Chapter 2

The Kingston estate was exactly as I remembered—iron gates, a quarter-mile driveway lined with century-old oaks, and a mansion that looked like it could swallow my stepmother's entire neighborhood.

Last time, I'd arrived sedated in the back seat, barely conscious. This time, I walked through the front door with my eyes wide open.

The butler, Mr. Haywood, greeted me with the same tight-lipped courtesy. "Mrs. Kingston. Your husband is in the east wing. He is... not expecting visitors."

"He's expecting a wife," I corrected. "That's me."

Mr. Haywood blinked. In my previous life, I'd been too timid to correct anyone. The household staff had treated me like furniture—something to move around Dominic's sickbed and occasionally dust off.

Not this time.

I followed the familiar hallway to the east wing. The medical monitors beeped in steady rhythm. And there he was—Dominic Kingston, heir to the Kingston pharmaceutical empire, lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen cannula and a heart that everyone believed was failing.

But I knew the truth. His condition was treatable. More than treatable—I had already proven it in my past life. My serum had worked. The only reason nobody knew was because Audra had claimed the credit after I was dead.

Dominic's eyes fluttered open as I entered. Pale, gaunt, but still sharp. Those steel-gray eyes scanned me with immediate suspicion.

"You're not what I expected," he rasped.

"What did you expect?"

"Someone who looked less... deliberate."

I almost laughed. In my first life, I'd shuffled in here like a frightened mouse. Now I pulled up a chair, sat beside his bed, and picked up his medical chart without asking permission.

His eyebrow arched. "Can you even read that?"

"Dilated cardiomyopathy with secondary mitral regurgitation," I recited without looking. "Your ejection fraction is at 19%. You're on milrinone and dobutamine, but your team hasn't considered levosimendan because your family's chief physician is fifteen years behind on European cardiology protocols."

Silence.

Dominic stared at me for a long moment. Then, for the first time, something shifted in his expression—not warmth, but curiosity.

"Who are you?" he asked quietly.

Before I could answer, the door slammed open.

A woman in a designer coat stormed in—Vivienne Kingston, Dominic's mother. Behind her stood a tall man in a fitted suit: Ronan Ashford, the family's personal attorney.

Vivienne looked at me like I was a stain on her marble floor.

"This is the replacement bride?" she sneered. "I wanted Audra Price. Not her... sister."

Ronan cleared his throat. "The contract specifies a daughter of the Price family. It doesn't specify which one."

Vivienne turned to Dominic. "Darling, you don't have to accept this. We can void the arrangement."

Dominic was still watching me. His monitors beeped steadily.

"She stays," he said.

Vivienne's mouth fell open. "Dominic—"

"She read my chart in ten seconds and identified a treatment none of my doctors have suggested in three years." His eyes never left mine. "She stays."

Vivienne's heels clicked furiously as she stormed out. Ronan followed, casting me one unreadable glance.

When they were gone, Dominic spoke again. "I don't trust you."

"Good," I said. "You shouldn't."

"But you know something about my condition. So here's the deal—prove you can help me, and I'll make sure no one in this house touches you."

I met his gaze steadily. "And if I cure you?"

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. "Then I suppose you'll have earned something no one in this family gives freely."

"What's that?"

"A favor from a Kingston."

I nodded and turned back to his chart, already mapping out the treatment plan I'd perfected in a life he'd never know about.

But as I reviewed his bloodwork, my hand froze.

Someone had altered his medication dosages. Not by accident—deliberately. The adjusted levels would ensure his heart continued to deteriorate, slowly enough to look natural, fast enough to kill him within the year.

Someone inside this house was murdering Dominic Kingston.

And I had a sickening feeling I knew exactly who.