Chapter 1

Beep… beep… beep.

The sound of the monitor was the only thing anchoring me to life. The doctors’ voices blurred together as they fought to pull me back, but a question echoed in my mind:

Was it even worth saving me?

Three months ago, was when it all started.

I married the man of my dreams. I was the beloved daughter of the Avila Corporation, living a life people envied. I had everything until the world I knew began to fall apart.

It started when I lost my younger brother. 

Then the company went into crisis. I thought I still had my fiancé, Now my husband, to lean on.

 I believed he’d hold me up when everything else crumbled.

I was wrong.

 The night of my stepsister’s birthday, I was supposed to stay in a private room with my boyfriend.

“Where have you been?” Drake asked when he saw me.

“I’ve just been around,” I replied lightly. “Had a few drinks.”

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll be back shortly.”

He left before I could say anything else.

“Heyyyyy.”

I turned at the familiar voice and saw Vivian standing behind me, smiling brightly.

“Hey, birthday girl,” I said, returning the smile.

“Let’s take a few shots,” she suggested, already reaching for the drinks.

“I’ve had a lot already—” I began, but she cut me off.

“Just a few,” she said, raising her hands. “I promise you won’t get drunk.”

I hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. Fine.”

“Cheers.”

Our glasses clinked, and I drank.

Minutes later, my head began to spin.

“My head…” I murmured, pressing my fingers to my temple. “I feel strange. Call Drake.”

“I’ll get him,” Vivian said.

But when she turned away, I caught the smirk on her face.

“Room 207,” she whispered to the two men helping support my weight. “Take her there.”

“What’s going on?” I heard my stepmother ask.

“Just a few drinks,” Vivian replied smoothly. 

“She’s heading to Drake.”

I forced myself to speak. “Mom… can you take me instead?”

“you’ll be fine,” my stepmother said calmly, patting my arm. “I have things to handle over here.”

The men led me away.

On getting to the room they became confused on the room number.

“Isn’t it 205?” one of them muttered.

“No,” Vivian said firmly, pointing ahead. “It’s 207.”

Her smile never wavered.

"How'd you get upstairs?" One of the men asked.

"Don't ask things that aren't of your concern" she replied sharply with a cold stare.

I was placed on the bed, barely aware as the door closed behind them.

I stretched my arm—and touched someone.

“Drake?” I whispered.

A strong arm pulled me closer.

Before I could understand what was happening our lips reached out to each other.

I woke up the next morning with my head pounding.

“Drake?” I said again.

But when I turned, it wasn’t him.

“What—?” I gasped, scrambling back.

“Get dressed,” the man said quickly. “Leave before it’s too late.”

"Who are you?"

"How'd you get in?"

I asked all at once.

Before I could get an answer to anything, voices erupted outside the door.

“What’s happening?” I whispered, panic rising.

I reached for the door—

“Stop,” the man warned.

Too late.

Cameras burst into the room. Flashes blinded me as voices shouted over one another.

“Is this your first time cheating?” “Does your boyfriend know?” “Is your father aware?”

I screamed, covering myself as shame crashed over me.

Someone draped a jacket around my shoulders and rushed me past the chaos and when I turned it was this stranger I spent the night with.

And just like that

My life was destroyed.

Few days later...

 I got the call that my father had collapsed, I ran to the hospital, praying—begging—that he would be okay.

But instead of comfort, I was met with fury.

“Where do you think you’re going after what you did to your father?” my stepmother snapped as she and my stepsister blocked my path, their faces twisted with rage.

“No… no… no,” I whispered, tears slipping down my cheeks.

“After your cheating scandal, did you really think he could handle it?” my stepsister said, her eyes burning with hatred.

“You stressed him to death,” my stepmother added, shoving my arm hard enough to make me stumble back.

“I didn’t,” I cried, my words breaking apart as tears choked my voice. “I didn’t.”

A lie.

A setup.

A trap I never saw coming.

Just then, the doctor stepped out of the room.

“Can I see him?” I asked desperately. “Is he okay?”

I searched the doctor’s face for hope.

“I’m sorry—”

He didn’t get to finish.

They grabbed my hair and dragged me down the hallway, ignoring my screams.

“You killed him and now you want a final moment?” my stepmother hissed.

“Even in death, you won’t let my husband rest,” she said, a cruel smirk curling her lips. 

“You evil girl.”

I was denied my final goodbye.

As I stumbled out of the hospital, rain poured down on me, soaking through my clothes. I didn’t care.

My world had already shattered.

Still, I held on to one fragile hope: my husband. Surely he would believe me. Surely he would be with me through all this chaos.

But when he finally appeared in the office where I waited, his eyes were cold.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, disgust in his voice. “Don’t come here looking pitiful. This” he gestured at me “is your fault.”

My heart froze.

Then he said the words that shattered what was left of me.

“I’ve wanted you gone for a long time. All of us have your stepmother, your stepsister… and me.”

I felt the world tilt.

“Do you want the truth?” he asked with a smile that wasn't fully a smile. “I killed your brother.”

My breath left me.

“And your father?” He stepped closer, gripping my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “He died by our hands. Mine. Your stepmother’s. Your stepsister’s.”

His laugh echoed in my skull, cruel and unhinged.

“No… no, that’s not true,” I whispered, tears blurring everything. My hair clung wild around my face as I shook my head. “It can’t be.”

But he only smirked.

“I think it’s your turn now.”

Before I could react, he dragged me onto the rooftop of the thirty-story building. I clawed at his wrists, crying out, “Stop! What are you doing?!”

He didn’t answer.

He just let go.

As I fell, air ripping past me, tears streaming  down only to be whisked away by the wind almost immediately  I felt the world fade. All that remained was Pain. Betrayal. Hatred.

I didn’t know how it happened, but it felt as if time had folded in on itself. One moment I was on the surgery table after falling then suddenly I was back four months earlier, a week before my brother’s death, and still weeks away from the engagement that would change everything. It was like reliving a life I’d already lost.Only that this time I wasn't loosing.