Chapter 3 The Damned Waltz

The burning stopped.

The heat, the roar of the flames, the acrid taste of smoke-it all vanished in a heartbeat.

Instead, a wave of cold air hit her skin.

Alessandra gasped, her lungs expanding violently. She wasn't breathing smoke. She was breathing expensive perfume-Chanel No. 5, lilies, and the faint, metallic scent of hairspray.

She opened her eyes.

She was staring at a slab of white marble. Her hands were gripping the edge of a sink, her knuckles white. She looked up.

A massive, gold-framed mirror stared back at her.

The woman in the reflection was her, but not the her she knew. The dark circles under her eyes were gone. Her skin was unblemished, glowing with youth. Her collarbones were sharp, her arms slender but not gaunt. She touched her stomach. It was flat. Firm. The faint silver line of the C-section scar she had carried for three years was gone.

She remembered the fire, the final, roaring peace. And then this. It wasn't heaven or hell. It was a second chance. A chance she hadn't asked for, but one she would wield like a weapon. The grief was still there, a cold, hard stone in her chest, but the despair was gone, burned away and reforged into something cold and sharp: purpose.

Her hands began to shake. She looked down at the clutch purse resting on the counter. A phone buzzed.

She picked it up. It was an iPhone, but an older model. She pressed the home button.

The date on the screen glared at her: October 14th. Eight years ago.

The Brandt Charity Gala.

Her stomach lurched. Bile rose in her throat, burning and acidic. She bent over the sink and dry heaved, spitting sour saliva into the drain.

She remembered this night. This was the night her life ended. This was the night she was accused of drugging Darius Brandt to force him into marriage. This was the night she became a pariah, a gold digger, a prisoner.

Outside the heavy restroom door, she could hear the muffled sounds of a string quartet playing Vivaldi. She heard the click-clack of heels on tile and the high-pitched giggles of women discussing their prey.

"I bet he's wearing the navy suit tonight," a voice said. "If I can just get five minutes with him..."

Panic, cold and sharp, pierced Alessandra's chest. She splashed freezing water onto her face, desperate to wake up from this twisted nightmare. But the water was wet. The marble was hard. The pain in her chest was real.

She looked at herself in the mirror again. The fear in her eyes began to harden into something else. Something jagged.

In her past life-or her future death-she had spent this night crying in a stall. She had begged Darius to believe her. She had let them humiliate her.

Not this time.

She opened her clutch. She bypassed the pale pink lip gloss she used to wear to look innocent and submissive. She found a tube of lipstick-a deep, blood-red shade she had bought on a whim and never dared to use.

She uncapped it and applied it with steady hands. The red slashed across her mouth like a war wound.

She looked down at her dress. It was a modest, floor-length beige gown, chosen by her mother to make her look "marriageable." It was restrictive. It was suffocating.

Alessandra reached down to the hem. She found the seam near the thigh. She gripped the fabric and pulled.

Riiip.

The sound was satisfying. The silk gave way, creating a slit that went halfway up her thigh. She could move now. She could run. She could kick.

She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the scented air of the battlefield.

She pushed open the restroom door.

The hallway was lined with mirrors and fresh flowers. At the end of the corridor, the ballroom opened up like the mouth of a beast. Crystal chandeliers dripped light onto the crowd of Manhattan's elite. Her eyes swept over the decor with a professional's disdain. A poorly authenticated Renoir hung next to a gaudy modern sculpture. Amateurs.

She saw them immediately.

Her mother, Vivian Abbott, was standing near the entrance, clutching a champagne flute, laughing too loudly at something a young woman was saying.

The young woman was Ilene Walton.

Ilene looked innocent. She was wearing white. She was smiling that sweet, venomous smile that had fooled everyone for a decade.

Rage boiled in Alessandra's veins, hot and immediate. She wanted to walk over there and wrap her hands around Ilene's throat. She wanted to scream about the kidney. About the fire.

But she forced her hands to unclench. She forced the corners of her red lips up into a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

She stepped into the ballroom. Her heels clicked against the floor, a steady, rhythmic drumbeat. Click. Click. Click.

A waiter passed with a tray of champagne. Alessandra reached out and took a glass without breaking her stride. She downed the contents in one swallow, the bubbles burning pleasantly on their way down.

The music swelled. The crowd parted.

A hush fell over the room.

Darius Brandt had arrived.

He walked in flanked by security, looking like a king entering his court. He was younger than she remembered. His face was smoother, less lined by the custody battles that hadn't happened yet. But his eyes were the same. Steel blue. Calculating. Cold.

He scanned the room, looking for something to conquer or dismiss.

Alessandra stood at the edge of the crowd, clutching her empty glass. She watched the man she had loved, the man who had condemned their child, the man she had burned alive.

Her heart didn't flutter. It turned to stone.

I see you, Darius, she thought. And this time, I'm not the prey.