Chapter 1 The Betrayal

The rain hammered against the penthouse windows, a cruel orchestra to Elena Carter's final moments. Thunder cracked so violently it rattled the crystal chandeliers, but nothing was louder than the betrayal echoing inside her chest. She lay sprawled across the marble floor, her blood pooling beneath her, staining the white stone a mocking crimson. The cold seeped into her bones, yet the burning agony in her heart outmatched every physical pain.

Above her stood Richard Morgan, the man she had loved, the man she had married, his tailored suit immaculate, untouched by the chaos around them. His eyes, once warm enough to make her believe in forever, now gleamed with a frost colder than the storm outside.

"You should never have trusted me," he whispered, his voice dripping with disdain, as if her love had been an inconvenience rather than a devotion. His words sliced deeper than any blade.

Beside him, Sophia Hart, Elena's best friend, her confidante since childhood, clung to his arm with a triumphant smirk. The same woman who had cried in her arms during heartbreaks, who had toasted at her wedding, who had sworn they were sisters in everything... now stared at her with vile satisfaction.

"Really, Elena," Sophia drawled, tilting her head, "you made it too easy. Always so naive. Always so eager to believe the best in people."

Elena's trembling fingers curled against the floor. Her chest tightened as the truth sank in-slow, sharp, merciless. They had planned this. They had stolen not just her company and her wealth, but her life. Everything she had worked for, fought for, sacrificed for... ripped away by the two people she cherished most.

"Why?" Her voice came out in a broken rasp, barely audible over the storm.

Richard chuckled darkly. "Because you were in the way."

Sophia's smile widened. "And because he was never yours. Not really."

The words stabbed deeper than the wounds on her body.

Her vision blurred, the glittering city skyline beyond the windows mocking her with its lights. Manhattan glowed with its usual brilliance, indifferent to the suffering of the woman dying high above its streets. She had built an empire here, brick by brick. She had trusted the wrong people, loved the wrong man, and now the life she had built was slipping away like grains of sand.

Her breathing grew shallow. The cold spread faster, numbing her limbs. The ceiling above her seemed to ripple as her consciousness drifted. Her heart thudded slower. Softer. Fainter.

As the darkness crept in, one final thought cut through the haze, I didn't deserve this. Not like this.

Then everything went silent.

For a moment, there was nothing. No pain. No betrayal. No storm. Just empty, chilling void.

But suddenly, a gasp tore from her throat.

Her eyes flew open.

She was no longer on the penthouse floor. No blood. No marble. No storm. Instead, she found herself staring at the familiar ceiling of her old bedroom, the soft lavender paint she had once begged her mother to choose still perfectly intact.

Her trembling hands shot up to her chest, no wounds, no scars. Her skin was warm, alive.

She sat up with a jolt, her breath quick and uneven. The room was exactly as it had been years ago: the mismatched pillows, the framed photographs, the perfume bottles scattered across her dresser.

Her gaze fell to her left hand.

A diamond ring, simple, new, untouched, rested on her finger.

Her engagement ring.

The one Richard had given her five years ago.

Her heart pounded violently against her ribs.

"No... this can't be..." she whispered.

But it was. She could feel it in every breath, every heartbeat, every trembling sensation rushing through her.

She wasn't dead.

She wasn't dying.

She had gone back in time.

She had been reborn.

And this time... she would not be the naive woman they destroyed.

This time, Elena Carter would rise. And they would pay.