The Croupier's Final Spin
By @john1208
Brisena Vondal is exhausted by betrayal. In her first life, her husband Fario framed her for treason, leaving her to be murdered in a damp island prison while he paraded his mistress, Nysola, in her stolen jewels. Reborn at the exact moment Fario attempts to humiliate her at the Grand Solstice Ball, Brisena skips the tears, delivers a blistering, sarcastic rebuttal, and walks out. But rebirth comes with a catch she never asked for: a fading silver mark on her wrist that gives her exactly one year before her soul dissolves. With the clock ticking, she refuses to wage a tedious, drawn-out war. Instead, she utilizes a double agent within Fario's household to set Nysola up with a dashing decoy, luring the mistress to the Gilded Tide Casino. As Nysola blissfully gambles away Fario’s hidden fortune at rigged tables, Brisena finds herself entangled with Caldenor Ovesi, the casino’s enigmatic owner and her husband’s fiercest rival. Caldenor has secretly adored her for years, but as they orchestrate Fario's absolute ruin together, he begins to notice her waning strength. Will her meticulously planned vengeance be her final act, or will the slow-burn love of a rival patriarch uncover a way to stop the clock?
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