Chapter 1 The Night Everything Broke

It started with laughter.

Not the kind that warms a room or settles the nerves. This laughter was faint, distant, muffled behind expensive walls and hidden doors. Mia Harper paused in the hallway of her fiancé's penthouse, her heels silent against the imported marble, a chilled bottle of champagne in her hand. She had just closed the biggest legal deal of her career, and tonight was supposed to be a celebration-a step toward the life they had planned.

But that laugh...

It was familiar. Too familiar.

She moved quietly toward the study door-half open. The smell of cedar and cigar smoke reached her first. Then came the voices.

"...She actually thought you loved her. That's the best part."

Mia froze.

The voice was feminine, sultry. Sharper than she remembered, but unmistakable.

Elena.

Her best friend.

Her maid of honor.

Another voice answered, amused and smug. Male. Cold.

"You don't need to worry about her anymore. After tomorrow, she'll be indicted, not invited."

That one belonged to Daniel Ward-her fiancé. A rising political star, charismatic and calculated. The man who said he'd protect her. Love her. Build a future.

Mia's breath left her body like a punctured balloon. The champagne slipped from her fingers and shattered on the tile, the crack louder than a gunshot.

The laughter stopped.

Footsteps approached.

Panic surged. Her mind screamed: Run. But her body refused. She stood there, paralyzed in the hall as Daniel appeared in the doorway, tie loose, hair tousled from Elena's touch. His expression didn't shift-no surprise, no shame. Just a flicker of annoyance.

"Mia," he said smoothly, as if nothing was wrong. "You're home early."

Behind him, Elena emerged with a glass of scotch in her hand, silk robe barely tied. She smirked. "Surprise."

Mia looked between them, her hands trembling. "What... what is this?"

Daniel sighed, walking past her to the broken glass. "This is inconvenient. We weren't finished."

Elena laughed again. "Don't be dramatic, Mia. It's just business."

"Business?" she echoed, voice hollow.

Daniel straightened. "You've been sloppy. Asking the wrong questions. Digging through things that didn't concern you. Elena warned me, but I thought maybe-just maybe-you could be useful."

"Useful?" she repeated numbly.

He nodded, as if discussing the weather. "Your access to the firm's secure clients, your name on the accounts... it made the embezzlement easy. You were the perfect cover."

Mia felt the world tilt.

He stepped closer, eyes dark. "And now? You're the fall girl. Tomorrow, everything unravels. You'll be arrested. Disgraced. And we-" he gestured between himself and Elena, "-we move forward."

"You planned this," she whispered. "For how long?"

"Long enough," Elena said, sipping the scotch. "Honestly? You made it too easy."

Mia turned, walking backward, heart racing. "You won't get away with this."

Daniel smiled, predator calm. "We already have."

She fled the apartment.

She didn't remember taking the elevator down, or how she ended up in the pouring rain, standing barefoot and broken on the curb. Her phone buzzed-an unknown number. She answered on instinct.

A voice whispered: "They're coming for you. Tonight. Run."

The line went dead.

She dropped the phone.

Her mind snapped into focus, like a blade drawn from its sheath.

Run? No.

She would disappear.

And then, she would come back.

But not as Mia Harper.

As something else.