Chapter 1

Reborn on my wedding day, standing in a cheap white dress meant for a satisfying corpse, I watched my sister Audra fix my veil with the same fingers she'd used to pour poison into my IV drip six months from now. I smiled. This time, I'd let her dig her own grave.

In my last life, I was Dr. Nylah Price—top of my class at Johns Hopkins, inventor of a cardiac regeneration serum worth billions. But nobody knew that. Because my stepmother had erased my name from every paper, every patent, every record, and handed it all to her biological daughter, Audra.

When the Kingston family needed a bride for their dying eldest son, Audra was chosen. But marry a man expected to die within a year? Audra would never. So my stepmother drugged me, forged the marriage documents, and sent me in her place.

I married Dominic Kingston in a hospital chapel. He was unconscious. I didn't even see his face.

For five months, I cared for him. I used my own research—my stolen serum—to quietly treat his failing heart. No one noticed when his vitals improved. No one cared that I slept on a plastic chair every night, monitoring his oxygen levels.

Then one evening, I woke to Audra sitting on Dominic's bed, holding his hand, whispering to him while he gazed at her like she'd hung the moon. She wore my lab coat. My name badge. My face, perfected with subtle surgery to mirror mine just enough to fool a man who'd never seen his real wife clearly.

"Dom, I've been here every night," she murmured. "I'm the one who saved you."

He believed her. Of course he did.

Three weeks later, I was found dead in a bathtub. Ruled a suicide. Audra inherited my identity, my husband, and my billion-dollar patent.

But now I was back. Standing in the same cramped bedroom, wearing the same drugstore mascara, listening to Audra hum as she adjusted my veil.

"You look perfect, Nylah," she said sweetly. "Like a real bride."

My stepmother, Regina, appeared in the doorway. "The car's here. Remember—don't speak, don't resist, and don't embarrass this family."

In my past life, I'd cried. Begged. Asked why they were doing this.

This time, I turned to them both and smiled.

"Actually, I'll walk myself out. I wouldn't want to keep my husband waiting."

The shock on their faces was delicious.

Regina grabbed my arm. "What's gotten into you?"

I leaned close enough to whisper. "You should know, Mother—Dominic Kingston's heart condition? It's not terminal. Whoever marries him inherits a $40 billion empire."

Regina's grip went slack.

I walked out the door before she could breathe.

Behind me, I heard Audra's voice crack with panic: "Mom—what did she just say?"