Chapter 1

The cold barrel of the gun pressed against my temple. Ethan, my brother, his face a mask of pure hatred, stood over me.

"You called me back, Ava," he hissed, his voice devoid of any warmth I once knew. "If you hadn't, Chloe would still be alive. Go apologize to her in hell."

Then, darkness.

Before that, my life had been a different kind of hell. Ethan, obsessed with his lover, Chloe Vance, decided to take her on a lavish trip to a remote ski resort in Aspen. For their "privacy," he dismissed every single member of our family's security detail.

Our business rivals, the ones Ethan had ruthlessly crushed, didn't miss their chance. They stormed our Bel Air mansion.

My pregnant sister-in-law, Sophia, tried to shield me. She died, her unborn child with her. My three-year-old nephew, Leo, screamed as they broke his legs trying to get him to tell them where I was.

I'd called Ethan, again and again, begging him to come home. He finally did, annoyed, leaving Chloe behind.

The intruders were caught. But then news came from Aspen. Chloe, after sending a cryptic message – *"I know your sister and wife wanted me gone. They got their wish."* – had vanished during a solo hike.

Ethan deleted her message. He told me not to overthink it.

Dad, Mr. William Miller, was furious. He stripped Ethan of his executive role in Miller Corp.

But Ethan's rage found its target. After a family charity gala, in the dimly lit parking garage of the Beverly Hilton, he cornered me.

And now, I was back.

The sound of a heavy vehicle ramming our main gate jolted me. The same sound.

I grabbed Sophia, her hand instinctively going to her swollen belly, and pulled my small nephew, Leo, towards my father's study.

"Ava, what are you doing?" Sophia's voice was laced with confusion. "The house is full of security. We don't need to hide in the panic room."

"Aunt Ava, Grandpa said only for big emergencies," Leo whispered, his eyes wide.

They didn't know.

"Ethan took them all, Sophia," I said, my voice tight. "All the guards. We're alone."

I threw my weight against the heavy steel door of the panic room hidden behind a bookshelf, the mechanism whirring as it sealed. The thud of the bolts locking echoed the thudding in my chest.

Sophia stared, her face pale. "He... he wouldn't. Ethan knows how important security is for us. We're the Millers."

But she saw the terror in my eyes and knew.

"Call Ethan! Tell him to come back, now!" Her voice trembled.

I didn't call Ethan. I dialed 911.

"This is Ava Miller. 1045 Bellagio Road. Armed intruders are on the property. My sister-in-law is pregnant. My nephew is three. Please, hurry."

I gave the dispatcher the details, my voice shaking despite my efforts to stay calm.

I knew Ethan wouldn't come back for us. Not in time. Last time, by the time he arrived, Sophia was gone, Leo maimed.

I hung up. Rain lashed against the reinforced windows of the study. The nearest LAPD station was a good thirty minutes away, sirens blaring.

How could I stop it from happening all over again?

Heavy footsteps pounded outside the study door. Then, a man's rough voice. "Check in here!"

I clapped my hand over Leo's mouth, my own breath caught in my throat.

Sophia's phone lit up. She was calling Ethan.

"Ethan, you need to come home! There are men in the house! They're trying to break in!" Her voice was a choked sob.

A dry, cynical laugh came through the speaker. "Sophia, darling, stop being dramatic. I know the pregnancy makes you a little... imaginative. I'm with Chloe tonight. Just go to bed, okay?"

Sophia's voice rose, desperate. "I'm not imagining it, Ethan! They're going to kill us! Me and the baby! Please!"

His tone turned to ice. "I know you're possessive, Sophia. I already told Chloe this is our last night. After this, I'm done with her. What more do you want?"

He paused, then added, his voice dripping venom. "And tell Ava, if she doesn't want a repeat of last time's tragic ending, she should stay out of our business."

My blood ran cold.

He remembered. Ethan was reborn too.

But why? Why was he still like this? Last time, he saw Sophia's body. He saw Leo.

Did Chloe's lies mean more to him than our lives? *"Your sister and your wife are in it together."* Was that all it took?