Chapter 1

The last thing I remembered was the searing pain, a fire in my belly, then a spreading cold.

My hands clutched my stomach, trying to protect the tiny life, my baby.

It was useless.

Victoria, my beautiful, cruel stepsister, stood over me, her smile a slash of red in the dim light.

Harry, my husband, was just a shadow behind her, his face unreadable, or maybe I just couldn' t see it through the haze of my dying.

He was always ambitious, Senator Harrison Bishop III, a rising star.

I was just Evelyn Reed, from a lesser branch of her family, a convenient, quiet wife.

A placeholder.

Victoria had wanted Harry, then she didn' t, chasing after Julian Vance and his tech money.

When Julian' s fortunes dipped, she came back for Harry, for the power.

I was in the way.

My pregnancy, the news I had joyfully shared with Harry only that morning, was an inconvenience.

Victoria, with her talk of "wellness" and "sisterly concern," had been so convincing.

She offered me a special herbal tea for the baby, she said.

The pain started soon after. Sharp, then a horrible, draining ache.

"You were always just a placeholder, you and that little mistake."

Victoria' s voice, a silken whisper, was the last sound.

Then, darkness.

A cold, endless void.

I gasped, a ragged tear of breath.

My eyes flew open.

Sunlight, too bright, streamed through a window.

I was in a room, a familiar room. A doctor' s office.

My hand instinctively went to my stomach. Flat. No, not flat. Just... normal.

Not swollen with the advanced pregnancy I remembered, not aching with the agony of loss.

"Everything looks perfect, Mrs. Bishop," a kind voice said.

Dr. Allen. My obstetrician.

She was smiling at me, holding a file.

"The test is positive, clear as day. You' re about six weeks along. Congratulations, Evelyn."

The words hit me. Six weeks.

The day I first found out. The very day.

The memories, the betrayal, Victoria' s face, her words, Harry' s silence, the death of my child, my own death – they weren' t a dream.

They were real, burned into my soul.

I was back.

Back at the beginning of the end.

But this time, I knew.

This time, they wouldn' t win.

A coldness settled deep inside me, chilling the initial shock.

My baby. They took my baby from me.

They would pay.

Victoria, Harry. Both of them.

This wasn' t just a second chance for me.

It was a chance for vengeance.

My objective was clear, sharp as broken glass.

I would protect my child, and I would destroy them.