Chapter 1

The invitation lay on the polished mahogany table. Eleanor "Ellie" Vance stared at it. "The Annual Foundation Gala," it read, "Celebrating Ms. Veronica Croft's Achievements."

Achievements. Ellie' s achievements.

A coldness spread through her, familiar now. It had been her companion for months, ever since the day her world shattered.

The memory was sharp, a shard of glass in her mind.

Her engagement party. Laughter, champagne, the warmth of her fiancé Ethan Holloway' s hand in hers. He was handsome, ambitious, from a new-money family eager to merge with the Vance old-money prestige. She had been so proud, so trusting. Her groundbreaking research paper was almost ready for submission.

Then Ethan had stood up, his voice smooth, cutting through the joyful noise.

"A change of plans," he' d announced, a charming smile on his face. He wasn't marrying Ellie. He was marrying her cousin, Vicky Croft.

Vicky, who had lived with them since she was a child, always in Ellie's shadow. Vicky, now beaming beside Ethan, radiant and triumphant.

And then the second blow. Vicky, her voice sweet, announced her major breakthrough – Ellie' s research, presented as her own.

Ellie had protested, her voice thin against the sudden shocked silence. "That's my work."

Ethan had looked at her, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. "Ellie, don't make a scene."

Her younger brother, Leo, whom she had practically raised, stepped forward. He put an arm around Vicky.

"Ellie, Vicky showed me her notes weeks ago. You must be confused. Maybe the stress of Mom..."

Her mother. Ailing. Ellie had been juggling her care, her research, wedding plans.

The room had spun. The betrayal from Ethan, from Vicky, from Leo... it was too much. She remembered a sharp pain in her chest, then blackness.

Her "death," she called it now. A complete collapse, emotional and physical. Weeks lost in a haze of doctors and quiet rooms.

While she was lost, her mother had faded, her decline hastened by Vicky' s calculated cruelty, whispers Ellie only pieced together later. Her mother died.

Now, Ellie was "reborn." The naivety was gone, burned away. In its place, a steel resolve.

She picked up the invitation. Ethan and Vicky. Celebrating.

Ethan. He knew. He remembered everything, their life before, her devotion. He was "reborn" too, in that way. He knew what Vicky was. Yet he chose this.

He would be at the Gala, watching Vicky be celebrated for lies. He' d probably expect Ellie to have faded away, broken.

He was wrong.

Ellie learned that Ethan and Vicky were already making appearances, building anticipation for the Gala. There was a smaller, preliminary donor reception tonight at the City Arts Club.

Ethan would be there. Vicky would be there.

Ellie would be there too.