Chapter 1

Three days before our wedding, Elias Thorne's ex-girlfriend, who claimed to have severe claustrophobia, blocked my car at the edge of a cliffside highway.

She slammed her car into mine twelve times at sixty miles per hour.

By the time Elias arrived with the police, firefighters were prying me out of the crushed driver's seat.

But he didn't look at me. He ran straight toward the limited-edition sports car that had barely lost any paint.

He pulled a trembling Lila Vance into his arms.

"Mr. Thorne, your fiancée's forehead is gushing blood. We need to get her to the hospital for stitches immediately," one of the rescuers shouted.

Elias raised a hand to stop the stretcher carrying me. He glanced at my bleeding head and bruised arms with a cold, indifferent stare.

"It's just a scratch. Lila has claustrophobia. In this remote area, her condition is much more critical. Take her to the hospital first."

As I was being abandoned, I used the last of my strength to grab the hem of his pants.

He frowned and pried my fingers away one by one.

"Lila didn't do it on purpose. She's just having an episode. You're a lawyer, Seren. You should understand what an act of God is. Stop being dramatic."

He took a settlement agreement from his assistant and grabbed my limp wrist, forcing my thumb onto the ink pad to leave a print.

"There's another rescue vehicle coming. Just hold on a little longer."

***

I've never been the priority in my family since I was a child.

When I was hurt, I was told to bear it.

When I was sick, I was told to sleep it off.

But when I opened my eyes this time, I found myself floating in the air.

My body lay next to the totaled car. My assistant, Dawn Miller, was pale as a ghost, desperately trying to stop the bleeding from my head with tissues.

The young girl's eyes were bloodshot. "Seren, please wake up... stay with me. Don't close your eyes!" she sobbed.

I reached out to wipe the tears from her face.

My fingers passed right through her.

Looking at my pale, breathless body on the ground, the truth hit me.

I was dead.

I looked at Dawn with an aching heart. She was a fresh college graduate, raised in a sheltered home, and now she had to face death alone with my corpse.

Her hands were shaking uncontrollably from terror.

Sixty miles per hour.

Twelve deliberate impacts.

Anyone with common sense would know how dangerous that was.

But Elias Thorne only had eyes for Lila Vance.

He was so afraid I would cause trouble for Lila later that he ignored my fatal injuries just to force my thumbprint onto that waiver.

I should have realized it sooner.

To Elias, no one mattered more than Lila.

Not even a human life.

I heard the distant sound of sirens.

Dawn heard them too. She cried with relief. "Seren, the ambulance is here! You're going to be okay!"

The emergency lights pierced through the fog. The paramedics rushed over with tense expressions.

Dawn stood by, sobbing and praying.

As my body was loaded into the ambulance, she folded her hands and whispered every prayer she knew.

"God, Jesus, the Universe... please," she murmured.

"Please save Seren. I'll give up everything just for her to be okay."

The paramedics' shouting made Dawn burst into tears again.

Her eyes fell on my handbag left in the passenger seat.

"Wait, what is this...?" she whispered.

Inside the ambulance, the nurses were performing CPR, but they couldn't stop my heart from going flat.

A nurse's eyes turned red. "Stay with us. We're almost at the hospital."

The doctor called ahead. "Critical patient, multiple trauma. Prepare the ER immediately!"

Before he could finish, he looked out at the gridlocked traffic. His face twisted with frustration. "Call the police! We need this lane cleared now!"

The nurse finished a call, her face flushed with anger. "The Thorne family's eldest son is clearing the road for a private event. He's setting up a massive field of roses for a friend. The road is completely blocked."

"The police are negotiating, but it will take a while to move everything."

"This is a main artery!" the doctor roared. "How can they be so reckless?"

The nurse's eyes welled up. "The patient... she's not going to make it."

The entire ambulance fell into a heavy silence.

I stood there in the air, silent as well.

Maybe it was because of the impact on my head, but I felt like I had lost a lot of my memories.

Hearing the paramedics, I finally remembered.

Today was supposed to be the day we got our marriage license. Elias had stood me up for Lila.

Not only that, he had blocked the road to create a romantic surprise for her.

In a fit of rage, I had decided to call off the engagement.

Lila had used the excuse of "explaining herself" to trap me on that cliffside road and ram me to death.

I couldn't remember the rest.