Chapter 1

When he came to, Grandfather told him we shared no blood—and ordered him to marry me.

Lucian wasn't having it.

He said an arranged marriage would kill any chance at real love.

So he got blackout drunk and stumbled onto the train tracks.

Saving him cost me both my legs.

He still showed up to our wedding—red-eyed, jaw locked, hating every second of it.

And on our wedding night, he threw me into an underground club.

They tied me to a bed.

He sat in the corner and watched. Smoking. Smiling. Like he was at a goddamn show.

After more nights than I could count, I got hold of a lighter and set the curtains on fire. The whole place went up.

He burned with me.

Then I opened my eyes.

And I was back—back on the night someone drugged him.

Fine, my stepfather. This time you can have your great love.

I won't be the one paying for it.

......

A hand clamped around my waist, hard enough to bruise.

My eyes flew open and met Lucian Ashford's bloodshot stare.

There was raw hunger churning in those eyes—dark, unhinged, barely leashed.

I jerked my head sideways, scanning the room.

No leather restraints.

No bed bolted to the floor.

No stench of bleach and other people's sweat clinging to the walls.

Just my apartment. Just him.

His grip tightened. "Strip. Now."

He was too close. The heat of him bled straight through my dress, and his breath rasped against my throat.

My vision blurred.

And just like that, I wasn't here anymore.

I was back under those men—too many of them, foul mouths on my neck, fingers tearing my clothes off in pieces.

I shoved the memory down and bit into Lucian's arm hard enough to taste blood.

"Get the hell off me!"

The pain snapped him out of it.

His eyes dropped to my torn collar, and something flickered there—something I couldn't name—before disgust wiped it clean.

"Elara Ashford, you're disgusting." His voice came out flat and lethal. "Don't flatter yourself. Spreading your legs won't make me love you."

Something twisted in my chest, sharp and deep.

I remembered the way I'd died. And for one ugly second, all I wanted was a knife from the kitchen, to end him right there.

But I couldn't.

Grandfather loved him.

And I wasn't going to burn for this man twice.

I swallowed the bile crawling up my throat. "Where's your girlfriend? I'll go get her."

Lucian went still. "How do you know I have a girlfriend?"

"Is this really the time?"

He stared at me for two long seconds, eyes sharp with suspicion. Then he rattled off an address.

"Thirty minutes. Get her here."

I didn't waste another word. I floored it the whole way and made it back with her in twenty.

In the car, Serena Cross had been a different person—sharp-tongued, smug, daring me to say a single word about her and Lucian.

The moment she stepped out of the car, all of that vanished.

Her legs were shaking. Her eyes went red on cue, her voice trembling at exactly the right pitch.

"Lucian—I don't know what I did to upset her. She drove so fast the whole way. I was terrified."

The shock on her face when she saw Lucian's flushed skin was a masterclass.

Not a beat too much, not a beat too little.

"Lucian, are you okay? You don't look well. Let me take you to the hospital—"

He pulled her inside before she could finish.

I stood there as the door slammed shut in my face.

And let myself remember everything.

Serena had been my classmate—on a hardship scholarship, couldn't afford a hot meal most days.

I used to lie about ordering too much food just so she'd eat with me.

When she said she spent the holidays alone, I brought her home with me.

We had a butler. Mrs. Clark cooked for us.

But Serena got up at dawn every morning to help in the kitchen, asking everyone's preferences and making dinner herself.

I thought I'd found a friend for life.

Until the necklace Lucian gave me went missing.

I tore the house apart looking for it, and found it shattered on the kitchen floor.

Only Serena knew where I kept it.

And only she knew what it meant to me—because she was the only person I'd ever told about the way I felt for him.

When I confronted her, she dropped to her knees outside the front gate in thin clothes, trembling, swearing it was an accident, saying she had nowhere else to go.

I had her things thrown out anyway.

She rose and limped toward the gate—and ran straight into Lucian.

He saw her shaking, barely able to stand, and his pity won.

I was furious.

But more than that, I was terrified.

Terrified he'd find out how I felt about him.

Terrified he'd pull away forever.

So I let her play me.

I just never thought they'd end up in bed.

She made sure I knew.

Photo after photo.

Every detail.

When I told Lucian what she'd done, he didn't believe a word.

"People like you—bought and traded like cattle—wouldn't know real love if it hit you."

The fight got ugly. He moved out the same week.

The only reason I'd ended up at his apartment tonight was because Grandfather asked me to drop off documents.

But the look Serena gave me before she walked through his door—

I understood now.

She'd planned all of it.

A girl from nothing. Scheming her way into a wealthy family.

Drugging him was the most direct route.

In my last life, I'd ruined her plan.

This time, I was going to stand back and watch my stepfather walk straight into it.

I stared at the closed door for a long moment.

Then, slowly, my lips curved.