Chapter 2

I sleep early, wake early, and spend five peaceful days in the psych ward, completely cut off from the outside world.

Honestly, it beats the daily grind by a mile.

On day five, the doctors run a full evaluation, confirm I'm mentally stable, and sign my discharge papers.

I count the days in my head. In my last life, the cops showed up at my door right around now.

But this time, I haven't left the facility once. Not for a single minute. I've been under constant watch, doctors, nurses, cameras. Every second accounted for.

There's no way anyone can say I stole that necklace.

I walk out through the front doors, feeling lighter than I have in years.

The second I step outside, Dante is waiting.

He storms up and slaps me across the face so hard my ears ring.

"Summer, you stupid bitch. We never let you go hungry. We never let you go without. And you steal?"

What?

This time around, I was locked inside a psychiatric facility with an airtight alibi.

How the hell is he still pinning this on me?

Gianna stands behind Dante, arms crossed, her voice sweet as poison.

"Summer, that necklace is worth a billion dollars. It's not a small amount and Dante doesn't want to pay for that. Just turn yourself in. Make it easier on everyone."

Behind them, a swarm. Influencers, livestreamers, bloggers, all shoving cameras and phones in my face.

"Guys, we found her! The necklace thief!"

"This is the woman who stole it and drove a man to kill himself!"

Someone in the crowd asks, "Wait, kill himself?"

"You haven't heard? The guy who owned the necklace, tech startup founder, burned through all his cash. He was going to use that necklace as collateral for a loan, last shot to save his company. Then it disappeared. Company went under."

"He jumped off a building yesterday."

In my last life, this is exactly how it played out.

The case turned into a death. The victim was a rising tech founder, a self-made guy, beloved online. The story went viral overnight.

And because I was married to a Morretti, it got ten times worse.

Years of public rage against the family, the extortion, the intimidation, the businesses destroyed, all of it poured straight onto me.

I was the one they could reach. I was the one without protection.

After they stabbed me to death last time, they carved up my face with the knife.

I take a deep breath, about to speak up.

A woman bursts out of the crowd and shoves me to the ground.

"You greedy, disgusting thief!"

"You destroyed my family!"

She grabs a fistful of my hair and screams in my face.

"My son with Marcus, he was just born! How could you drive my husband to his death?"

"I haven't even finished my postpartum recovery and I've already lost him! My baby is not even a month old and he doesn't have a father!"

"You deserve to die! They should put you in front of a firing squad!"

She's bigger than me. I can't fight her off.

Dante and Gianna stand to the side, watching. Neither of them moves.

She pins me down, straddles me, and pulls out a kitchen knife, aiming straight for the artery in my neck.

The memory of my last death hits me like ice water down my spine.

The blade is an inch from my throat when a voice cuts through the chaos.

"Stop! Right now!"