Chapter 3

Alone in my room, the adrenaline that had been coursing through me suddenly drained away, leaving me weak. I sank onto the edge of my bed, my body trembling.

The sobs came without warning, raw and ragged. They weren' t for the life I had lost, but for the pain that was still so real in my mind.

I could still feel the phantom sensation of the knife carving into my skin, the suffocating pressure of the locket in my throat. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold my shattered pieces together.

This was not just about revenge. It was about survival. It was about reclaiming the life that was stolen from me. Liam and Sarah had to pay. Sophia had to pay. I would burn their world to the ground before I let them touch me or my family again.

I took a deep, shuddering breath, wiped the tears from my face, and stood up. The fragile girl who cried was gone. In her place stood a woman forged in fire.

I knew what was coming next. Sophia, having failed to get the purse or realizing she' d been played, would be back. And she wouldn't be alone. She would rally the troops to witness my "shame."

Just as I finished changing into a simple white dress, I heard the sound of cars pulling into the driveway.

I peeked through the curtains. Just as I'd predicted.

Sophia was leading a small procession up the walkway. And at the front was the formidable figure of my grandmother, Rose Miller.

Grandma Rose was the matriarch of the Miller clan, a woman who valued family honor above all else. In my past life, her disappointment in me was a heavy weight, her cold words cutting deeper than any knife.

I heard the front door open, and a moment later, a stampede of footsteps ascended the stairs.

"Ava Miller, you open this door right now!" Grandma Rose's voice boomed from the hallway.

I remained silent.

"I told you, Grandma!" Sophia's shrill voice cut through the air. "She's in there with Liam! They're doing something disgusting! I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen!"

Lies. All lies.

"This is a disgrace!" another voice, my uncle's, chimed in. "John spoils her rotten, and this is how she repays him? Right before her exams?"

The door handle rattled violently.

"Ava, if you don't open this door, I will have it broken down!" Grandma Rose threatened. "You have brought shame upon this family. If what Sophia says is true, you will be sent away. We will not have this stain on the Miller name!"

Sent away. That's what they did last time. They believed Sarah's story and were ready to disown me until my father intervened with his disastrous marriage plan.

I looked at the closed door, and a flash of memory seared my mind. My grandmother, weeks after the scandal broke in my past life, clutching her chest and collapsing from a heart attack, the family's public disgrace too much for her to bear. My uncle, losing his business partners because the Miller name had become synonymous with scandal.

They were all victims of Sarah and Liam's machinations, just as I was. They just didn't know it.

I would save them. I would save my father. I would save myself.

But first, I had to let them see the monster they thought I was.

I steeled myself, my resolve hardening into something unbreakable. The pain, the fear, the grief-I channeled it all into a single purpose.

Let them scream. Let them accuse. Let them break down the door.

The stage was set. It was time for the star of the show to make her entrance.