Chapter 1

I opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was the familiar crack in the ceiling of my Austin apartment.

The morning light was soft, filtering through the cheap blinds. My phone buzzed on the nightstand.

It was a calendar notification.

" 'Desert Bloom' Release Day."

My heart stopped.

This was the day it all started. The day my life ended.

In my memory, this day was a nightmare. Caleb, the Nashville pop-country king, would release a song identical to mine, just hours before my scheduled drop.

Everyone would call me a thief.

My girlfriend, Chloe, would stand by his side on national television. She would call me a desperate liar. She was his childhood friend, she' d say. She knew his heart.

The industry would blacklist me. The media would hunt me.

I remembered the crushing weight of it all. The phone calls I stopped answering. The whiskey that stopped working.

I remembered the call about my parents. A car accident. They were rushing to Austin to support me. They never made it.

Then, the Pennybacker Bridge. The cold wind. The long fall into the water below.

Betrayed. Broken. Dead.

But I wasn't dead. I was here. In my bed. On the exact morning it was all supposed to begin again.

I grabbed my phone, my hands shaking. I ignored the notification and speed-dialed my manager, Marcus.

"Leo? You're up early. You excited for the release?"

"Marcus, pull the song," I said, my voice tight.

"What? Leo, are you crazy? 'Desert Bloom' is going to be huge. The blogs are already buzzing."

"Pull it. Now. Don't ask questions, just do it. Kill the release on all platforms."

There was a long silence. Marcus knew me. He knew my voice.

"Okay, Leo. It's done. But you're going to owe me a big explanation."

"I know," I said, and hung up.

I sat on the edge of my bed, my heart pounding in my chest. I waited.

Two hours later, a news alert popped up on my phone.

MusicRow Magazine: "Caleb Shocks Fans with Surprise Indie-Folk Track, 'Desert Bloom'."

I clicked the link. I played the song.

It was my song. Every note, every word, every breath.

The nightmare was real. I was back inside it.