Chapter 1

I had loved my fiancé, Dominic Watts, since we were children. Our marriage was supposed to be the perfect seal on a merger between our two family empires.

In my last life, he stood outside my burning art studio with my stepsister, Julia, and watched me die.

I screamed for him, the smoke choking me, my skin searing from the heat. "Dominic, please! Help me!"

Julia clung to his arm, her face a picture of false terror. "It's too dangerous! You'll get hurt! We have to go!"

And he listened. He looked at me one last time, his eyes filled with a pity that cut deeper than any flame, and then he turned and ran, leaving me to burn.

Until I died, I didn't understand. The boy who promised to always protect me had just watched me burn to death. My unconditional love was the price I paid so he could be with my sister.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my bedroom. In one hour, I was due at the family board meeting. This time, I walked straight to the head of the table and said, "I am breaking the engagement."

Chapter 1

The heavy oak door of the Ortega family boardroom swung open with a force that made the crystal glasses on the mahogany table tremble.

Hazel Ortega stood in the doorway. Her face was pale, devoid of makeup, and her eyes, usually warm and gentle, were as cold and hard as chips of ice.

She walked straight to the head of the table, where her father sat, his face a mask of confusion.

"I want to break the engagement."

Her voice was flat, without a trace of emotion. It cut through the quiet hum of conversation about the upcoming merger between Ortega Corp and the Watts empire.

Her father, Richard Ortega, stared at her. "Hazel, what are you talking about? Don' t be ridiculous. Dominic will be here any minute."

"I am not being ridiculous," she said, her gaze sweeping over the assembled family members. "I will not marry Dominic Watts."

"This isn' t just about you, Hazel," her father said, his voice rising. "This is about a merger that has been in the works for a decade. It' s about the future of this family."

That life had ended the moment she confronted him and her stepsister about their affair. The confrontation had turned ugly, and in the chaos, a fire had started in her art studio.

The last thing she remembered was the searing pain as he left her to burn, and then... a black, silent void. Until she'd woken up with a gasp in her own bed this morning, the sun shining, the birds singing, and the calendar showing a date from two years ago. It wasn't a dream. It was a second chance.

She remembered the fire. The acrid smoke filling her lungs, the searing heat on her skin. She remembered screaming for Dominic, her fiancé, the man she had loved since she was a child.

He had been there. He had stood outside the door of her art studio, his face illuminated by the flames. And with him was Julia, her stepsister.

"Dominic, please! Help me!" she had screamed, her voice raw.

Julia had clung to his arm, her face a picture of false terror. "Dominic, it' s too dangerous! You' ll get hurt! We have to go!"

And he had listened. He had looked at Hazel one last time, his eyes filled with a pity that cut deeper than any flame, and then he turned and ran, leaving her to die.

The memory was so vivid it made her stomach churn. That was the price of her gentle nature. That was the reward for her unconditional love.

"He doesn' t love me," Hazel said, her voice still unnervingly calm. "He' s in love with Julia."

A gasp came from across the table.

Julia Norman, her stepsister, looked up, her wide, innocent eyes filling with tears. "Hazel, how can you say such a thing? Dominic adores you. I... I' m just your sister."

"Don' t you dare call yourself my sister," Hazel snapped, her voice finally cracking with a sliver of fury.

"Hazel, that' s enough!" Richard Ortega slammed his hand on the table.

Julia started to sob quietly, a delicate, heartbreaking sound that always worked on the men in this family. "Dominic has been so worried about you since your accident. He' s been calling every hour. He stayed up all night just to find that limited-edition pigment you wanted for your new painting."

Hazel almost laughed. The pigment. Yes, he had found it for her.

He had also found a rare diamond for Julia.

"He gave you the pigment, didn' t he?" Hazel' s eyes locked onto Julia' s. "And what did he give you?"

Julia looked confused. "I... I don' t know what you mean."

Hazel reached into the pocket of her simple black dress and pulled out a small, velvet box. She tossed it onto the table. It slid across the polished wood and stopped in front of her father.

He opened it. Inside was a necklace, a delicate silver chain with a teardrop-shaped sapphire.

"Dominic gave that to me last month for our anniversary," Hazel explained to the room.

Then, she pulled out her phone and threw it on the table next to the box. The screen was lit up, showing a photo.

It was a picture of Dominic and Julia. They were on a yacht, the sun setting behind them. Dominic' s arms were around Julia, and he was kissing her neck. Around Julia' s neck was a necklace.

It was a delicate silver chain with a teardrop-shaped sapphire.

It was identical to the one in the box.

"He told me it was a one-of-a-kind piece, designed just for me," Hazel said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "He lied."

She picked up the box. "This one cost him two hundred dollars at a department store. I checked. The one Julia is wearing in that picture? It' s from Cartier. It cost him two hundred thousand dollars."

She let the cheap necklace fall from her fingers, clattering onto the table. It looked pathetic and small.

She remembered how she had treasured it. How she had worn it every day, thinking it was a symbol of his unique love for her. The realization of its cheapness, its fraudulence, was a bitter pill.

Just then, the door opened again.

Dominic Watts rushed in, his hair slightly messy, his tie loosened. He looked like he had run all the way here.

"Hazel, baby, I' m so sorry I' m late. I was..." He stopped when he saw the atmosphere in the room. He saw the photos on the phone, the necklace on the table, the look on Hazel' s face.

"Hazel, this isn' t what it looks like," he said, his voice pleading. "Let me explain."

"Explain what?" Hazel asked. "Explain which necklace is the real one?"

Before he could answer, Julia let out a soft cry. She swayed on her feet, one hand pressed to her forehead.

"I feel... dizzy," she whispered.

Instantly, Dominic' s attention snapped from Hazel to Julia. The panic on his face was real now, but it was all for his other woman.

"Julia!" He rushed to her side, catching her as she sagged. "Are you okay? What' s wrong?"

He held her with a frantic tenderness that he hadn' t shown Hazel in years. He didn' t even glance back at his fiancée, the woman he was supposed to marry, the woman he had left to burn.

Watching them, the last embers of love in Hazel' s heart turned to cold, hard ash. This was it. This was the proof, right here in front of everyone.

Her decision was not just right; it was necessary for her survival.

"There," Hazel said, her voice ringing with finality. "You see? He' s made his choice."

She looked at her father, whose face was a mixture of shock and dawning horror.

"I am breaking the engagement," she repeated. "If the Watts family needs an Ortega bride to seal the merger, let them have Julia. She seems more than willing to take my place."

Richard Ortega looked from his daughter' s resolute face to the spectacle of Dominic fussing over Julia. He looked lost.

"Hazel... let' s not be hasty," he stammered. "Everyone just... needs to calm down."

"Give them a week," her stepmother, Julia' s mother, suggested smoothly. "A cooling-off period. Hazel is just emotional. She' ll come to her senses."

A week. They were giving her a week to forget being burned alive. A week to accept being replaced by a cheap imitation.

Fine. A week would be more than enough time.