Chapter 1

Aria Bennett woke beneath a blade of white sunlight.

Pain pulsed behind her forehead. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes, then froze as the room came into focus: a luxury hotel suite, empty bottles scattered across the carpet, and a cake abandoned on the dining table. Melted wax had hardened around a candle shaped like the number one.

For a moment, she could not breathe.

She knew this room.

One year before her death, she had booked it for her first anniversary with Nolan Reed. She had cooked every dish herself, dressed for him, and waited until dawn while he rushed away to rescue Serena Blake yet again.

Aria stumbled into the bathroom and gripped the marble counter.

The woman in the mirror was younger. Her skin was clear, her tear tracks fresh, and none of the exhaustion from that final year had settled into her face. She touched her reflection with trembling fingers.

This was not a dream.

She had returned to the day everything began to collapse.

Her phone rang in the silent suite. The name on the screen chilled the last of her confusion away.

Grant Mercer.

"Aria, have you seen what's trending?" Her agent's concern sounded polished enough for an audience.

"I have."

She remembered every part of this call. Serena had engineered a minor police scandal. Nolan had abandoned their anniversary to help her, and photographers had caught him escorting a heavily disguised woman from the station.

Grant gave an awkward laugh. "Serena ran into a little trouble last night. Nolan only went because she's his junior colleague. That's why he missed your date."

"How many times has he missed something important to me because Serena needed him?"

Silence answered her.

Then Grant's voice hardened beneath its false patience. "We need your cooperation. The photographers didn't capture Serena's face. Post a statement saying you were the woman with Nolan. It will settle the rumors."

In her first life, she had agreed.

She had absorbed Serena's scandal, endured months of abuse online, and watched Serena use Nolan's protection to climb higher. Grant had called every sacrifice necessary until Aria's name became a target and her depression became unbearable.

Only after dying had she understood the larger cruelty. This world followed the plot of a romance novel. Serena, a transmigrator who knew the story, was its favored heroine. Aria was disposable cannon fodder, useful only when the heroine needed someone to blame.

Not this time.

"You want me to be Serena's scapegoat," Aria said.

"Don't be ridiculous," Grant snapped. "Nolan is protecting his career. You're his girlfriend. Clarifying the photo is the natural thing to do."

A laugh escaped her, cold and quiet.

"Tell Nolan Reed that Aria Bennett will never clean up another mess for him. And tell him that from today onward, I want nothing to do with him."

She ended the call before Grant could answer.

The trending page filled her screen. Nolan shielded the mystery woman from the cameras with a tenderness he had never shown Aria in public. The headline called him a top-tier celebrity and demanded the woman's identity.

Aria studied the photograph until the last trace of grief settled into resolve.

The old story expected her to lie, suffer, and die so Serena could shine.

This time, Aria would tear that script apart herself.