Chapter 1

The first time I died, my husband had already killed our daughter for his mistress.

Sofia was twenty-two when Isabella Russo accused her of plotting a coup with my family.

Adrian believed her.

I gave up everything I controlled inside the DeLuca organization. Accounts. Contacts. Men who had answered to me for years.

I begged him to spare our daughter.

He didn't.

After Sofia died, Adrian used the so-called coup to destroy the Morettis. My father was killed. My brother followed.

I died last.

Years later, Adrian finally learned Isabella had lied.

He cried over our graves.

Then I opened my eyes and found myself ten years in the past.

"Elena?"

The architect's voice pulls me into the present.

I look down.

Blueprints cover the table in front of me.

The DeLuca family crypt.

I remember this day.

Adrian had ordered the old mausoleum renovated. His parents were buried there, along with generations of DeLucas.

He had already chosen his own burial place.

And beside it—

ISABELLA RUSSO.

I stare at the name.

Last time, I said nothing.

Adrian told me Isabella had spent her childhood terrified of dark places. He had promised she would never be alone, not even after death.

I had swallowed the humiliation because I was his wife.

Because I thought that meant I had already won.

Now I pick up the pen and draw one line through her name.

"Mrs. DeLuca—"

"She isn't a DeLuca."

"Mr. DeLuca personally approved—"

"And I'm personally rejecting it."

I slide the plans back to him.

"If Adrian wants his mistress buried somewhere nice, he can buy her a cemetery."

A folder beneath the blueprints catches my eye.

Security rotations.

I open it.

My hand stills.

Three days from now, several crews loyal to my father are being moved away from two key DeLuca properties. According to the note, they'll be replaced by Luca Russo's men.

Isabella's brother.

I read it twice.

In my first life, the Morettis weren't destroyed until after Sofia was accused of betraying Adrian.

At least, that was what I had believed.

Maybe the purge hadn't started with Sofia.

Maybe Adrian had been preparing for it years before any of us knew.

I pull out my phone.

"Dad."

"Elena?"

"Don't move any of your men this week. I don't care what orders come from Adrian."

"What did you find?"

"I'll explain later."

I look toward the window.

"And put two more men on Sofia. No food, drink, medication, nothing reaches her without being checked."

The office doors open before he can answer.

Adrian walks in.

Isabella is beside him.

Of course she is.

Her eyes are already wet.

Around her neck hangs a diamond-and-emerald necklace I know very well.

Adrian's grandmother wore it.

Then his mother.

After our wedding, it was given to me.

"Why did you remove Isabella from the plans?" Adrian asks.

I hang up.

"Because she isn't family."

"It is a grave, Elena."

"Then why does she need it so badly?"

"I don't. I told Adrian it wasn't necessary," Isabella says.

"Really?"

I look at the necklace.

"Take that off."

Her hand flies to it.

Adrian steps between us.

"I gave it to her."

"It wasn't yours to give."

"Elena."

"No."

I walk forward and unclasp it myself.

Isabella gasps.

Adrian catches my wrist.

In my first life, that would have hurt.

Now I only look at his hand until he releases me.

"You have my name," he says coldly. "My home. My daughter. Everything that comes with being my wife. Isabella asked for one thing."

"One?"

I almost laugh.

"She's wearing a family heirloom that was given to me while you put her name in your family crypt."

"She was afraid."

"And Sofia will be afraid too, one day."

His expression changes slightly.

He doesn't understand.

Not yet.

I close my fingers around the necklace.

"Isabella does not enter the DeLuca crypt. She does not wear what belongs to me. And from today on, she stays away from my daughter."

Isabella starts crying.

Adrian's face hardens.

"You're punishing her because you're jealous."

"No."

I meet his eyes.

"I'm correcting a mistake."

Something suddenly burns against my palm.

I look down.

A folded sheet of paper lies beneath the crypt plans.

I know it wasn't there before.

Dark red stains spread across it like dried blood.

My handwriting appears across the page.

You changed what happened.

A second line slowly forms.

Tonight, Isabella Russo will poison your daughter.

I stop breathing.

This never happened in my first life.

The future has already changed.

And Sofia is twelve years old.