I hadn’t imagined I would ever return.

Memories belonging to this body flooded through me.

Nora’s life had been one long cruelty.

She was born prematurely and nearly died.

The wealthy Bennetts spent heavily to save their daughter.

Another woman in the hospital noticed.

Doreen Bennett had given birth to a frail little girl who would need considerable care to survive.

Her mother-in-law already resented the baby for being female.

She told Doreen to throw her into the pond outside the hospital and get on with producing another child.

Doreen agreed.

On her way to do it, she saw Nora’s parents.

Well dressed.

Staying in a private suite.

Spending a fortune to save their newborn.

Jealousy gave her an idea.

She secretly exchanged the babies.

Not out of love for her own daughter.

She intended to raise Nora, reveal the truth years later, and take her back to the rich family.

They would be grateful.

Pay her for it.

And after spending years raising the other girl, surely they wouldn’t simply abandon her.

Doreen’s family could benefit from both daughters.

Nora lost the life that should have been hers.

That wasn’t the end of it.

The umbilical cord had been around her neck too long. Oxygen deprivation damaged her brain.

Her understanding remained that of a six-year-old.

She grew up abused in Doreen’s home.

Then, recently, she saw Doreen secretly approach Chloe Bennett to demand money and acknowledge her as a daughter.

Nora learned she had other parents.

She copied what she had seen.

Stopped Chloe in the street.

Said she wanted to go home.

To her own home.

Chloe was terrified.

Sooner or later, someone in the family might recognize the truth.

She had lived as a wealthy heiress for twenty years. She wasn’t going to trade that for poverty.

So she hired two men to kill the real daughter.

Nora had died.

Somehow, I had entered her body.

Nora, I promise.

Since you’ve given me this life, I’ll avenge yours.

Chloe will pay.

Satisfied Nora was dead, she had already left the men to dispose of the body.

They approached with knives.

One laughed unpleasantly.

“Waste of a good body. Why cut her up before we’ve had some fun?”

The other chuckled.

“You first. Make it quick. I need a piss.”

I had barely returned to life, and already I felt sick.

Fine.

These two could be first.

“Come on, little idiot. Let me take care of you.”

He dropped his knife, pulled off his clothes, and lunged.

Thunder broke.

Lightning lit the sky.

I opened my eyes.

Pale, bloodless face.

Dark eyes staring straight at him.

His expression collapsed with terror.

Before he could scream, I clamped a hand over his mouth, grabbed the fallen knife, and drove it into him.

Blood splashed.

I gave him no time to recover.

Two hard blows to the head silenced him.

I struggled for breath.

My soul hadn’t fully settled into this body.

The other man approached, fastening his trousers.

“Why so quiet?”

I lay still, eyes closed, gripping the knife.

My arm trembled.

This body had already died once. It was weak.

I couldn’t afford a straight fight.

I listened to the footsteps.

Waited.

When he came close enough, I rolled and slashed across his ankle.

He screamed and fell.

I threw myself at him and broke the wrist holding his knife.

“You were dead!”

He stared at me through pain and terror.

“I crawled back out of hell.”

I struck him unconscious with the blunt side of the blade.

Then I fell, too.

Thunder cracked overhead.

Rain poured down on me.

I closed my eyes, trying to recover.

Lucian’s face appeared in my mind.

My eyes opened.

When I vanished, he had just swallowed poison.

You can’t die.

I’m back.

Somehow, I found enough strength to rise.

He was waiting.

I couldn’t die here.

I had promised.

This time, I would protect him.

I saw his face again.

Beautiful.

Always refusing to explain.

“Look at me, Stella.”

I’m coming.

Wait for me.

And Julian. Vivian.

Your nightmare has begun.

I walked until my legs were numb.

At last, a road.

Headlights approached.

I stumbled into their path.

“Stop!”

Brakes screamed through the rain.

I collapsed, exhausted.

Someone got out.

Walked toward me.

His face grew clearer.

Those deep-set eyes.

That startling beauty.

For a moment, he became the man in my thoughts.

“You’re all right.”

Joy flooded me.

I reached with everything I had.

“Lucian. I missed you.”

His coat brushed my fingertips.

Before I could hold it, darkness took me.