Chapter 1

Prologue:

I was with Julian for ten years.

I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, but he forced me to accept Mia into our lives, and in the end, it cost both of my parents their lives.

Now, waking up on the very day Mia first walked through our door, my only goal is to protect them.

This time, I'm going to take my parents and disappear from Julian's life completely, without leaving a trace.

Chloe's POV

"You must be Chloe. Julian mentioned you."

I woke up in Julian's downtown penthouse.

A woman in an off-white dress was sitting on the couch, drinking from my favorite mug, looking far more comfortable than I was.

She turned her head and gave me a sweet smile.

It was that face. Mia.

In my past life, that very face destroyed my entire family.

I didn't say a word. I walked straight into the bathroom and splashed cold water onto my face.

The face in the mirror was pale, but my eyes were completely calm.

I gave too much to him in my past life.

Enough was enough.

When I arrived at my parents' house, they were sitting at the dining table, eating oatmeal.

My mom still had her spoon raised midair.

"Chloe? What are you doing here at this hour?"

I threw my arms around both of them, hugging them so hard my dad froze in surprise.

"Mom, Dad," my voice trembled, "we're moving. Far away."

Mom smiled gently. "Why move all of a sudden? Did you and Julian have a fight?"

"No, we didn't." I looked up, my eyes rimmed with red. "I just need to leave. Right now. The sooner, the better. Please, just trust me this once."

Mom set her spoon down. "Move where? For how long?"

"We're not coming back," I said, enunciating every single word. "Once we leave this time, we never come back."

Dad frowned. "We've lived in this house for so long. Just pack up and leave?"

"A house can be replaced, but once you lose your lives, there's nothing left."

The smile completely faded from Mom's face.

Dad put down his bowl, his brows knitting tightly together. "What happened? You and Julian—"

"It has nothing to do with him," I cut him off. "Mom, Dad, I can't explain everything right now. Just come with me. Living a peaceful, quiet life from now on is worth more than anything."

The room fell silent for a long moment.

Mom's eyes turned red first. "Did he mistreat you? Tell me."

I shook my head.

In my last life, before that winter even ended, my parents were publicly framed as con artists and died one after the other.

I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"No one mistreated me. I just want both of you to stay alive and safe."

Dad looked at me for a long time, then slowly nodded. "All right. We'll go with you."

I took them to a remote mountain town first.

It was tucked away against the hills, far from the city, where no one knew who they were.

I had someone quietly lease an apartment for them. Pressing the keys into Mom's hand, I repeated my warnings over and over: Don't open the door for strangers, use your new phone numbers, decline every invitation from old acquaintances, and just tell people your health is poor and you're recuperating out of town.

Mom gripped my hand, her voice shaking. "Chloe, you're all by yourself back there—"

"I'll be fine," I offered a small smile. "He's too busy to pay attention to me right now."

After getting my parents settled, I ran around handling the paperwork to erase our family from public records.

I knew Julian had eyes on me.

During the day, I showed my face as usual and acted completely normal. At night, I stayed up preparing all kinds of documents.

I ran myself ragged for five straight days.

On the fifth night, I returned to Julian's penthouse.

The living room lights were on. Julian sat on the sofa, an untouched glass of whiskey resting beside him.

"You're back," he said.

I nodded, hanging up my coat.

Julian looked at me, giving me the same old line: "Chloe, you know better than anyone how well I treat you."

In my past life, that exact sentence backed me into a corner.

This time, I stood there in silence, not taking the bait.

When I didn't respond, Julian didn't get angry.

He pushed a few sheets of paper across the coffee table.

"Over the past few days, where your parents went, which street they're on, their exact apartment number." He read it out item by item, his tone flat and low. "Every trip you made behind my back, who you met, what paperwork you filed, and how far along you are—I know all of it."

My fingers curled tightly at my sides.

"You had me followed?"

"You belong to me." Julian picked up the glass, then set it back down. "What's wrong with keeping an eye on what's mine?"

For five days, I thought we had hidden our tracks well and avoided detection.

Turns out, he knew everything all along.

"As long as you agree to let Mia move in," Julian said, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather, "I'll pretend I never saw any of this."

The room grew so quiet I could hear the second hand ticking on the wall clock.

In my last life, in this very room, he used my parents' reputation to blackmail me.

In the end, my parents died.

In this life, he hadn't moved against them yet; he was just threatening me, demanding the exact same price as before.

Deep down, I used to think he was just confused, bewitched by that woman, and that he'd eventually come to his senses.

That delusion was gone now.

Showing me those documents was his way of forcing me to accept him and Mia.

Arguing with him, crying, or bringing up the past would just be a waste of time.

What I needed was time.

I lifted my head, slowly uncurling my clenched fingers and letting them rest against my skirt.

I gave a faint reply: "Okay."

Julian studied me, not pressing any further.

He leaned back into the sofa, the corner of his lips curving upward.

"Good girl," he said.

I walked into the bedroom, shut the door, and leaned my back against it for a long time.

My palms were drenched in cold sweat.

My nod was a lie. My agreement was fake.

Only one thing was real: Julian was tracking me, and he knew what I was planning next.

The more convinced he was that I had surrendered, the less likely he would keep digging.

I had to play this part to perfection until he completely believed it.

In the middle of the night, Julian's soft laughter coaxing Mia drifted in from the adjacent room.

I lay in bed with my eyes wide open.

In my past life, that sound would have made me cry myself to sleep all night.

Tonight, it only told me one thing: as long as his attention was on Mia, he wouldn't be watching me.