Chapter 1 1

Claire Avila sat up in the bed, her lungs seizing.

A scream tore through her throat, raw and jagged, but the sound died before it hit the air. She clawed at her neck. Her fingers dug into soft skin, searching for the bruise, the wire, the hands that had squeezed the life out of her just seconds ago.

Nothing.

Her skin was smooth. Damp with cold sweat, but smooth.

She gasped, sucking in oxygen until her chest burned. The air smelled of lavender and expensive starch, not the metallic tang of blood or the mold of a basement.

Claire scrambled off the mattress. Her legs tangled in the high-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, and she hit the floor hard. She didn't feel the impact. She crawled toward the bathroom, her body shaking so violently her teeth chattered.

She gripped the marble edge of the sink and pulled herself up.

The face in the mirror was hers, but it was wrong. It was too young. The eyes were wide and terrified, not dead and hollow. There were no wrinkles around the mouth, no gray hairs at the temples.

She looked down at the vanity. A small, gold-embossed calendar sat next to a stack of plush towels.

June 12, 2014.

The world tilted on its axis.

Bile rose in her throat. Hot and acidic. She leaned over the toilet and dry heaved, her stomach cramping as if trying to expel a poison that wasn't there yet.

2014. The day of her engagement party. The day she signed her life away to the devil.

A vibration buzzed against the marble counter.

Claire froze. She turned her head slowly, as if the noise were a physical threat. Her phone lit up.

Derrick

The heart emoji mocked her. It was a remnant of a girl who was stupid, blind, and pathetically in love.

She reached out. Her hand didn't tremble this time. She picked up the device. It felt heavy, like a brick of lead.

"Good morning, my angel. I can't wait to see you tonight."

The text message flashed on the screen.

Claire didn't reply. She didn't delete it. She walked to the bathtub, turned on the faucet, and plugged the drain. She watched the water rise, clear and cold.

When the tub was half full, she dropped the phone.

It made a small splash. The screen flickered once, illuminated the water with a ghostly blue light, and then went black.

She stared at the submerged metal. It looked like a corpse.

"Good," she whispered. Her voice was raspy, unused.

She splashed freezing water on her face. Once. Twice. The shock numbed her skin and sharpened her mind. The panic was receding, replaced by something colder. Something harder.

She remembered this day. She remembered the schedule.

Hair at ten. Makeup at noon. Photos at two.

And right now, down the hall in the Presidential Suite B, Branch Brewer was waking up with a hangover.

In her past life-her dead life-she had avoided him. She had looked at him with disdain, believing Derrick's lies that Branch was nothing but a waste of a trust fund. A chaotic element to be avoided.

Now, she knew better. Chaos was exactly what she needed.

Claire walked back into the bedroom. She ignored the modest, pastel dress hanging in the closet-the one Derrick had picked out for her. Instead, she grabbed a black silk slip dress from her suitcase. It was sleepwear, barely appropriate for a private breakfast, let alone the hallway of The Pierre.

She didn't care.

She pulled it on. The silk skimmed her body, cold and fluid. She grabbed her trench coat and threw it over her shoulders, leaving it unbuttoned.

She didn't put on shoes.

The carpet in the hallway was thick and plush under her bare feet. It muffled her steps as she walked toward the elevators. The corridor was silent, the morning light filtering through the sheer curtains at the end of the hall.

The elevator doors chimed.

They slid open, revealing two men.

Branch Brewer looked like he had been chewed up and spit out by the city, and he had enjoyed every second of it. His tuxedo shirt was unbuttoned halfway down his chest, his tie hanging loose around his neck like a scarf. His hair was a mess of dark waves.

Next to him stood Dash Montgomery, his lawyer. Dash looked impeccable, holding a briefcase, his face a mask of long-suffering patience.

Branch stepped out, blinking against the hallway light. He saw her and stopped.

His eyes, the color of whiskey held up to the light, widened slightly. Then, the mask slammed into place. A lazy, arrogant grin stretched across his face.

"Well, well," Branch drawled. His voice was rough with sleep and alcohol. "If it isn't Osborn's little saint. Did you get lost on the way to church, sweetheart?"

Dash sighed. "Branch, let's keep moving. We have a meeting."

In the old timeline, Claire would have blushed. She would have pulled her coat tight and hurried past them, terrified of the scandal.

Today, Claire didn't move. She stood in the center of the hallway, blocking his path.

She took a step forward.

Branch's grin faltered. He wasn't used to people stepping toward him. Most people stepped back.

Claire reached out. Her fingers, cool and steady, hooked into the loose knot of his tie. She felt the heat radiating off his chest. He smelled of expensive scotch and danger.

"People talk," Claire said softly, her voice a fragile whisper that contradicted the strength in her grip. Her eyes locked onto his, wide and brimming with a carefully constructed panic. "They say you enjoy a good fire. That you'd light one just to watch the world burn."

Branch didn't pull away. He looked down at her hand on his tie, then back up to her face. He seemed amused. "Do tell. Was it the one about the stripper or the race car?"

"I need a match," she breathed, the words barely audible. She let a single, perfect tear trace a path down her cheek. It was a performance, but fueled by the very real terror still thrumming beneath her skin. "Derrick... he's suffocating me. I need to do something. Something reckless. Something he can't control."

The amusement in Branch's eyes sharpened into something intelligent. "Reckless is my brand, Avila. What kind of mess are we making?"

"I want to spend his money," Claire said, her voice cracking just so. "No, not his. I want to spend your money. So much money that he chokes on it. I want his name in the headlines next to a scandal so expensive it makes his father weep." She looked up at him, her expression a mask of desperate, spoiled rebellion. "Give me your Amex Centurion."

Silence stretched in the hallway. Thick. Heavy.

Dash choked on a breath. "Excuse me?"

Branch stared at her. For three seconds, he didn't breathe. He studied her face like it was a puzzle he hadn't seen before. He looked for the joke. He looked for the fear.

He found the fear, but it was laced with something else. Something cold and hard he couldn't name.

Then, he threw his head back and laughed. It was a loud, barking sound that echoed off the walls.

"You want my Black Card?" Branch asked, wiping a tear from his eye. "Derrick cut off your allowance already? Trouble in paradise?"

"This isn't about an allowance," Claire said, her voice dropping to a fierce whisper. "This is about a statement."

"And what do I get?" Branch took a step closer. He crowded her against the wall, his forearm resting above her head. He loomed over her, using his height as a weapon. "You think you can just ask for a card with no limit?"

"You get chaos," Claire whispered, tilting her chin up to meet his gaze. "You get to watch the perfect Osborn empire crack. Isn't that what you live for?"

Branch went still. The playful drunk act evaporated. His eyes narrowed, dark and calculating.

"You know who you're dealing with, right?" he murmured, his voice dropping an octave. "I'm not a nice guy, Claire. I'm a bastard."

Claire didn't blink. She didn't flinch.

"Good," she said. "I need one."

Branch stared at her. His mouth opened slightly, then closed. The shock was genuine.

He reached into his pocket. He pulled out a heavy, black titanium card. He held it between two fingers, twirling it.

He didn't hand it to her. He pressed it against her collarbone. The metal was cold against her skin. He traced the line of her collarbone with the edge of the card, his eyes tracking the movement.

"Pin is 000000," Branch said. His voice was rough. "Don't disappoint me, fiancée."

Claire lifted her hand and took the card. It was warm from his body heat.

"Watch me," she said.

She turned on her heel and walked away, her bare feet silent on the carpet. She didn't look back.

But she could feel his eyes on her spine, burning like a brand.