She looked down at my dying body, disgust etched into every line of her face.

“You really thought I was on your side?” she whispered. “How pathetic.”

Blood filled my mouth as I smiled bitterly.

So this was the price of trust.

~‍~~

They destroyed her marriage to Lucien, tricked her into signing papers that erased her name, her future—even her very existence. She gave them her heart, her loyalty, her life… and they repaid her with betrayal sharp enough to kill her.

But fate wasn’t done with Aria.

When she opened her eyes again, she wasn’t on a cold operating table—she was back at the beginning. Before the lies, before the signatures, before the knife slid in.

This time, she wouldn’t be naive.

This time, she wouldn’t love blindly.

She would rewrite her future, step by step. She would make them pay—before they even realized the game had changed.

And Lucien…

The man she once abandoned, the regret she carried even into death.

This time, she would choose him.