CHAPTER 2

Danielle

One year later. 

My hands were the first things to twitch. My eyes were barely open, but I still managed to move my limbs. It was almost like someone was continuously slamming a frying pan on my head. But that wasn't even important. 

I was alive. 

And that was what mattered. The smell of antiseptic hit my nose immediately. My eyes flew open, taking in the white sheets that covered me up to my torso. 

I was in a hospital somehow. There was a man seated at my feet, and he was staring at the television. I cleared my throat. The way he jumped to his feet almost made me laugh. 

“Melanie!” He screamed, leaning down to hug me. I frowned immediately. 

I was Danielle. I couldn't have forgotten my own name. And who gave him the right to hug me like that? I opened my mouth to complain, but the words wouldn't leave my throat. 

As he pulled away from the hug, I saw the tears in his eyes. 

“Where am I?” I asked weakly. 

“The hospital,” he said calmly. I could almost feel the fondness behind his voice. “You had a ghastly accident. You've been in a coma for almost a year.” 

I shook my head. That wasn't what happened. The last thing I remembered seeing was Yvette's face. Slowly, the memories flooded my brain. 

I immediately attempted to sit up. Tears were already streaming down my cheeks. “Ellie,” I asked, panicking. “Did you save her?”

He frowned. “Melanie, what are you talking about?”

“Stop fucking calling me Melanie! Where is my daughter?”

There was worry written all over him now. “Hold on. I need to call mom, dad and the doctor.”

My parents. They would never want to even look at me. Not after I got married to Cole after all their warnings. 

As the strange man shut the door behind him, there were two familiar faces on the television. Mine and Ellie's. I froze immediately. I managed to register the headline. 

Aniston Heiress and Daughter Remembered on First Anniversary After Tragic Murder. 

“It has been a year exactly since Danielle Aniston and Ellie Aniston were found dead in their home, while businessman, husband and father, Cole Aniston was in Florida for a business meeting,” The news caster was saying. “The world mourns with him as he holds a one year anniversary.”

What?

It had to be a joke. I was alive. Cole wasn't in Florida while he tried to kill me. My hands were balled into fists at my side. 

I needed to make my way out of the hospital somehow. But finding Ellie was more important. 

Cole's face appearing on the screen made me pause again. He was just the way he looked when he killed us. The same hidden smirk that only I could see. 

“Life hasn't remained the same ever since I lost the both of them. If I knew, I would have never gone to Florida. I should have spent more time with my family.”

The bastard. 

The camera zoomed out, and I saw Yvette by his side. She was literally glowing. How could they live with themselves after everything? I noticed how she wrapped her arm around his. Oh, they were public now.

“Danielle was my best friend. And she will always be. I'm sure she's in heaven, where she deserves to be,” she was saying. 

I almost let out a bitter laugh. I took one more look at the screen, and I couldn't help but gag. Somehow, I found my way to the bathroom. I heaved, but nothing came up my throat. 

That was when I got a glimpse at the woman in the mirror. I took a step back. 

That wasn't me. 

My red hair and subtle features. Gone. 

I was looking at a woman with bolder curves. Green eyes. More feminine. A brunette.

I blinked hard, waiting for the reflection to disappear. It was still there. 

I was staring at… me. 

I couldn't have reincarnated somehow. Those things didn't exist. 

“Where is she?” A feminine voice called out, forcing me to postpone whatever thoughts were running through my mind. As I walked back to the main room, I spotted the man that was there before, an older woman and man, and then the doctor. The couple screamed elegance and power. I almost felt intimidated by their presence. 

The doctor seemed to cock his eyebrow. “Quite strong for someone who just got out of a coma.”

“Ellie,” I said, looking between the both of them. Even if I got the information that she was dead- and so was I- it was hard to believe. 

“She's been saying that name,” the first guy I met, said. 

The older woman took a step towards me, making me sit on the bed. I let her. There was something about her touch that seemed familiar. 

“I'm your mother,” she explained quietly, blinking her green eyes. “He's your father, and that's your older brother, Jayden.”

I looked at the other two people that she was gesturing at. 

I swallowed hard. “W-who am I?” I whispered. 

She gave me a reassuring smile like whatever I was asking was normal. 

“Melanie Carter. Daughter of the CEO of Carter Enterprises.”

I felt a lump in my throat. 

The man who was said to be my father looked over at the doctor. “Can we take her home?” He asked. I noticed that whatever I looked like now were features from the both of them. And I looked so similar to Jayden. 

“Of course, Mr. Carter. You can, but she would need enough rest. I'd prescribe a few drugs for you to give her,” the doctor said calmly. He looked over at me with a small smile. “Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

“Just a headache,” I mumbled, and he nodded. 

“That's normal. It should be gone in a few hours.”

Mrs. Carter smiled widely. “We can probably go back to planning your handover ceremony.”

I wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but I couldn't. It was getting hard to wrap my head around everything that was going on, so I just nodded. 

I allowed her to hand me a few clothes for me to put on, before they took me home. 

Home. 

I didn't even know what that was anymore. One thing I knew was that it wasn't with Cole. The thought of his name alone brought a shiver to my spine. 

I looked up at the television one more time, where the newscaster was still talking about my death. There were footages of my funeral. 

My fingertips curled around the clothes in my hands. 

I couldn't stop looking at myself in the mirror. This new self. Obviously younger than I was. There was something in my eyes. Confidence. It was never there before. 

How long was it going to take me to get used to this? A loving family. The loss of my daughter. 

I quickly blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill. It wasn't the time to cry. 

Everything else happened in a blur and before I knew it, I was at the back seat of a luxurious black car, with Jayden's fingers wrapped around mine almost reassuringly. That was the closest thing to comfort that I had felt in a long time, and I wanted to bask in it. 

As I sank my head into the velvet seat, I ran my head through the new things I had learned. 

I was alive. 

My name was Melanie Carter. 

I lost my daughter, Ellie. 

My husband was the murderer. 

And I was out for revenge.