Chapter 2

Maya stared at the phone in her hand. Ethan's name flashed on the screen, the ringtone she had set for him playing cheerfully. In her previous life, she would have answered immediately, eager to hear his voice.

Now, the sound made her feel sick.

She let it ring until it went to voicemail. A moment later, a text came through.

"Morning beautiful! Can't wait to see you tonight. I've got a surprise for you. Love you."

Love. Such an easy word for him to say. Maya wondered if he had ever meant it, even once. She deleted the message without responding and sat down on her bed, her mind racing.

Thirty days until the wedding. In her previous timeline, she had been so happy, so excited. She had spent every free moment planning the perfect ceremony, picking flowers, tasting cakes, designing invitations. She had thought she was the luckiest woman alive.

What a joke.

Maya needed to think. She needed a plan. But first, she needed to know exactly what was happening. Was this really time travel? Or was she in some kind of coma, dreaming a fantasy?

She pinched herself hard. It hurt. She splashed cold water on her face. That felt real too. She checked her bank account on her phone. The balance was what it had been three years ago, before she had combined everything with Ethan. Her apartment lease agreement was on her email, dated months ago.

This was real. Somehow, impossibly, she had been sent back in time.

And if she had gone back, she could change things. She could avoid the pain, the betrayal, the three years of her life wasted on a man who had never loved her.

But more than that—she could make them suffer the way she had suffered.

Maya smiled at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile of someone who had been through hell and came back with a taste for revenge.

Her phone rang again. Ethan. Again. She ignored it. Let him wonder. Let him worry. In the original timeline, she had always answered his calls within seconds. He had gotten used to her being available whenever he wanted. Not anymore.

Instead, she called someone else. The phone rang three times before a rough, deep voice answered.

"Who is this?"

"Daniel Torres?" Maya asked, her heart racing. "This is Maya Chen. I need your help."

There was a long pause. "Maya Chen? Ethan Hart's fiancée?"

"Not for much longer," Maya said firmly. "I want to hire you."

Daniel Torres. In her previous life, she had heard his name mentioned several times. He was a private investigator who specialized in corporate espionage and fraud. Ethan had always spoken about him with anger, calling him a threat to legitimate business. Which meant Daniel was probably very good at exposing people's dirty secrets.

"I'm not taking new clients right now," Daniel said. His voice was cold, professional. "Especially ones connected to Hart Enterprises."

"What if I told you I had information about Ethan Hart's business practices?" Maya asked. "Information that could bring down his entire company?"

Another pause, longer this time. "What kind of information?"

Maya closed her eyes, remembering. In the three years of their marriage, she had been Ethan's secretary first, then his wife. She had access to everything. She had seen documents, heard conversations, been present at meetings where illegal deals were made. At the time, she had been too blind to see what was happening. She had trusted Ethan completely.

Now, all that information was a weapon.

"I know about the offshore accounts," Maya said quietly. "I know about the bribes to city officials. I know about the tax fraud and the insider trading. I know where all the bodies are buried, Mr. Torres. And I'm willing to tell you everything."

The silence on the other end was deafening. Then: "Where can we meet?"

"The coffee shop on Fifth Avenue. In one hour."

"I'll be there," Daniel said, and hung up.

Maya got dressed quickly, choosing comfortable jeans and a simple sweater. In her previous life, Ethan had controlled what she wore, always wanting her in dresses and heels, always wanting her to look expensive and elegant. She had hated it but never said anything.

Now she could wear whatever she wanted. The small freedom felt amazing.

Her phone rang again. Ethan. She turned it off completely.

The coffee shop on Fifth Avenue was a small, quiet place that served terrible coffee but had private booths in the back. Maya arrived early and sat down, ordering a tea she didn't plan to drink. She was too nervous to eat or drink anything.

What she was about to do would destroy Ethan. It would also destroy herself—at least, the version of herself that existed in this timeline. That innocent, naive Maya who still thought Ethan loved her. That Maya was going to die today, replaced by someone harder, smarter, angrier.

The door opened. Maya looked up and her breath caught in her throat.

Daniel Torres was not what she expected. She had imagined a private investigator to look suspicious, maybe rough around the edges. Instead, the man who walked toward her booth was tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and sharp, intelligent eyes. He moved like someone who was always aware of his surroundings, always ready for danger.

He was also, Maya realized with a start, devastatingly handsome.

"Maya Chen?" he asked, sliding into the booth across from her.

"Yes," she managed. Up close, he was even more striking. Strong jaw, high cheekbones, a small scar above his left eyebrow that somehow made him more attractive. His eyes were a deep brown, but there was something cold in them, something that suggested he had seen too much of the world's darkness.

"You have five minutes to convince me this isn't a trap," Daniel said. His voice was low and controlled. "Ethan Hart isn't someone who takes kindly to investigations. If you're trying to set me up—"

"I'm not," Maya interrupted. "I'm trying to destroy him."

Daniel leaned back, studying her. "Why? You're supposed to marry him in a month. Everyone knows you two are the perfect couple. Why would you want to ruin him?"

"Because he's going to ruin me first," Maya said simply. "And I'd rather strike first."

She couldn't tell him the truth—that she had already lived through the betrayal, that she knew exactly what Ethan would do to her. Daniel would think she was crazy. So instead, she would have to convince him another way.

"I've been looking through his files," Maya lied smoothly. "As his secretary, I have access to everything. And what I found... it's bad, Mr. Torres. Really bad. He's not just a businessman cutting corners. He's a criminal."

"So why not go to the police?"

"Because the police are in his pocket," Maya said. "Half the city officials are. That's what I want to show you. I have documents, recordings, evidence. But I need someone who knows how to use it. Someone who can expose him without it being traced back to me."

Daniel's eyes narrowed. "What do you get out of this?"

"Revenge," Maya said honestly. At least that part was true. "He hurt someone I care about." Herself. "And I want to make him pay."

Daniel was quiet for a long moment, studying her face. Maya held his gaze, letting him see the determination there, the anger simmering beneath the surface.

Finally, he nodded. "Show me what you have."

Maya pulled out a USB drive from her pocket. In her previous life, she had saved copies of everything—partly because Ethan had asked her to, partly because she had always been thorough. Now, those copies would be his downfall.

"This is just a sample," she said, sliding the USB across the table. "There's more. Much more. But I need to know you're serious about taking him down."

Daniel picked up the USB drive, turning it over in his hands. "If what you're saying is true, this could take months. Maybe years. Are you prepared for that?"

"Yes," Maya said without hesitation. "Whatever it takes."

"And Ethan? He's going to notice something's wrong. He's going to come after you."

"Let him try," Maya said coldly. "I'm not the woman he thinks I am."

Daniel smiled slightly, and it transformed his entire face. For a moment, he looked younger, less hardened. "I think I'm starting to believe that."

He stood up, pocketing the USB drive. "I'll review this tonight. If it's as good as you say, we'll meet again tomorrow. Same place, same time. Don't contact me before then. And Maya?" He looked down at her with serious eyes. "If you're lying to me, if this is some kind of game, I will find out. And you won't like what happens next."

"I'm not lying," Maya said firmly. "I promise you that."

Daniel nodded once and left, disappearing into the street outside.

Maya sat alone in the booth, her heart pounding. She had just set fire to her entire life. There was no going back now. No changing her mind. She had chosen revenge, and she would see it through to the end.

Her phone, which she had turned back on, buzzed with messages. Twenty missed calls from Ethan. Fifteen texts. Three voicemails.

She deleted them all without reading or listening.

Then she stood up and walked out of the coffee shop, into the cold December air. For the first time in three years—or was it thirty days?—Maya felt like she could breathe.

Across the street, in a black car with tinted windows, Ethan Hart sat watching the coffee shop entrance. He had followed Maya here, curious about why she wasn't answering his calls. When he saw the man she met with—tall, dangerous-looking, clearly not just a friend—rage boiled in his chest.

Was his perfect, obedient fiancée cheating on him? The thought would have been laughable yesterday. Maya was so devoted, so loyal, so pathetically in love with him. But something had changed. He could feel it.

And Ethan Hart didn't like changes he couldn't control.

He pulled out his phone and made a call. "I need information on someone," he said when the line connected. "His name is Daniel Torres..."