Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Night I Died

The first thing I heard was my mother's scream. “Please! Don't do this!” Her voice was filled with fear, and there was something about the way she screamed that made my heart race even before I opened my eyes.

I tried to move, but my body felt heavy. My head was pounding, and there was a sharp pain in my chest. Something warm was running down the side of my face. I slowly touched it and looked at my fingers. They were covered in blood.

The smell of smoke filled the room. I didn't know where I was or what had happened, but I knew something was terribly wrong.

I forced my eyes open and looked around. The chandelier above me was swinging from side to side, and broken glass covered the marble floor. I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through my ribs and forced me back down.

Then I looked at my dress.

My beautiful white engagement dress was covered in blood.

My blood.

“Mom?” I called weakly.

I heard her crying again. “Please, I'm begging you!”

I turned toward her, and my heart almost stopped.

My mother was on her knees in the middle of the room. Her expensive dress was stained with blood, her hair was messy, and tears were running down her face.

But she wasn't alone.

Clara was standing beside her.

My sister was still wearing the red dress she had worn to my engagement party earlier that evening. I remembered telling her how beautiful she looked in it. I remembered smiling at her and thinking about how lucky I was to have a sister like her.

Now she was looking at me with a strange smile on her face.

“Clara?” I whispered.

She looked at me, and for a second, I thought I saw fear in her eyes. But it disappeared almost immediately. She slowly turned her head toward the man standing behind her.

I followed her gaze, and the moment I saw him, something inside me broke.

It was Daniel.

My fiancé.

The man I had loved for six years was standing there with a gun in his hand. There was blood on the sleeve of his white shirt, and his face looked completely different from the man I knew.

“Daniel,” I whispered.

He looked directly at me. There was no sadness in his eyes, no regret, and no sign that he felt sorry for what had happened.

“You shouldn't have come back,” he said.

I stared at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

He took a slow step toward me. “You were supposed to be dead.”

My heart began beating faster. “Dead?”

I looked around the room again, desperately trying to understand what was happening. The security guards who had protected my family for years were lying motionless near the entrance. My father was nowhere to be seen, and my younger brother was missing.

Then I looked at my mother.

She was still on the floor, staring at me with tears in her eyes.

“Lena,” she whispered. “Don't trust anyone.”

Before I could ask what she meant, a loud gunshot filled the room.

My mother's body jerked before she collapsed onto the floor.

“Mom!” I screamed.

I tried to crawl toward her, but another bullet hit the marble floor beside my hand. I stopped immediately.

“Stop moving,” Daniel warned.

I looked at Clara again as she slowly walked toward me. There was no fear in her eyes anymore.

“It's over, Lena,” she said.

I stared at her in disbelief. “You?”

She stopped in front of me and folded her arms. “You always had everything.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You had Father's love. You had the company. You had the house. You had everything that should have been mine.” Her voice was filled with years of anger. “And you even had Daniel.”

I looked at Daniel, hoping that he would say something, anything that would prove this was all some terrible misunderstanding.

“You loved me,” I said.

Daniel looked at me for a moment before giving me a cold smile. “I loved what your family could give me.”

His words hurt more than the bullet that had already torn through my body.

For six years, I had loved this man. I had believed every promise he made. I had trusted him with my heart, my family, and my future. I had believed that one day we would grow old together.

Now I realized that every beautiful memory I had of him might have been nothing more than a lie.

I turned back to Clara. “What did you do?”

She looked at me without a trace of pity. “Nothing you didn't deserve.”

“Deserve?” My voice broke. “You killed our mother.”

“She chose the wrong daughter,” Clara replied coldly.

I stared at her, unable to believe that the woman standing before me was the same sister I had grown up with.

Then she leaned closer to me and lowered her voice. “Do you want to know something else?”

I didn't answer.

“Father is dead.”

My heart stopped.

“No,” I whispered.

“He died three days ago.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“You were supposed to inherit everything after him,” she continued with a smile. “But now the company belongs to me.”

Everything suddenly became clear.

This wasn't only about Daniel. It wasn't only about my engagement or some old hatred Clara had carried against me.

They wanted my family's money.

They wanted my father's company, his properties, his wealth, and everything he had spent his entire life building.

“You planned this,” I whispered.

Clara smiled. “We planned it months ago.”

I looked at Daniel, but he refused to meet my eyes.

My heart felt empty.

Every time he had told me he loved me, every time he had held my hand, every time he had promised that he would protect me, had all been part of their plan.

Then I heard the sound of sirens outside.

Clara's smile disappeared.

Daniel quickly looked toward the window. “Who called the police?”

“I don't know,” Clara replied.

“We have to leave,” he said as he grabbed her hand.

They started moving toward the back door, but Daniel suddenly stopped and looked back at me.

For the first time that night, I saw something I had never expected to see in his eyes.

Fear.

Real fear.

“Who is coming?” I asked.

He didn't answer. Instead, he walked back toward me.

I thought he was going to shoot me, but when he reached me, he bent down and whispered into my ear, “He knows.”

I frowned. “Who?”

Daniel pulled away and stared at me for a moment. “The man you've spent your whole life believing is your enemy.”

Before I could ask what he meant, the windows suddenly shattered.

Gunshots filled the room.

Clara screamed as Daniel pulled her toward the back door. I dropped to the floor and covered my head while pieces of broken glass fell around me.

Everything happened so quickly. Bullets hit the walls, people were shouting, and smoke filled the room. I couldn't understand what was happening anymore.

All I could think about was my mother.

I crawled toward her and reached for her hand. “Mom…”

She didn't move.

Her hand was cold.

Too cold.

Tears filled my eyes as I held it against my cheek. “I'm sorry.”

I didn't even know what I was apologizing for. Maybe for not seeing the betrayal coming. Maybe for not protecting her. Maybe because I knew I was about to lose her forever.

Then I saw a shadow moving through the smoke.

A man had entered the room.

He was tall and dressed completely in black. I couldn't see his face clearly because of the darkness, but there was something about his presence that made me afraid.

He looked around the room before his eyes finally found mine.

For a few seconds, neither of us moved.

Then he walked toward me.

I tried to move backward. “Stay away from me.”

He stopped and looked at the blood covering my dress before turning his eyes toward my mother.

His expression changed.

“Who did this?” he asked.

His voice was deep and calm, but there was something dangerous hiding beneath that calmness.

I stared at him. “Why do you care?”

He looked directly into my eyes. “Because this wasn't supposed to happen.”

“What does that mean?”

Before he could answer, another gunshot rang through the room.

The man moved quickly and pulled me behind him.

“Let me go!” I shouted.

“I'm trying to save you.”

“I don't need your help!”

“You do tonight.”

Another shot was fired.

The man suddenly stumbled, and blood began spreading across his shoulder.

He had been shot.

I stared at him in shock, but before I could say anything, another gunshot rang out.

This time, the bullet hit me.

Pain exploded through my chest.

I looked down and saw blood spreading across my white dress.

My legs became weak, and I fell toward the floor, but the stranger caught me before I could hit it.

“Stay awake,” he said.

His voice sounded different now. He no longer sounded calm. He sounded worried.

I tried to speak, but I couldn't find the strength.

My vision slowly became blurry. The shouting around me began to fade, and even the terrible pain in my chest seemed to disappear.

The stranger held me tightly as if he was afraid to let me go.

“Lena…”

My eyes widened.

He knew my name.

How did he know my name?

That was the last question that crossed my mind before everything went completely dark.

I woke up screaming.

My hands immediately flew to my chest.

There was no wound.

There was no blood.

There was no pain.

I sat up quickly and looked around the room.

I didn't recognize it.

The room was large and beautiful, with white curtains hanging beside enormous windows. Expensive furniture filled the space, and a huge bed stood behind me. Fresh flowers sat on a small table beside the bed.

I looked down at my hands.

They weren't mine.

My fingers looked smaller, my skin was different, and there wasn't a single scar on them.

I quickly got out of bed and ran toward the large mirror across the room.

Then I stopped.

The woman staring back at me was a stranger.

She had long black hair that fell over her shoulders, beautiful eyes, and a face I had never seen before.

I slowly touched my cheek.

The woman in the mirror did the same.

“This isn't real,” I whispered.

Before I could do anything else, someone knocked on the door.

The door opened, and a maid walked into the room carrying a breakfast tray.

She smiled politely. “Good morning, Miss Elena.”

I stared at her. “Elena?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Where am I?”

The maid looked confused by my question. “At home, of course.”

My heart began beating faster.

“What year is it?”

The maid stared at me for a moment before answering, “2026.”

I felt the blood drain from my face.

2026.

I turned toward the bedside table and noticed a newspaper lying there. I grabbed it with shaking hands and looked at the date.

September 17, 2026.

My fingers trembled.

Two years.

I had gone back two years.

I was alive.

Somehow, I had been given another chance.

But before I could understand how it had happened, a sharp pain suddenly tore through my head.

I cried out and grabbed my temples.

Images began flashing through my mind.

A black car speeding down a dark road.

A gun sitting on a table.

A dark room.

A burning building.

A man standing in the middle of it all.

Then I saw his face.

Cold eyes.

Sharp features.

A small scar above his eyebrow.

I knew him.

Everyone knew him.

Adrian Vale.

The man my family had warned me about all my life.

The man they had called our greatest enemy.

The man I had always believed was responsible for many of my family's problems.

But then another memory appeared.

Adrian was standing in a dark room, speaking to someone whose face I couldn't see.

“Lena was never the target.”

My breathing stopped.

Another image appeared.

Adrian was holding a photograph of me.

His face was filled with anger, but the anger wasn't directed at me.

Someone had hurt me, and he was furious about it.

Then I heard his voice again.

“Her sister is the one who ordered it.”

My eyes widened.

Clara.

The memories disappeared as quickly as they had come.

I opened my eyes and stood frozen in the middle of the room.

Those memories weren't mine.

I had never been in that room.

I had never seen Adrian holding my photograph.

So why could I remember everything?

The maid was still standing near the door, staring at me with concern.

“Miss Elena, are you alright?”

I slowly turned toward her.

My voice was barely a whisper. “Who is Adrian Vale?”

The smile disappeared from her face.

The tray slipped from her hand

s and crashed onto the floor.

She looked toward the bedroom door as if she was afraid someone might be listening.

Then she looked back at me.

Her face had gone completely pale.

“Miss…”

She swallowed hard before finally speaking.

“He is your husband.