Chapter 2

The dull, cramping pain in my stomach hadn't let up, and the blood between my legs kept spreading.

I knew my baby was hovering right on the edge of life and death, just like I was.

But I couldn't afford to give up. I couldn't afford to stop moving.

I stood at the edge of the balcony and looked down. I was three stories up. In my current condition, jumping would kill both the baby and me instantly.

But I remembered something. There was a ladder bolted to the outside wall, left over from when they'd installed the air conditioning unit last year.

I had complained about how heavy the metal ladder was to move, so instead of hauling it away, they'd just covered it with a panel. Nobody but me knew it was there.

It was my only way out.

I climbed over the balcony railing, wrapped my hands in wet cloth, and gripped the outer edge of the panel. With the last of my strength, I pried the loose panel free.

A rusted metal ladder appeared underneath.

The fire had heated the metal. Even through the wet fabric, my hands blistered the second I gripped it.

I gritted my teeth and started climbing down carefully.

Sharp cramps kept tearing through my stomach, and my vision kept going dark at the edges. Every step down drained more strength out of me.

Chunks of burning debris kept falling from above. More than once, glowing embers grazed my shoulder as they fell past.

I forced myself to keep dodging. Just as I was about to run completely out of strength, I finally reached the second-floor balcony. From there, I carefully worked my way down the vines growing along the window and stumbled onto the lawn in the backyard.

The second I hit the ground, pain shot through every part of my body. However, I still managed the first real smile I'd had all day.

I had made it out. I'd finally escaped this burning cage that had trapped me across two lifetimes.

Behind me, the fire raged on, painting the sky red.

I could see the neighbors gathered outside the mansion, standing near the front gates, frantically dialing their phones.

As I watched the faces of people I barely knew, pacing anxiously outside on the street for my sake, something in my chest twisted painfully.

Even neighbors I had only ever nodded to in passing cared this much. Yet the man I'd loved for five years, the man I was supposed to marry any day now, had hung up on me without a second thought.

Before I came back, I had witnessed Austin's regret firsthand. I'd told myself his suicide was proof he'd died of a broken heart over me.

Austin and I had been together for five years. We used to have so much in common. I'd given up my career for him and moved to Ashworth by his side.

In my last life, it had broken my heart when he chose someone else over me. Even then, I'd felt a pang of guilt watching him sob over my remains before he put the gun to his mouth.

I never doubted how he felt about me. He had always loved me so openly.

If I so much as glanced twice at a piece of jewelry at an auction, he'd buy it for me without a second thought.

He hired the chef from my favorite restaurant to cook for me at home just so I could have that food whenever I wanted. Everyone in Ashworth knew I was his one weakness.

But then Jo came into the picture, and she shattered every illusion I had.

She was the one who made it painfully clear that Austin's love had never been mine alone.