Chapter 2 – THE FIRST SHIFT IN FATE

CHAPTER TWO — THE FIRST SHIFT IN FATE

The night outside smelled of rain and cold metal like the world itself was holding its breath.

Liana descended the staircase with a steadiness that didn’t match the storm inside her chest. Her fingers skimmed the polished rail briefly, grounding herself in a reality she had already died once in.

The Rose family mansion was silent.

Too silent.

In her first life, she never noticed this quiet. She was too busy being dutiful, selfless, blind. Now the silence pressed on her ears like a warning.

At the bottom of the steps, she paused.

11:48 p.m.

He would crash soon.

Adrian.

Her husband in name.

Her executioner in truth.

A man whose beauty was a weapon and whose coldness was a verdict.

A man she once worshipped and who later watched her fall without blinking.

But tonight

Tonight, she didn’t rush to his side.

Tonight, she didn’t throw her career, her life, her sanity after him.

She had returned not to save him but to save herself.

Lightning cracked briefly outside the windows, white and sharp, illuminating her reflection in the glass. She looked like a heroine stepping out of a different script. Someone reborn with new bones.

Someone dangerous.

She inhaled slowly.

“It begins now.”

Her steps carried her to the foyer, where the faint glow of the entry light spilled over marble floors. She reached for her purse, ready to leave before fate could chase her—

When the mansion door burst open.

A gust of wind swept through the entrance, cold enough to sting her skin.

A young maid stumbled inside, panting, her face pale. “Miss Liana there was an accident Mr. Adrian his car”

Ah.

There it was.

The line from the original story.

Delivered exactly on time.

For a moment, nostalgia pressed against Liana’s ribs dark, sour, poisonous.

The Liana of her first life had gone white with panic, dropped everything, and run to the hospital like a woman possessed.

This life?

Liana’s expression did not change.

Not a twitch.

Not a flinch.

“Call his family,” she said calmly.

The maid blinked, stunned. “Y you won’t go?”

“I asked you to call his family.” Her voice carried a quiet chill. “They should be the ones panicking, not me.”

“But he’s your husband”

“In name,” Liana replied, "not for real",

The maid froze, completely thrown off by this cold, reborn version of her.

Liana stepped past her, opening an umbrella by the door.

Rain drummed against it like impatient fingertips.

Inside her, a small, sharp satisfaction blossomed.

One break from the script.

One step off the path.

Fate trembled.

She could feel it.

She walked down the driveway, heels clicking softly, umbrella shielding her from the storm, but her mind clear cutting through the night like a blade.

If Adrian was injured, he’d survive.

If he lost his memories, so be it.

If he woke obsessed with her again

She would use it.

Not as a wife.

Not as a victim.

As someone who now understood the power of desire, obsession, and leverage.

And God, she remembered that man’s obsession.

Pure hunger wrapped in ice.

Eyes that devoured while pretending to judge.

Hands that shook when they touched her yet claimed they didn’t care.

She had drowned in it once.

She would not drown again.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

She glanced down.

Unknown Number: “Mr. Adrian is being taken to St. Haven’s Emergency. Are you on your way?”

Liana stared at the message, the corner of her mouth lifting.

In her past life, the universe dragged her like a puppet.

This time, she felt the strings in her own hands.

She typed two simple words:

“I’m coming.”

Not for love.

Not for devotion.

But because this time, she wanted to control the story from the very moment it tried to swallow her.

She closed the umbrella and stepped into the waiting car.

As the engine started and the mansion shrank behind her, Liana whispered the vow that had carried her through death and back:

“This life… I choose the terms.”