The sterile scent of a hospital clung to me, even in my own sun-drenched room.
Today was the presentation, the day my life was supposed to begin.
Instead, it ended.
Memories, sharp and brutal, flooded back: me, confidently presenting my skyscraper design.
Then, the fatal error: File Not Found.
My mother, Eleanor, fussing over my desk the night before, "accidentally" deleting everything.
My father, Richard, dismissing my tears, "Listen to your mother. She knows what's best."
My brother, Liam, smirking, "A skyscraper isn' t as important as Mom, is it?"
Later that night, Eleanor offered a thick, green smoothie.
"A special health smoothie, just for you."
I drank it, trusting her.
Minutes later, the tightening throat, the hives, the desperate fight for air.
Anaphylactic shock.
I was severely allergic to kiwi, and the smoothie was full of it.
As my vision tunneled, I saw my family.
They weren't calling 911.
They were comforting Eleanor, who sobbed into my father' s shoulder.
Liam shook his head, "She' s always so dramatic."
And then, nothing.
Until now.
Waking up here.
I saw the date on my phone.
It was Wednesday morning.
The day of the presentation.
Cold, hard clarity settled over me.
They hadn't just sabotaged my dream; they' d tried to kill me to control me.
And now, I was back.
Back to build a new blueprint.
A blueprint for their ruin.
The first thing I registered was the clean, sterile scent, a ghost of the hospital room I' d just left. My eyes snapped open. I wasn' t in a hospital bed. I was in my own room, in my own bed, sunlight streaming through the window. My laptop sat on the desk, closed and silent.
I scrambled out of bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. I snatched m
"Done," Mark' s text message read. "Link sent to your private email. Good luck today, Ava. Knock 'em dead."
A wave of relief, so potent it almost made my knees weak, washed over me. The first piece was in place. I had my presentation, safe and secure, away from my mother' s prying hands. I quickly opened the email on my phone and forwarded the