SECOND LIFE: CEO’S SHADOW

The night was too beautiful. That should have been my first warning.

I stood on the edge of the rooftop garden at the Vane Estate, looking out at the city of Oakhaven. From up here, forty stories high, the cars looked like tiny glowing bugs and the people didn't exist at all. The wind was cold, biting at my bare shoulders, but I didn't mind. I felt like I was on top of the world.

It was my twenty-fourth birthday. Downstairs, the ballroom was packed with the city’s elite. I could hear the faint, muffled thrum of the orchestra playing a waltz. They were all there for me, drinking my father's vintage wine and celebrating the Vane name. But I had escaped the noise to find some peace. And to find Marcus.

I looked down at the "Vane Heart" emerald hanging from my neck. It was a massive, deep green stone that felt heavy and cold against my skin. My father gave it to me before he passed, telling me it was the soul of our family. I felt like a queen wearing it. I felt safe.

"There's my birthday girl."

I turned around, a smile lighting up my face. Marcus stood there, looking so handsome in his tuxedo. His sandy hair was perfectly pushed back, and his blue eyes seemed to sparkle under the moonlight. I loved him so much it hurt. I had spent the last three years giving him everything—my heart, my time, and a lot of my inheritance to help him build his dreams.

"You're late," I teased, stepping toward him. "I thought you were going to meet me here twenty minutes ago."

"I had to make sure everything was in place," Marcus said. His voice was smooth, but there was a strange edge to it. He didn't reach out to hug me. He stayed a few feet away, his hands tucked into his pockets.

"In place? What do you mean?" I asked.

A shadow moved behind one of the large marble pillars. A woman stepped out, smoothing her silk dress. It was Sienna. My best friend. My assistant. The girl I had treated like a sister since the day we met. She was wearing a smirk that made my stomach do a slow, sick roll.

"It means the paperwork is finished, Clara," Sienna said. She walked over to Marcus and slid her arm through his. She didn't look like a friend anymore. She looked like a predator who had finally cornered its prey. "The final transfer for Reed Development went through at midnight. You’re officially broke."

I laughed, but it was a nervous, shaky sound. "Sienna, stop. That’s not funny. Marcus, tell her she’s being weird."

Marcus didn't move. He didn't look at me with love. He looked at me like I was a problem he had finally solved. "She isn't lying, Clara. Those 'charity' papers you signed this morning? They weren't for a hospital. They were the deeds to the Vane holdings. Every building, every emerald mine, every cent. It all belongs to me now."

I felt the blood drain from my face. The cold wind suddenly felt like it was cutting through my skin. "But... I trusted you. We were going to get married. You told me you loved me."

Sienna let out a sharp, jagged laugh. "He loved your bank account, you idiot. Did you really think a man like Marcus could ever be satisfied with a girl as boring as you? You’re soft, Clara. You’re weak. You spent your life playing princess while we did the hard work of figureing out how to take it all away from you."

She stepped closer, her perfume—a scent I had bought for her—filling my nose. "He’s been in my bed since the month you hired me. Every time you thought he was working late at the office? He was with me. We used to laugh about how easy you were to trick. You practically begged us to rob you."

I looked at Marcus, my eyes stinging with tears. "Is this true? All of it?"

"It doesn't matter if it's true," Marcus said, his voice cold as ice. He checked his watch, looking bored. "What matters is that the Vane family line ends tonight. If you stay alive, you're a loose end. You'll go to the lawyers. You'll make a scene. I can't have that."

"What are you saying?" I whispered, backing away. My heels clicked against the stone ledge of the roof.

"I'm saying goodbye," Marcus said.

He didn't even do it himself. He didn't want the blood on his hands. He just looked at Sienna.

With a look of pure joy, Sienna stepped forward. She put her hands on my shoulders. I saw the moonlight hit the diamonds on her fingers—diamonds I had paid for.

"See you in the next life, Clara," she hissed.

Then, she pushed.

The world vanished. I felt the terrifying sensation of my feet leaving the solid ground. My stomach dropped into my throat. I reached out, my fingers clawing at the empty air, but there was nothing to catch me.

I saw the roof receding. I saw Marcus and Sienna leaning over the edge, watching me fall like I was nothing more than a piece of trash they had thrown away. They weren't crying. They weren't screaming. They were just watching.

I fell through the dark. The wind tore at my hair and my dress. I saw the lights of the city flashing by—floor after floor of the building my father had built. I thought of my dad. I thought of how much I had let him down. I thought of my own heart, which had shattered long before I hit the ground.

A hot, burning rage flared up in my chest. It was stronger than the fear. It was a promise. If I could go back, I thought, the air screaming in my ears, I would burn their world to the ground. I would make them wish they had never heard the name Vane.

Then, there was a sound like a thunderclap.

The world went black. It wasn't a soft darkness. It was heavy and cold. I felt like I was being crushed, like every bone in my body was turning to dust. I waited for the end. I waited for the silence to last forever.

But then, I felt something.

It was a smell. It wasn't the metallic scent of blood or the cold wind of the roof. It was the smell of roasted coffee beans and old books.

I felt a sudden, violent jolt, like I had been dropped from a small height onto something soft. My lungs burned as I took in a sharp, gasping breath. I choked, my hands flying to my throat. I expected to feel broken skin and jagged bone.

But my skin was warm. My neck was whole.

"Clara? Hey, are you okay? You look like you’re having a heart attack."

The voice hit me like a physical blow to the chest. It was a voice from the past. A voice that belonged to a killer.

I snapped my eyes open.

I wasn't on the pavement. I was sitting in a sun-drenched wooden booth at a small cafe called The Golden Bean. I knew this place. I used to come here every Tuesday when I was twenty-one.

I looked across the table. Marcus was sitting there.

He looked younger. His face was fuller, and he didn't have the expensive watch or the designer suit yet. He was wearing a cheap, wrinkled shirt and looking at me with a fake, worried smile.

I looked down at the table. Between us sat a blue folder. I knew exactly what was inside it. It was the Seed Capital Agreement. This was the day he asked me for my inheritance. This was the day my real life ended and my nightmare began.

My heart was beating so fast I could feel it in my teeth. I wasn't dead. I was back. I was really, truly back.

"Clara? Did you hear me?" Marcus asked, reaching across the table to touch my hand.

I pulled my hand away so fast I almost knocked over my drink. The rage I had felt as I fell was still there, bubbling under my skin like lava. I looked at him—really looked at him—and I didn't see the man I loved. I saw the man who watched me die.

"I heard you," I said. My voice was raspy, but it was strong.

I looked at the pen sitting on the table. It was the pen that was supposed to sign away my life. I picked it up, feeling the weight of it in my hand. Marcus smiled, his eyes hungry for the money he thought was coming.

I didn't sign the paper. Instead, I gripped the pen so hard I thought it might snap. I looked Marcus Reed dead in the eye, and for the first time in two lives, I wasn't afraid.

"I'm not signing this, Marcus," I said.

The game had changed. And this time, I was the one who knew how it ended.