Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

I opened my eyes to the soft gray light of early morning and the faint scent of lavender from the sheets. For a moment the room felt wrong, too quiet, too still. Then the memory arrived like a blade between my ribs. Champagne. The sharp, sweet burn of it sliding down my throat at my own engagement party. Ethan’s smile. Sophia’s hand on my arm, warm and sisterly. The sudden heaviness in my limbs. The way the ballroom tilted. The last thing I saw was Alexander standing near the terrace doors, concern already forming on his face as I fell. I sat up so fast the covers slid to my waist. My hands trembled as I pressed them to my chest, feeling the solid thump of a living heart. Not the cold silence of a morgue. Not the dark. Alive. The mirror across the room reflected a girl of eighteen. Soft cheeks. Full mouth. The gentle swell of breasts and hips that had once drawn every cruel whisper in the room. I stared at her—at myself—and waited for the old shame to rise. It never came. In its pl

Friday evening arrived under a sky the color of brushed steel. I stood at the curb of the townhouse with a single leather overnight bag and the red silk still folded in tissue paper at the bottom, though I had no intention of wearing it again so soon. The black town car that stopped in front of me was not Ethan’s. Alexander stepped out himself, dark coat open, no driver in sight. “Ready?” he asked. I nodded and slid into the passenger seat. The interior smelled of leather and the faint trace of his cologne. He closed the door, rounded the car, and we pulled into traffic without another word. Manhattan fell away behind us in a blur of headlights. I watched his hands on the wheel—steady, controlled, the same hands that had once steadied me when I stumbled at a garden party years ago in the first life. Tonight those hands would teach me something far more dangerous. We reached the Hamptons house just after nine. The place was all clean lines and glass, perched above a dark stretch of

The city swallowed me the moment the town car crossed the bridge. Horns, concrete, the restless pulse of Manhattan—I stepped back into it already changed. The taste of Alexander’s mouth still lived on my tongue. The bruise of his fingers at my waist still throbbed under my clothes. I did not go home first. I went straight to the private track in New Jersey that rented hours to serious amateurs with enough cash and enough nerve.By noon I had a trainer, a leased bike, and a schedule that left no room for the soft heiress anyone remembered. The first practice session was pure violence. I crashed twice in the first hour—once low-siding into a corner, once high-siding when the rear tire lost grip. Pain lit up my shoulder and hip. I climbed back on anyway. The third session I stayed upright. The fourth I started chasing lap times like they owed me money.Ethan found me that evening in the garage bay, still in leathers, helmet under one arm, grease streaked across one cheek. His smile looke

I woke to the sound of my phone vibrating against the nightstand and the dull ache between my thighs that proved the night before had not been a fever dream. Alexander’s cum had dried on my skin. I had not showered. I wanted the evidence to stay with me a little longer.The message was from him.We need to talk. My office. Noon. Come alone.No greeting. No softness. Pure damage control.I smiled at the ceiling, stretched until my muscles protested, and got up. The mirror showed a woman who had been thoroughly fucked and still wanted more. I dressed in a fitted cream blouse that gaped just enough at the buttons, a pencil skirt that hugged every soft curve, and heels that made my legs look endless. Let him try to pretend last night meant nothing while he looked at me like this.Sophia intercepted me in the hallway, already dressed for a luncheon, pearls at her throat, smile bright as glass.“You’re up early. And glowing. Did something exciting happen after the race?”“I won,” I said, br

The qualifying session started clean. Clear sky. Dry track. I put the bike on provisional pole with a lap that made the timing screens light up. The crew chief grinned and slapped the tank. I rolled back into the pits feeling the old fire under my skin—the same fire that had carried me through every win so far.Then the unknown number lit up my phone again.One more win and we finish what we started at the engagement party.I stared at the screen until the words burned. Engagement party. The exact phrase no one outside the original timeline should know. My pulse kicked hard. They were done pretending.I showed the message to no one. I put the phone away, zipped the leathers, and went back out for the race.The start was chaos. I took the holeshot and never looked back. Lap after lap I stretched the lead. The bike felt perfect—balanced, responsive, hungry. I was three corners from the flag when the world tilted.The rear end stepped out with no warning. Not a slide I could catch. Not a