Introduction

My mother's impossibly sweet voice confirmed the usual: another polite banishment to an "art program."

My life, I knew, had always been transactional, a mere "spare part" after I saved my sister Jessica's life.

But this time, as I numbly agreed, a full-body shock pulsed through me.

I remembered dying.

The screech of tires, the shattered glass, the red bloom on a wedding dress.

I was back.

Reborn.

On the very morning they first tried to erase me.

My past was a relentless betrayal.

Jessica, the golden child, had stolen my identity, my connection with Ethan-the man who once called me "Wren."

My parents enabled her, labeling me jealous.

At their engagement party, a staged "accident" left my hand bleeding, ignored.

Then, my own father publicly struck me, and Ethan, the man I loved, stood by, his face utterly cold.

How could they be so blindly cruel?

How could my own family always choose their lies over my existence?

And Ethan, who once knew my quiet soul, believed every falsehood, watching me break without mercy?

The pain of betrayal was suffocating.

No more.

As the ultimate humiliation settled, a terrifying resolve hardened.

I wouldn't fight for their approval.

I wouldn't scream.

I would agree to their terms, but internally, I would sever every tie.

I would disappear, truly free, and build a new life where they held no power.