Introduction

I woke up with a gasp on the day of my debutante ball, the most anticipated event of the Texas social season.

My eyes snapped open to the familiar silk canopy, but a strange, phantom pain still clung to my last breath.

My custom-designed gown, perfected over months with the couturier, was gone from its stand.

This void, this seemingly small act, brought a cold dread, sharp and entirely too familiar.

Because in my previous life, this "missing" dress was the very first tiny crack, the prelude to a cascade of betrayals.

I remembered Savy' s brazen appearance, her stolen spotlight, her smug face, Brent' s weak compliance, Grayson' s cruel dismissal.

Their collective treachery had led to my father' s "accidental" death, my shocking disinheritance, a hellish rehabilitation facility, and my own lonely, mysterious end.

They thought they had won; they thought they had erased me for good.

The sheer, agonizing injustice of their victory, the vivid memories of my suffering, burned hotter than any fire.

How could I have let them destroy my family, my legacy, my very self, without a fight?

But they didn't know I was back.

I had reawakened on this pivotal morning, carrying every single agonizing memory of their deceit and my demise.

This time, there would be no panic, no helplessness, only a chilling, absolute resolve to reverse my tragic fate.

I was Aurora Sterling, and I was taking my life back, one strategic move at a time.