Seraphina expected pain when she opened her eyes. She expected the crushing impact of concrete, the sharp crack of bone, the final violent interruption of breath. Instead, she saw a white ceiling with a faint water stain near the corner where the plaster curved unevenly.
She knew that stain. Her chest rose quickly, and air flowed into her lungs without any trouble. No burning, not a drop of blood, and no alarms just the quiet sound of a ceiling fan turning lazily above her.
She did not move at first. Her mind skipped behind her body, trying to catch up with the impossible calm. The last thing she remembered was falling, she remembered the sensation of weightlessness, and she remembered Adrian's eyes watching her without reaching.
She swallowed her throat did not hurt, She lifted one shaking hand and pressed it against her chest. Her heart beat steadily under her palm, not racing, not collapsing, but alive.
The word felt foreign, She turned her head slowly. The room came together piece by piece. Pale blue curtains framed tall windows. A mahogany dresser stood against the wall to her left. A framed photograph sat on the bedside table.
Her stomach dropped because she knew this room. The realization struck harder than the fall. She pushed herself upright too quickly, and the sudden movement sent a wave of dizziness through her. She held the edge of the mattress until the spinning stopped.
This was not the hospital, this was not the Hawthorne penthouse, this was her childhood bedroom at the Vale estate.
She quickly looked at the vanity mirror across the room but the woman staring back at her looked five years younger. Her hair fell longer down her back. The faint lines of exhaustion she had carried recently were gone. Her skin was the softness of someone who had not yet learned how betrayal carved itself into bone.
Her breath shortened."No," she whispered.
The sound of her own voice startled her. It did not carry the rough edge of illness. It sounded clear and strong.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood slowly. The hardwood floor felt cool against her bare feet, she crossed the room on unsteady legs and stopped inches from the mirror.
She touched her face the reflection moved the same way. She pressed harder, as if she expected the glass to crack and reveal a trick. The woman staring back at her was twenty-six, not thirty-one.
Her hands began to shake."This is not possible," she said to the empty room. Memory came bit by bit. The champagne, the ambulance, the hospital corridor, and the deliberate stillness in Adrian's eyes as she fell.
She remembered the certainty that he had let her die. She turned sharply and looked at the room as though it might explain. Her gaze landed on the calendar pinned above her desk.
Her feet moved before her thoughts caught up. She stared at the date circled in soft gold ink, it was June 14.
Her breath stopped, june 14 was the day before her wedding. She held the edge of the desk so hard her knuckles whitened.
The wedding had been on June 15. She remembered the flowers, the cathedral, the way her father's hands had trembled slightly when he walked her down the aisle. She remembered Adrian's smile as he put the ring on her finger and she remembered believing she was safe.
Her pulse thundered in her ears. She backed away from the desk slowly, as though distance might change what she was seeing."This is a dream," she said.
Her voice sounded thin. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, then opened them again, but the room did not change.
The door swung open without warning."Phae, are you awake?"Her mother's voice sounded loud.
Seraphina's heart slammed heavily against her ribs. The door opened wider, and her mother stepped inside with a small garment bag draped over one arm.
"You should not still be in bed," her mother said, smiling. "We have the final fitting this morning, and your father is already pacing the hallway."
Seraphina stared at her as though she had seen a ghost. Her mother looked exactly as she had five years ago. Her hair held fewer streaks of gray. The tension that had later etched itself around her mouth was absent.
"You look pale," her mother continued, frowning slightly. "Are you nervous?"
Seraphina could not answer immediately. Emotion swelled so suddenly in her chest that it almost choked her. Her mother stepped closer."Phae?"
Seraphina crossed the room in three strides and wrapped her arms around her, and the movement startled them both. Her mother stiffened briefly before returning the embrace."Goodness," she laughed softly. "I did not think you would be the sentimental one."
Seraphina put her face against her mother's shoulder, she inhaled the familiar scent of jasmine perfume, and tears burned behind her eyes.
She remembered standing beside this same woman in a hospital corridor years later, watching doctors explain that stress had worsened her father's condition. She remembered watching her mother shrink under the weight of financial uncertainty after Vale Holdings slipped from their control.
She remembered thinking she had failed them."Phae," her mother said gently, pulling back slightly. "What is wrong?"
Seraphina forced herself to loosen her grip."I had a bad dream," she managed.
Her mother's expression softened."Of course you did," she said. "It is the night before your wedding. That is expected."
Seraphina swallowed, my wedding? She asked. Her mother reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her face.
"You chose well," she said quietly. "Adrian is ambitious, but he respects you. That matters."The words struck like a slap. Inside her fracture, Seraphina sensed something. Be respectful. That's what her mother thought.
She nodded slowly, but it didn't feel right."Yes," she said carefully.
Her mother smiled again, reassured."Come downstairs once you are dressed," she said. "Your father wants breakfast with you before the problem begins."
She moved toward the door, then stopped."Are you happy?" she asked suddenly. The question hung in the air.
Seraphina stared at her because in her previous life, she would have answered without delaying. She would have laughed and assured her mother that she had never been more certain. Now the memory of Adrian's voice in the hospital room echoed in her ears. You were essential. Past tense.
She forced her expression into something steady."I am," she said. Her mother seemed satisfied and left the room and the door clicked shut. Silence returned.
Seraphina stood still for several seconds then she moved quickly to the bedside table and grabbed her phone. Her hands trembled as she powered it on. The date appeared clearly on the screen June 14 five years earlier.
Her throat tightened painfully. She scrolled through recent messages Adrian's name appeared repeatedly: Looking forward to tomorrow, you will be breathtaking and everything is ready. She stared at the last message he had sent hours ago. Sleep well, my love. Tomorrow we begin forever.
Her stomach twisted at the word Forever. She felt the echo of the fall again, the weightless drop, the certainty in his eyes. She sank slowly onto the edge of the bed, her mind racing through the timeline she knew by heart.
The honeymoon. The gradual integration of Vale Holdings with Hawthorne Industries. The joint management agreement she had signed was because she trusted him. The board reshuffle. The subtle isolation from long-standing advisors loyal to her father. The poison. The hospital. And the fall.
Her breath came faster this was not a dream, because dreams did not feel this way. She stood abruptly and crossed back to the mirror.
She studied her younger face carefully."I died," she said to her reflection, the woman in the mirror did not look broken she looked untested.
Anger rose slowly under the shock. If this were real, then she had been given something impossible like time.
Her gaze shifted back to the calendar June 14. Tomorrow she was supposed to marry Adrian Hawthorne, and tomorrow she was supposed to walk into the trap willingly.
Her phone buzzed suddenly in her hand, and she flinched. Adrian's name lit up the screen. He was calling, her heart skipped. For a moment she considered ignoring it.
Her finger hovered above the screen. Then she answered."Good morning," Adrian's voice flowed smoothly through the speaker. "Did I wake you?"
She closed her eyes briefly. The sound of him felt like a blade sliding between her ribs."No," she said evenly. "I was already awake."
"I could not sleep," he admitted lightly. "I kept thinking about tomorrow." She almost laughed. So did I.
"It feels unreal," he continued. "After all these years."
Years." She asked. He sounded affectionate and devoted. She remembered how convincing he could be."You sound nervous," she said.
"I am not nervous," he replied smoothly. "I am excited." There was silence.
"Are you happy, Seraphina?" he asked. The same question her mother had just asked.
Her hand held the phone tightly."Yes," she said. The lie sounded different now.
"I will see you at the rehearsal later," he said. "Rest today. I want you glowing."
Glowing? She repeated. She pictured him standing in a hospital corridor years from now, discussing dosage."I will," she replied.
He hesitated briefly."I love you," he said. The words came easily, her chest tightened. Five years ago, she had believed them without reservation but now they felt rehearsed.
"I know," she said. Silence stretched for half a second. Then he laughed softly."That is not the usual response.
She forced a small smile he could not see."I am just overwhelmed," she said.
"Do not be," he replied. "Everything is exactly as it should be." Her eyes moved slowly back to the calendar, exactly as it should be.
"Adrian," she said quietly.
"Yes?" She felt the weight of what she now knew pressing against her ribs. "What would you do," she asked carefully, "if I changed my mind?" The line went silent, not long enough for someone else to notice but long enough for her to feel it.
"You will not," he said lightly. The certainty in his voice chilled her.
"You sound confident," she replied.
"I am," he said. She could almost see his smile through the phone.
"Rest," he repeated. "Tomorrow we begin our future." He ended the call.
Seraphina lowered the phone slowly. Her heart beat hard and steady in her chest, she walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside.
The Vale estate gardens stretched out below, bathed in soft morning light. Staff moved across the grounds preparing for tomorrow's ceremony. White chairs were being arranged carefully on the lawn.
Everything looked perfect. She pressed her palm against the cool glass. Five years from now, that same man would watch her fall without lifting a finger. She felt the grief threaten to swallow her, but anger rose stronger."You made one mistake," she whispered.
She had trusted him once, and she would not do it again. Behind her, on the desk, the wedding invitation lay open in elegant script. Seraphina Vale and Adrian Hawthorne request the honor of your presence.
She turned slowly toward it. Her gaze hardened."If I died once," she said quietly, "then I am not afraid of you anymore."
Her phone buzzed again, and a new message from an unknown number appeared on the screen: Do not marry him.
Her breath caught, another message followed immediately: You already know what he will do.
Her heart roared in her ears. She stared at the words, her mind racing. Only one person knew what Adrian would do, and only one person had fallen from that hospital ramp.
Her fingers trembled as she typed: Who is this? The response came almost instantly: You.