. "Don't panic, I'm coming right now."

He hung up and grabbed his coat.

"The company has a last wish today, and she wants to carry it out herself."

I glanced at him. "Which one?"

"The eighteenth-birthday coming-of-age for Ms. Linden's daughter."

My hands stopped. "Not that one."

"Why?"

"The deceased named me as the executor."

Adrian had already reached the door. He turned back at those words. "It's just delivering a letter. What difference does it make who does it?"

I looked at him. "Say that again."

He clearly knew the moment the words left him that they were wrong, but he didn't take them back.

"Cecily has been preparing for a long time. Yvonne, don't let her down."

With that, he turned and walked out.

I stood there a few seconds, then picked up my bag.

Half an hour later, I reached the company.

The doors of the execution hall had barely swung open when I saw Cecily standing up on the platform, smiling.

She wore my company uniform, my founder's nameplate pinned to her chest, and in her hands was the letter I had kept safe for the deceased for seven years.

Two cameras stood beside her, livestreaming.

I walked straight over. "Shut it down."

The staff froze and instinctively looked to Cecily.

She seemed not to have expected me to come at all, and her grip on the letter tightened.

"Yvonne, it's already started."

"I said shut it down."

I went over and reached out to kill the camera nearest me. Half the stream went black. The other camera was still running.

Adrian came rushing up from behind and clamped a hand around my wrist. "Yvonne."

I turned to look at him. "Let go."

He didn't move. "Cecily only wants to finish this last wish."

"This wish names me."

"It's just a letter."

I stared at him. He'd said the exact same thing before he left the house this morning.

Anyone can deliver it. It's just a letter.

As if a dead person's final words, once they reached Cecily, could be rewritten however she pleased.