Chapter 1

“Dr. Hale, once you enter the North Star Project, you will be cut off from the outside world for at least ten years.”

The official on the phone paused.

“In seven days, your current identity will be terminated. Your name will disappear from public databases and civilian systems. If you want to withdraw, this is your last chance.”

I looked at the confidentiality agreement on my desk.

“I’ve made my decision. I’m joining.”

After the call ended, I saw three people approaching through the glass doors of the research center.

My father, Vincent Moretti. My mother, Celeste. My older brother, Luca.

In my first life, I had waited twenty-six years for them to come toward me like that.

Celeste reached me first and took my hand.

“Elena, we’ve decided. Seven days from now, the Moretti family will hold a formal recognition banquet and announce that you are our biological daughter.”

She softened her voice.

“Sofia will stay with us. We’ll adopt her legally. You’ll be our daughter by blood, and she’ll be our adopted daughter. You can still be sisters.”

Luca stood behind her. As the Moretti heir, he had been raised to become the next Don, and even now he spoke with the calm certainty of someone settling family business.

“Sofia has accepted the arrangement. She’ll leave the line of inheritance and won’t touch your trust. Everything that belongs to you will be returned.”

He looked at me.

“There’s no reason to object.”

They expected me to be pleased.

I shook my head.

“No. I don’t agree.”

My father’s expression hardened first.

“We’re allowing Sofia to remain as an adopted daughter. What else do you want?”

Tears rose in Celeste’s eyes.

“Do you really need us to throw her out? She has been our daughter for twenty-six years. Being switched as a baby was not her fault. Why can’t you make room for her?”

Luca stepped forward.

“She barely slept last night. She keeps asking whether she stole your life. She’s ready to give everything back. You don’t need to keep pushing her.”

I looked at their familiar faces and remembered my first life.

Back then, I had wanted a family badly enough to accept anything.

I attended the banquet, put on the Moretti ruby signet ring, and officially became their daughter.

That same night, Sofia drove away from the estate in tears. Her car went off the coastal road in heavy rain, and she died before help arrived.

From then on, I became the person they blamed.

Vincent believed my return had killed Sofia. Celeste could barely sit at the same table with me. Luca stopped calling me by name unless the family needed me at some public event.

For ten years, I tried to become someone they could love.

I learned how Vincent liked his coffee before early meetings, remembered every charity Celeste cared about, and stayed up with Luca when family business kept him working past midnight. I adjusted my schedule around theirs, chose gifts they would actually use, and kept showing up even when every dinner reminded me that Sofia had once sat in my place.

I thought that if I was patient enough and useful enough, one day being their daughter would stop feeling like something I had to earn.

It never did.

Then our yacht sank in a storm.

There was one life ring left. Vincent and Luca forced it over me while Celeste secured the straps.

“If we had never brought you home, Sofia would still be alive,” my father said.

My mother cried against his shoulder.

“Elena, in our next life, don’t come looking for us. Let us stay a family with Sofia.”

Luca looked at me last.

“This time, we’re giving you our lives. After this, the Moretti family owes you nothing.”

They disappeared beneath the water.

I survived the night, but by the time rescuers found me, I was dead too.

Then I opened my eyes and found myself back on the day the Morettis received the DNA results.

The North Star Project had invited me in that life as well. I had rejected it because I wanted to stay in New York and become a real Moretti daughter.

This time, I signed.

Their final wish had been for me to stay out of their family.

I could give them that.

“You misunderstood me,” I said.

All three looked at me.

“I’m not asking you to send Sofia away. I won’t attend the banquet, and I won’t move into the Moretti estate. She doesn’t need to become your adopted daughter.”

I looked at Celeste.

“She is already your only daughter.”

Shock crossed her face, then disappointment.

“Elena, do you really need to say something so cruel?”

“I’m not angry.”

I removed the ruby signet ring from my finger.

“In seven days, I’ll leave. The Moretti name, the trust, the inheritance, none of it will have anything to do with me.”

Vincent stared at the ring.

“You think threatening to leave will make us throw Sofia out?”

“It isn’t a threat.”

Luca watched me for a few seconds.

“Then remember what you just said. Sofia has already started therapy because of this. I won’t allow anyone to keep upsetting her.”

“I understand.”

Vincent took the ring.

I should have left then, but I still had one regret.

“There’s a meteor shower over North Ridge tomorrow night. Would you come watch it with me once?”

The Morettis owned a private estate there. As a child, I had seen photographs of the winter meteor showers and imagined watching one with my real parents and brother.

I had asked once in my first life.

Vincent had been handling a family betrayal, Luca had taken Sofia to a charity gala, and Celeste had said Sofia hated the cold.

Ten years passed, and we never went.

My mother’s expression softened.

“You really only want to see the meteor shower?”

“Yes.”

Luca checked his schedule.

“We’ll leave at four. I’ll arrange the plane.”

Vincent slipped the ring into his pocket.

“We’ll go. But the recognition banquet is still happening. You are our biological daughter, and the Moretti family will not deny you what is yours.”

He paused.

“As long as you stop making things difficult for Sofia.”

I did not correct him.

“Thank you.”

After they left, I called my attorney.

“In seven days, release the statement we prepared. Tell the press the paternity issue was a mistake.”

I paused.

“The Moretti family has one daughter. Sofia.”

A message from the North Star Project arrived soon after.

IDENTITY TERMINATION HAS BEGUN. FINAL DEACTIVATION WILL OCCUR AT MIDNIGHT IN SEVEN DAYS.

I watched my family disappear beyond the glass doors.

Seven days from now, they would never be able to find me again.