Chapter 1

I woke up with a pounding headache and the heavy scent of unfamiliar cologne. My eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the dim light of a hotel room I didn't recognize. Then I saw him. Liam Hayes, sleeping beside me, his face turned away.

Panic seized me for a second before the memories flooded back. Not just from last night, but from a whole other lifetime.

Last night, he' d been drunk at a party, slurring a name over and over. "Bethany... Bethany..." He had grabbed my arm, pulling me into this room, mistaking me for her. For Bethany Miller, his ex-girlfriend, the woman he' d loved for years. The woman he still pined for.

He stirred, his voice thick with sleep. "Bethany?"

I didn't move.

He rolled over, his eyes focusing on me. The warmth in them vanished, replaced by a cold, familiar indifference. He sat up, running a hand through his hair.

"Scarlett," he said, his voice flat. "What are you doing here?"

Before I could answer, he sighed, a look of weary resignation on his face. "Look, I know what this looks like. We can get married if you want. It's what Grandma always wanted anyway. But don't expect anything from me. You know who I love."

The words were a ghost of a conversation we' d had before. In my past life.

In that life, I had said yes. I loved him so desperately that I accepted his empty proposal. We were married for five years. Five years of me loving him and him tolerating me. He used me, my love, my family's resources. When my parents slighted Bethany, he orchestrated their financial ruin. They died in poverty, their hearts broken.

And me? I found out I was pregnant with twins. I was so happy, thinking maybe this would change things. But he abandoned me on a stormy night to rush to Bethany's side when she called with a fake emergency. I drove after him, desperate, and crashed my car. As I lay dying, bleeding out, my last thought was of our unborn children.

But now, I was back. Reborn in this hotel room, at the very beginning of the end.

This time would be different.

I sat up, pushing the sheet away. "Liam, you're mistaken."

My voice was calm, so calm it surprised even me.

He frowned. "What?"

"Nothing happened last night," I said, looking him straight in the eye. "You were drunk. You thought I was Bethany. I just fell asleep on the couch."

He stared at me, disbelief warring with suspicion in his eyes. He wasn't used to this composure from me. He was used to a girl who blushed and stammered, who hung on his every word.

"Don't lie to me, Scarlett," he snarled. He reached out and yanked the towel I had wrapped around myself. It fell to the floor, revealing the dark bruises blooming on my shoulders and arms from where he'd gripped me too hard.

His eyes widened for a second, then narrowed. "You see?"

I didn't flinch. I didn't try to cover myself. "I understand you mistook me for someone else," I repeated, my voice even. "I won't mention it to anyone."

His face twisted with anger. "You planned this, didn't you? You drugged me." He lunged forward, grabbing my arm and throwing me back onto the bed. His weight pinned me down.

"What did you put in my drink?" he demanded, his face inches from mine.

Just then, his phone buzzed on the nightstand. The screen lit up with a name that felt like a curse. Bethany. It was a video call.

He let go of me instantly, as if I had burned him. "Get out," he hissed, pushing me off the bed and toward the bathroom. "Don't make a sound."

He answered the call, his voice instantly soft and loving. "Bethany, hey. Is it morning there already?"

I closed the bathroom door without being told. In my past life, I would have been crying, my heart shattering into a million pieces. Now, I just felt a cold, clean emptiness. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The girl staring back was no longer a fool.

I heard his muffled voice through the door. I didn't need to hear the words. I knew the tone. The tone he only ever used for her.

When I heard his call end, I opened the door. I saw a hotel cleaner in the hallway and calmly asked her for a robe. She looked at me, then at the open hotel room door, and handed one over without a word.

Liam came out of the room, holding my dress crumpled in his hand. He tossed it at me with a look of disgust. "Here. Now get out of my suite."

I took the dress and went back to my own room next door to get my things. I had just packed my small bag when Liam appeared at my open door, leaning against the frame.

"Scarlett, are you that desperate you can't leave?" he taunted, a smirk on his face.

I ignored him. As I walked past him, his phone buzzed again. It was a text. I saw the preview on his screen.

Bethany: So hungry. I miss your chicken noodle soup.

Liam's thumbs flew across the screen, his expression softening into a tender smile.

Liam: I'll make it for you right now. I'll have it sent over on a private jet. Don't go hungry.

He was in New York. She was in Europe. He would send soup on a private jet. For me, he couldn't even offer a glass of water.

The last piece of my old heart turned to dust.

My own phone buzzed in my hand. A message from my mother.

Mom: Honey, can you come home for dinner tonight? Your dad made your favorite lasagna ^^.

Tears suddenly pricked my eyes. Not for Liam, but for them. For the parents I had lost and now had back.

I walked out of the room without a word, my bare feet silent on the plush carpet.

"Hey! Put on some shoes!" Liam called after me, a strange note of forced concern in his voice. He caught up to me at the elevator, trying to throw his suit jacket over my shoulders. "Cover those marks. You don't want people to see."

I looked at the jacket, then at him. I let him place it on me. Then, as the elevator doors opened in the lobby, I took it off and dropped it into a trash can by the wall.

I walked out into the city streets, barefoot, and never looked back.