Chapter 1

The fluorescent lights of the university studio hummed, a sound I remembered with a cold dread.

I was Ethan Miller, and this was my second chance.

My first life ended in a cheap, rented room, alone.

It all started with the "Phoenix Project." My design.

A way to build communities that could withstand anything, fire, earthquakes, hurricanes.

Chloe Vance was my collaborator then, my girlfriend.

Brilliant, beautiful, and ambitious. Too ambitious.

We won a big international award for the Phoenix concept.

That' s when Ryan Bell, her favored protégé, showed his true colors.

He was all charm on the surface, but rotten with jealousy underneath.

He faked a breakdown, a complete mental collapse.

Chloe bought it.

She believed I' d undermined Ryan.

She wanted to push him forward, make him a star.

So she accused me, publicly.

Said I leaked our proprietary designs to a rival developer.

It was a lie, a devastating one.

The industry blacklisted me.

My father' s construction company, small but respected, built on honesty, crumbled.

The stress, the shame, it killed them.

My parents, gone.

Their business, their legacy, destroyed.

I died not long after, broke, my spirit shattered.

Now, I was back.

Back to the point just before the qualifying competition for the "Phoenix Project" development team.

The air in the studio felt thick with ghosts.

Chloe was here, somewhere. Ryan too.

This time, things would be different.

Justice. That' s what burned in me.

And survival. For me, for my parents.

Their faces, etched with worry in my memory, fueled me.

I wouldn' t let them suffer again.

I wouldn' t let Chloe and Ryan win.

Not this time.