Chapter 1

My name is Savannah.

My father is a U.S. Senator, powerful, wealthy.

In my first life, that power meant nothing for me.

I was a Southern belle, charming, naive, and I made a terrible mistake.

I was pressured by my social standing, by the whispers in our circle, to secure the most coveted match.

So, I manipulated things, subtly, or so I thought, to marry Beaufort "Beau" Hamilton.

He was the scion of a rival prominent family, handsome, smooth.

He feigned affection so well, even built a luxurious private wing for me in their grand ancestral mansion, a gilded cage.

Then came the day of our child's birth, a difficult one.

That was when Beau' s mask didn't just slip, it shattered.

He looked at our newborn, a son, and his eyes were cold, empty of anything I'd once believed was love.

He smothered our baby with a pillow, right there.

His face was calm.

He then told me Daisy Lynn, a sweet-faced girl from a poorer background he' d paraded as his "true love," had killed herself.

He said it was my fault, that I drove her to despair by "stealing" him.

He left me there, bleeding, dying from the complications of childbirth.

My burial was quiet, almost shameful, hurried.

But for Daisy Lynn?

He orchestrated a grand, public funeral, painting himself as the tragic, devoted lover.

It was a masterpiece of deception.

Only Jackson "Jax" Rourke, a decorated war veteran, an outsider in our glitzy world, saw through it.

He found out the truth, gave me a proper, secret burial.

He exposed Beau's crimes, and the Hamilton family faced initial disgrace.

Then Jax died, mysteriously, they said self-destructive circumstances.

I knew better.

Now, I am back.

Reborn.

I remember everything.

This time, things will be different.

The charity gala was in full swing, the pinnacle of the social season.

All eyes were on me, Savannah, the Senator's daughter.

Everyone expected me to choose from the polished, "suitable" bachelors presented like offerings.

My father, the Senator, beamed beside me, ready to approve my conventional choice.

I took a deep breath.

"Father," I said, my voice clear, carrying across the silent ballroom, "I would like your approval to marry Jax Rourke."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Jax, the "damaged" war veteran, with his visible scars and brooding silence, stood apart, an unconventional choice.

He looked as stunned as everyone else.

The news of my choice hit Beau like a physical blow.

He couldn't comprehend it.

He was supposed to be the prize.

His downfall in my past life, however temporary, had been because of Jax.

Now Jax was taking what Beau still considered his.

My father looked at me, his smile frozen.

"Savannah, darling," he began, his voice low, "are you quite sure? Jax is... a good man, a hero, but..."

I met his gaze, my own resolve steely, a resolve forged in death and betrayal.

"I am sure, Father. I wish to marry Jax Rourke."

My request, my will, hung in the air, a challenge to the established order.

I remembered Jax from my past life.

After Beau left me to die, after the hurried, shameful burial Beau arranged, it was Jax who found my hidden grave.

It was Jax who gave me a dignified reburial, who mourned me.

It was Jax who, at great personal cost, brought Beau' s initial crimes to light.

He was the only one who truly cared.

That memory, that hidden act of devotion, was why I chose him.

He was my only path to safety, to justice.