Chapter 1

The last thing I remembered was Chloe's voice, sharp and gleeful, cutting through the haze of my headache.

"They never loved you, Ava. Not Liam, not Noah. It was always me."

Her words were a hammer blow, each one a nail in the coffin of my life.

The pain in my head exploded, a supernova of agony, and then, nothing.

Darkness.

Until now.

I gasped, sitting bolt upright.

My hand flew to my chest, my heart hammering.

I wasn't in my sterile, lonely apartment.

I was in my childhood bedroom, posters of bands I'd long forgotten plastered on the walls.

Sunlight streamed through the window, too bright.

I looked at my hands.

Smooth, unlined. Young.

A calendar on my desk screamed the date: September 5th.

Senior year.

The day after I'd submitted my early college applications.

My first life, a nightmare reel, played in fast forward: Stanford, Liam, the betrayal. Then Noah, the second betrayal. Chloe, pulling all the strings, her smiling, venomous face. The vasectomies. The ruined career. The aneurysm.

All of it, a future I'd already lived, a death I'd already died.

This was impossible.

But the feel of my worn duvet, the scent of my mother's pancakes drifting from downstairs – it was all too real.

A second chance.

My breath hitched.

Not just a chance to live, but to change it.

My laptop was open on my desk, the Common App portal still logged in.

Stanford. My early decision choice.

Liam, Noah, Chloe. They were all planning on Stanford.

A cold dread, familiar and sickening, washed over me.

Not again.

My fingers flew across the trackpad, almost of their own accord.

Change Early Decision school.

Stanford University deleted.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology typed in.

My dream. The one I'd let them crush in my first life.

Submit.

A small, almost imperceptible click, and it was done.

A tiny spark of defiance ignited in my chest.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

A different path.

I walked downstairs, the smell of pancakes and coffee a strange comfort.

My mom was humming, flipping a pancake. She looked younger, less careworn than in my memories of her later years.

"Morning, sleepyhead! Big day, huh? College apps all sent?"

I nodded, forcing a smile. "All done."

The doorbell rang.

Through the frosted glass, I saw three figures.

Liam Walker, Noah Chen, Chloe Jenkins.

My heart squeezed.

The architects of my previous ruin, standing on my doorstep, all bright smiles and feigned innocence.

They looked so young, so untouched by the darkness I knew they carried.

Liam, the golden boy, all easy charm. Noah, quieter, with his artistic air. And Chloe, her arm linked through Liam's, beaming like she owned the world.

Or at least, like she owned him.

"Ava! We came to celebrate!" Chloe chirped, her voice like sugar-coated glass. "Our Stanford future!"

Liam grinned, slinging an arm around Noah. "The dream team, reunited on the Farm!"

Noah just nodded, his eyes, however, flicking to Chloe with an intensity that made my stomach churn.

They were already a unit, their loyalties clear, even if they pretended otherwise for my benefit.

They stepped inside, filling my kitchen with their false cheer.

Liam pulled me into a one-armed hug. "You ready for this, Miller? Valedictorian heading to the top!"

His touch felt like ice.

Noah offered a softer smile. "We're all gonna be together. It's gonna be great."

Lies. All of it.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Caller ID: Mr. Davison, Guidance Counselor.

I excused myself, stepping into the hallway.

"Ava? Mr. Davison here. Just wanted to follow up on your applications."

"Yes, Mr. Davison?"

"Well, I see you submitted to Stanford Early Decision. Excellent choice, excellent." He sounded pleased. "Though, I must admit, I always thought a talent like yours might aim for... well, a place like MIT."

A beat of silence.

"Actually, Mr. Davison," I said, my voice steady, "I made a last-minute change. I switched my Early Decision to MIT."

The silence on the other end was profound.

Then, "MIT? Ava, that's... that's fantastic! Ambitious! I'm thrilled! Absolutely thrilled!" His voice was practically buzzing.

I managed a small, "Thank you."

As I hung up, Chloe, Liam, and Noah were still in the kitchen, laughing about some shared memory.

My phone buzzed again. A new email.

From the prestigious tech internship I'd earned, the one I was so proud of in my first life.

"Dear Ms. Miller, Due to unforeseen circumstances and a review of candidate profiles, we regret to inform you that the internship position has been reallocated. We wish you the best in your future endeavors."

Reallocated.

To whom, I wondered, though I already knew.

Liam's father was CEO of the company offering it. Noah's mother, the state senator, was a major donor.

Chloe would get it. Just like last time.

I walked back into the kitchen.

Chloe was animatedly telling a story, Liam and Noah hanging on her every word.

She glanced up, saw me. "Everything okay, Ava?"

"Just Mr. Davison," I said, keeping my face neutral. "And an email. I didn't get that internship after all." I feigned a small sigh of disappointment.

Chloe's eyes widened in mock sympathy. "Oh, Ava, no! That's terrible! You worked so hard for it."

Liam frowned. "That sucks, Miller. Really unfair."

Noah looked down, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. Guilt? Or just discomfort?

"They gave it to someone else," I said, watching them.

Chloe put a comforting hand on my arm. "Don't worry, sweetie. I'm sure something even better will come along."

Her touch was repulsive.

Internally, I noted it. The pattern, already restarting.

The lies, the manipulation, their blind devotion to her.

But this time, I knew.

This time, I was ready.

The weight of my first life pressed down on me, a physical ache.

I remembered the years of subtle sabotage.

Chloe, always there with a sympathetic ear, a helpful suggestion that somehow always led to my detriment.

Liam, my first husband. So charming, so attentive, until Chloe decided she wanted him more directly.

He'd confessed his "undying love" for Chloe weeks after our wedding, claiming he'd made a terrible mistake, that he'd only married me because Chloe had pushed him to it, saying it would make her happy to see her two best friends together.

He'd begged for a divorce, and I, heartbroken and confused, had given it to him.

Then Noah. Gentle, artistic Noah. He'd been my rock after Liam.

He'd proposed a year later, a quiet, heartfelt proposal.

We were happy, or so I thought.

Until I found the letters. Chloe's letters to him, filled with longing and secret meetings.

His replies, equally passionate.

He'd married me, he eventually admitted, because Chloe had told him it was the only way they could be "discreetly together" without her family, or Liam, finding out about their affair.

She'd wanted to keep both men on a leash.

And I was the convenient cover.

The vasectomies. That was Chloe's masterstroke.

She'd convinced Liam, during their brief, secret affair while he was still married to me, that it was a grand romantic gesture to ensure he could never accidentally tie himself to me with a child if their "true love" was discovered.

She'd used a similar tactic on Noah, playing on his fears of an accidental pregnancy derailing her "future plans" with him.

Both men, blinded by their obsession with her, had complied.

To ensure I, Ava Miller, would never have children with either of them.

My career, my promising start as a software developer, withered under Chloe's relentless, subtle attacks.

A project mysteriously corrupted. A presentation sabotaged. A job offer rescinded after a "confidential, concerned call" from a "friend."

Always Chloe, lurking in the shadows, her fingerprints invisible to everyone but me, in hindsight.

The final memory, the one that led to the aneurysm, was the clearest.

Chloe, in my apartment, after I'd lost my latest job, my savings dwindling.

She was gloating, her mask of friendship finally dropped.

"You know, Ava, it was all so easy," she'd purred, sipping my tea.

"Liam, Noah... they're like puppies. So eager to please."

She detailed everything. The manipulations. The lies. How she'd turned them against me, bit by bit.

How she'd orchestrated my failures, relishing each one.

"They even got vasectomies for me," she'd said, her eyes glittering with triumph. "So you'd never trap them. So they'd always be mine, truly mine, even when they were with you."

"Why, Chloe?" I'd whispered, my head throbbing. "Why would you do all this?"

Her smile was a slash of cruelty.

"Because you had everything, Ava. The brains, the comfortable life, the attention. I deserved it more. And it was so satisfying to watch you lose it all."

That's when the pain had become unbearable.

The world had tilted, and then shattered.

Now, standing in my sunlit kitchen, the memory was a fresh wound.

But with it came a cold, hard resolve.

They would not win. Not this time.

I would not be their victim again.

I would escape. I would achieve my dreams.

And they, Chloe, Liam, and Noah, would face the consequences of their betrayals.

My gaze hardened as I looked at them, still chattering, oblivious.

Let them think they were in control.

Their game had just begun.

But this time, I knew all the rules. And I was changing them.