Chapter 1

The last thing I remembered was the cold.

And the red. So much red.

My company, my father' s legacy, gone.

My family name, ruined.

And me, Savannah "Savvy" Miller, dying on a cold, hard floor.

Then, a voice.

It wasn't human.

"Subject 734, designated supporting character: Savannah Miller. Narrative arc complete. Role: Villainess. Outcome: Deceased."

Villainess? Supporting character? What did that mean?

The words echoed in a strange emptiness.

I felt a terrible, sinking dread.

My life, just a story someone else wrote?

My life flashed before me.

Not like in the movies, all smooth and in order.

It was more like scattered pictures, sharp and painful.

Me at Yale, my freshman year.

Seeing Ethan Vance for the first time.

The golden boy. From a legacy East Coast tech family. Vance Innovations.

My heart did that stupid little flip it always did for him.

I remembered trying so hard.

Going to parties I hated.

Picking classes just to be in the same room as him.

The small smiles he gave me sometimes.

Were they because he pitied me? Or was it just him being polite?

Years blurred together.

My father, looking so proud of me.

Then, later, looking so disappointed.

"Savvy," he' d said, his voice gentle, "he's not worth it."

I didn't listen. Of course, I didn't.

I was eighteen when I met him. Ethan.

I chased him for four long years in college.

He was always just out of reach, like a dream I couldn't quite catch.

I was twenty-two at graduation.

He finally agreed to a date.

It felt less like a date and more like a business deal.

My father' s connections, his family' s tech company.

We looked like a good match on paper.

For ten years, I was Mrs. Vance in everything but the actual marriage certificate.

I was his companion at events.

His social secretary, planning his life.

His… well, his doormat, if I' m being honest.

He never said he loved me.

Not one single time in ten years.

I told myself his actions, just him being there, meant something.

I was such a fool.

A thirty-two-year-old fool, dying alone and realizing it all too late.

Vance Innovations, once a respected but slow tech giant, suddenly soared.

My father' s help was a big part of that.

My strategies, the ones I stayed up nights working on.

Ethan took all the credit. He always did.

Then Clara Bellweather appeared.

She was brilliant, they said. Idealistic.

A software engineer from a small town in Oregon.

She was working on some scholarship-funded project that caught Ethan' s eye.

The way Ethan looked at her.

I' d never seen that look before.

Certainly not when he looked at me.

He wanted out of our arrangement.

He wanted Clara.

"Savannah, it' s over."

His voice was cool, distant, over the phone. Just like that.

"I'll give you anything you want. Just name your price."

He offered me a check. Millions of dollars.

Like I was just another deal to close.

"No, Ethan," I said, my voice shaking. "We have an agreement. We built a life."

I sounded pathetic, even to my own ears.

"Don't be difficult, Savvy."

That' s what he always said when I didn' t just roll over and do what he wanted.

Clara. There was an accident. A car crash.

She was in the hospital, in critical condition.

Ethan went completely mad.

He decided I was to blame.

I wasn't even in the same state when it happened.

"You were always jealous, Savannah," he spat at me, his face twisted with rage. "You couldn't stand to see me happy with someone else."

He destroyed Miller Corp. My father' s entire life's work.

Gone in a matter of weeks.

My family was shattered. Broken.

Then he came for me.

Not with lawyers this time.

With cold, hard threats that chilled me to the bone.

He made sure I had nothing. No one left.

The warehouse was cold. So cold.

He left me there. Bleeding out on the dirty concrete.

My last breath was a whisper of his name.

Still his name. Even then.

Then, a flicker.

Through a haze of pain, I saw it.

A news report playing on a small, cracked TV screen in the corner.

Clara Bellweather.

Walking out of the hospital. Smiling. Looking perfectly fine.

A miracle recovery, the news anchor called it.

My death, for her miracle.

The ultimate, cruel irony. My ultimate defeat.

The voice came again. Cold. Mechanical. Unfeeling.

"Supporting character arc fulfilled. Primary narrative progression secured for Male Lead Ethan Vance and Female Lead Clara Bellweather."

It finally clicked. My life wasn't really mine at all.

I was just a plot device. A stepping stone for their story.

The helplessness was a crushing weight, heavier than anything I' d ever felt.

A gasp.

Air filled my lungs. It was painful. Real.

I sat bolt upright, my heart hammering.

Sunlight. Warm on my skin.

My bedroom? My old bedroom in my parents' Texas mansion?

I looked at my hands. They were young. Smooth. No scars from my struggles.

I touched my face, my hair. I was… younger. Much younger.

Hope, sharp and terrifying, pierced through the thick fog of confusion.

A second chance? Was this real?

A soft knock on the door.

"Miss Miller?" Martha, my mother' s longtime assistant, peeked in. Her voice was exactly as I remembered from years ago. "Mr. Henderson is here to see you. He says it' s about Mr. Vance."

Henderson. Ethan' s lawyer.

The man who delivered the first buyout offer in my previous life.

Deja vu hit me like a physical blow.

I knew this day. This exact moment.

It was happening all over again.

Or, maybe, for the first time, again.

Henderson stood in the doorway of our sunroom, his expensive briefcase in hand.

He had the same smug look on his face.

"Miss Miller," he said, his tone smooth and condescending. "Mr. Vance has instructed me to deliver this to you. A most generous offer to terminate your... arrangement."

He slid a check across the polished mahogany table. Ten million dollars.

Last time, I cried. I refused. I begged him to reconsider.

This time?

"Okay," I said. My voice was surprisingly steady, even to me.

Henderson blinked, his composure faltering for a second. "Okay?"

"Yes," I confirmed, picking up the check. "I accept."

His jaw nearly hit the expensive Persian rug.

I almost smiled. Determination felt good. It felt powerful.

I ran to my father' s study, the check clutched in my hand.

"Dad! Mom!" I burst in, breathless. "We need to leave. Now. Today."

They looked up from their papers, startled.

"Savvy, honey, what' s wrong?" Dad asked, his brow furrowed with concern.

I couldn' t tell them the truth. That I' d died. That a cold, mechanical voice was running our lives like a puppet show. They' d think I was crazy.

"I... I just have a really bad feeling," I stammered. "About the market. About Vance. About everything. We need to sell everything. Go to Europe. Australia. Anywhere but here."

My voice was desperate. I clutched Dad's arm, my fingers digging in.

They saw the raw, unfiltered terror in my eyes.

The doorbell rang, loud and insistent.

It was Ethan.

He looked younger too. More carefree.

He had that same charming smile that used to make my knees weak.

Now, it just made me feel cold inside.

He saw my tear-streaked face, my parents' worried expressions.

"Savvy?" he said, his smile fading slightly. "What' s all this? Still upset about my offer? I thought Henderson would handle it delicately."

He assumed. He always assumed I was just being emotional. Difficult. Overreacting.

"Come with me," he said, his voice suddenly firm. He grabbed my arm. Not gently.

"Ethan, no!" I tried to pull away.

He practically dragged me out to his sleek sports car.

"Clara' s been in an accident," he said, his voice tight with worry. "She' s at City General. She' s asking for me. You' re coming with me."

"Why me?" I cried, struggling against his grip.

"Because I want you to see what real devotion looks like," he sneered, his eyes hard.

City General. The place where Clara had her "miraculous" recovery.

The place where my previous life's doom had been so cruelly sealed.

The hospital corridor was a blur of white walls and anxious faces.

We reached a room at the end of the hall.

Clara lay in the bed, pale and still. Connected to a dozen beeping machines.

A nurse was talking to Ethan in hushed tones. "She needs a direct transfusion, Mr. Vance. O-negative. It' s a rare blood type. We' re short on supply."

"I' m O-negative," Ethan said immediately, already rolling up his sleeve. "Take mine. Take all of it, if she needs it."

My heart twisted. Not with jealousy this time.

It was a cold, hard understanding.

He would literally die for her.

He would never have done that for me. Not in a million years.

The pain was still there, but it was different now. Sharper, clearer.

He looked at me then, his eyes blazing with a strange intensity.

"You stay right here, Savannah," he commanded. "Don' t you dare leave this spot. Don't you dare interfere in any way."

His hand on my arm was like a band of steel.

He positioned me where I had no choice but to watch.

Watch him give his blood, his life force, to another woman.

I felt powerless. Resentful. A forced spectator to my own complete irrelevance.