Blood spread across the white fabric of Eva Woods' wedding dress -The sight should have horrified her.
Instead, she could only stare as the crimson stain grew larger, beneath her trembling hands, and as pain tore through her abdomen.
The grand ballroom glittered around her. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. White roses decorated every table. Music drifted softly through the room.
Hours ago, she had believed this would be the happiest night of her life - Now she knew it had been a lie from the very beginning
A sharp laugh broke the silence. Eva slowly lifted her head. Serena stood a few feet away, her arms crossed as though she were watching a play.
The same Serena she had trusted for years.
The same Serena she had defended countless times.
The same Serena who was now standing beside Daniel Hart.
Her fiancé, her future alpha, or so she has thought
"You look surprised," Serena said.
Eva's throat tightened. "Why?" she whispered.
Daniel's expression remained cold, Emotionless.
As if the woman bleeding on the floor meant nothing to him.
"Because you made everything too easy," Serena replied. "You trusted us."
The words hit harder than the pain.
Eva remembered every late night she spent helping Daniel build his influence within the pack.
Every business opportunity she had handed to him.
Every sacrifice she had made.
For him, for them, for a future she thought would exist.
"You stole my company." Daniel finally spoke.
"It was never your company."Eva stared at him.
The man she had loved for three years couldn't even look guilty.
"The shares have already been transferred," he continued. "By tomorrow, everything belongs to Serena and me."
A cold numbness spread through Eva's body.
Not because she was dying.
Because she finally understood.
This had been planned.
Every promise, every promise, every smile, every touch, all of it.
A lie.
"You used me." Eva cried in despair
Daniel's jaw tightened. "Business requires sacrifice." He said
A bitter laugh escaped her lips.
That was what her life was worth, a business transaction.
Serena stepped closer.
"You should feel honoured. Not everyone gets to help build an empire." She spoke up
Eva's vision blurred.
For a moment, she thought it was because of the blood loss.
Then she realised tears had filled her eyes.
Not from fear, from humiliation
She had given everything to people who had never loved her.
Daniel turned away. That hurt most of all. Not the betrayal. Not the knife.
The fact that he couldn't even bear to watch her die.
As darkness crept into the corners of her vision, Eva clenched her hands.
If she had one more chance...
One more opportunity...
She would destroy them both.
The ballroom faded, the voices disappeared.
The last thing Eva saw was Daniel walking away without looking back.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
Eva gasped and sat upright.
Air rushed into her lungs.
Her heart pounded violently against her ribs.
For a moment, she couldn't breathe.
The ballroom, the blood, the knife, Daniel and Serena.
The memories crashed into her all at once.
Instinctively, she pressed both hands against her abdomen.
Nothing, no wound, no blood, no pain.
Eva froze. Slowly, she looked around.
She was sitting on a large bed surrounded by ivory curtains. Sunlight streamed through the windows.
Fresh flowers decorated the room.
A familiar room, a room she had not seen in years.
"No..."
Her voice sounded weak.
Impossible.
A knock sounded on the door.
"Miss Woods?"
Eva's entire body stiffened.
The voice belonged to her assistant, Mia.
Mia had resigned from the company months before Eva's death.
Yet here she was, alive, outside the door.
"Miss Woods?" Mia called again. "The stylists are waiting. The ceremony starts in three hours."
Three hours . The words echoed inside Eva's mind.
Three hours until the wedding. Three hours until she walked down the aisle. Three hours until she married Daniel Hart.
Her breath caught. She turned toward the vanity table.
A calendar sat neatly beside a bouquet of white lilies. The date stared back at her.
The same date, the same day, the day she died.
Her legs felt unsteady.
She crossed the room and stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Long dark hair, clear skin, bright eyes, untouched by grief.
Twenty-seven years old, alive.
The reflection seemed unfamiliar.
The woman staring back at her had not yet been betrayed.
Had not yet lost everything, had not yet died.
A trembling laugh escaped her lips, then another.
Soon she was laughing so hard that her tears rolled down her cheeks.
The sound frightened even her, because it wasn't joy.
It was a relief.
And rage.
A second chance.
Somehow, impossibly, fate had given her a second chance.
The laughter faded, Silence filled the room.
Eva wiped her tears away. Her expression hardened.
She remembered every detail. The forged documents.
The stolen shares. The lies. The betrayal. The knife.
Daniel's cold eyes as he walked away.
This time would be different.
This time, she knew the truth.
A knock interrupted her thoughts.
"Miss Woods?" Mia asked carefully. "Should I send the stylists in?"
Eva looked toward the elegant wedding gown hanging near the window. In her previous life, she had stared at that dress with excitement.
Today, it looked like a trap.
"No," she said quietly.
Outside, Mia hesitated.
"Miss Woods?"
Eva's grey eyes narrowed."No wedding dress."
The words felt strangely satisfying. For the first time in years, she was making a choice for herself.
Not for Daniel. Not for the pack. Not for anyone else.
For herself.
She picked up her phone from the bedside table. Her fingers moved across the screen. A single name appeared in her contacts. A man whose influence stretched across both the corporate world and the hidden wolf hierarchy.
A man, even a powerful Alphas', approached carefully.
Zach Forbes.
Eva stared at the name for several seconds, Then she smiled.
It was not a warm smile. It was the smile of a woman who had already attended her own funeral.
Daniel Hart wanted a bride. He would never get one.
