HEIRESS REBORN

Alina's Pov I should have known. Maybe not tonight. Maybe not exactly how it happened. But deep down, I think a part of me always knew something wasn’t right.The streetlight flickered above me as I stood outside the house I shared with my husband. I was numb. Cold. My fingers trembled around my phone, the screen still showing Nate’s name, and beneath it—voicemail.Again.I must’ve called him thirty times since the gala. Each unanswered ring felt like another nail in a coffin I didn’t even know we were building. I swallowed the lump in my throat and unlocked the front door, my heels clicking softly against the marble as I stepped inside.The silence was too heavy. The air, too still. My heels echoed like accusations against the marble floor as I stepped into the foyer. The lights were dimmed—odd, considering Nathaniel usually left them all blazing, claiming it made the house feel alive.But the house wasn’t alive. It was a mausoleum.The housekeeper, Rosa, appeared from the hallway,

Alina's Pov The woman in the sleek black suit sat on the chair next to my hospital bed like she owned the room, like this wasn't a room where my life had just crumbled. Theo stood beside her, older, grayer, but still the same kind-eyed man I remembered from childhood. Our family butler... until he vanished after my parents' funeral."What?" My voice was hoarse, rasping. Like it had fought a war to form the words.“We know this is sudden,” Margot said, her voice even and practiced, like a surgeon about to slice. “But there are things you need to know. Now that… everything’s changed.”My throat was still sore, the bruises from the accident—or attack, or whatever-the-hell it was—tight and raw around my neck. My body was an aching mass of bandages and gauze. I didn’t feel like myself. I didn’t even feel human.But I needed answers more than I needed pain meds.“What things?” I rasped, the words dry and gritty like sandpaper against my tongue.“The truth,” Theo replied simply. His voice w

Damien's Pov The hospital halls were never quiet. Not really. Even on the slowest days, there was always some beeping monitor or the soft murmur of nurses exchanging notes. I liked the noise, though. It filled the silence in my own head—the silence I’d never quite learned how to live with since that night.Since...Alina.God, I hadn't said her name in years. Not aloud.It’s not like I didn’t think about her. I did. More than I should’ve. She was my patient, I told myself. That’s all. It was natural to worry about patients who came in the way she did—broken, bleeding, unconscious. Barely alive.Barely human.And then she disappeared. Whisked away by Theo and that steel-eyed woman like she was a government secret. No goodbye. No update. Nothing.I told myself I was okay with that so I kept practicing. Kept saving people because it's what I do... what I’m good at.Still, I caught myself staring at my office window a lot more these past few weeks. Wondering if I did enough. If I should’v

Alina's Pov Days later, I walked into a restaurant that shimmered with the kind of cold, sophisticated elegance that only old money and new power could afford. Polished floors, chandeliers that looked like they cost a country, and the low hum of calculated laughter. Everyone here was someone. Or at least pretending to be.I was pretending."Ms. Reyes," one of the hosts said politely, gesturing me toward the table where Vivian Lane sat in her element. I gave a brief nod and followed, careful to keep my expression blank, almost deferent.They thought I was her assistant.That suited me just fine.Vivian lifted her glass slightly when she saw me, the subtlest of signals. I gave her a half-smile, took my seat a little behind and to the right of her. Perfectly placed. Perfectly invisible."Kaia Reyes," they knew me as. A name with no ties, no past, no bloodline dripping with scandal and betrayal. Just another efficient woman with a clipboard and a secret.Thank you for coming, Mr. Langfor

Alina's Pov I was still trying to gather my breath when the woman stepped out of the black sedan.Tall. Elegant. Her steps slow but purposeful.She was beautiful. Raven-black hair swept into a flawless chignon, eyes hidden behind oversized black sunglasses. Her dress clung to her like it was made for her body alone—deep scarlet silk with a side slit that teased her thigh. A black Dior trench coat hung off her shoulders like a statement of power. Even her heels, needle-thin and wickedly tall, made a sound that echoed like a challenge as she approached.Everything about her screamed power and money. And yet... something about her face tugged at my memory.She looked vaguely familiar.I tilted my head, watching as her gaze landed on Damien. She didn't blink. Her eyes didn't soften. And as I turned to look at him too, I noticed it—he wasn’t pleased to see her. Not even a little.His usual cool, indifferent mask had cracks. Subtle tension in his jaw. A flash of something unreadable in his