Chapter 1

Vanessa Langford looked at me with tear-filled, hopeful eyes and held out her hand.

I froze.

Oh, right. I was in Nolan's body.

Normally, Nolan Ralston would've rushed to scoop her up, fussed over her, and hurled every insult he could think of at me.

So I reluctantly helped her to her feet.

Then I turned to Nolan and shot him a disappointed glare.

"How could you be so vicious?

"What did Nessa ever do to deserve this? Why would you hurt her like that?"

I'd heard Nolan say those things so many times that the words rolled right off my tongue.

He was still reeling from our sudden body swap, but the moment he heard me, his eyes widened.

"Are you blind?

"I haven't moved an inch! She fell on her own!"

He shouted so loudly that Vanessa pretended to be frightened, trembling in my arms.

"Nolan..." she whimpered. "Ari's being so scary. I'm scared..."

Honestly, I felt a little awkward with her clinging to me like that.

I was debating whether to push her away when Nolan started comforting her, his eyes full of tender concern.

"I'm sorry, Nessa. I didn't mean to yell at you. My head's just all over the place right now.

"You probably won't believe this, but I'm the real Nolan. I don't know how, but Arianna and I suddenly switched bodies."

Then he rounded on me.

"Arianna, I'm warning you! Stay away from Nessa! Is this another one of your schemes?"

When he looked at Vanessa, he was all warmth and tenderness. But the moment his gaze shifted to me, his expression darkened.

The contrast made my heart go cold.

Luckily, I didn't even have to defend myself.

Vanessa burst out laughing.

Leaning against my shoulder, she asked coyly, "Nolan, has Ari lost her mind?

"It's all my fault. Maybe you've been fussing over me too much. Now she's making up this ridiculous excuse just to get your attention.

"You really should spend more time with her. You're always over at my place... A girl can only take so much of you, you know."

Her cheeks flushed bright red.

I took another look at Nolan, still in my body. Vanessa's words left him looking pale one moment and flushed the next.

I couldn't help sighing.

My body was painfully thin and deathly pale, with thinning hair and cheeks that were still red and swollen.

I hadn't realized just how badly the abuse had taken its toll on me.

Nolan had really put me through hell.

I turned to Walter Fenwick, the Ralston family's longtime butler.

"Walter, have someone tend to Arianna's wounds. And from now on, make sure she gets nutritious meals. Don't let her go hungry."

It was still my body, after all. I might as well make sure it was well taken care of.

But Vanessa clearly wasn't happy about that.

Later that afternoon, while we were eating, she suddenly clutched her head and complained of feeling dizzy.

Then she kept shooting me pointed looks, desperate for me to take the hint.

In the past, whenever she complained of dizziness, it always meant having my blood drawn for her.

So I instinctively glanced at Nolan.

Seeing Vanessa like that, he was practically beside himself with worry.

He shot me a furious glare, then rolled up his sleeve.

"Go ahead! Take my blood! I don't care if it kills me!"

Wow. He really would do anything for Vanessa.

I'd thought watching him fuss over her would hurt. After all, I'd genuinely loved Nolan once.

But to my surprise, instead of tears, a mocking laugh escaped me.

After everything he'd been through, how could he still be such a lovesick fool?

I sat back and calmly watched them draw blood from him.

Sure enough, less than five minutes after they finished, Vanessa suddenly clutched her chest and collapsed into my arms.

"Nolan, I... I feel terrible! I can't breathe!

"Wait! I just remembered! I saw Ari secretly eating a bunch of mangoes earlier!

"She must've eaten those mangoes on purpose before giving me blood! She wanted to trigger my allergy..."