A Second Chance The Rise from Ashes

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming

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I had loved my fiancé, Dominic Watts, since we were children. Our marriage was supposed to be the perfect seal on a merger between our two family empires.

In my last life, he stood outside my burning art studio with my stepsister, Julia, and watched me die.

I screamed for him, the smoke choking me, my skin searing from the heat. "Dominic, please! Help me!"

Julia clung to his arm, her face a picture of false terror. "It's too dangerous! You'll get hurt! We have to go!"

And he listened. He looked at me one last time, his eyes filled with a pity that cut deeper than any flame, and then he turned and ran, leaving me to burn.

Until I died, I didn't understand. The boy who promised to always protect me had just watched me burn to death. My unconditional love was the price I paid so he could be with my sister.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my bedroom. In one hour, I was due at the family board meeting. This time, I walked straight to the head of the table and said, "I am breaking the engagement."

Chapter 1

The heavy oak door of the Ortega family boardroom swung open with a force that made the crystal glasses on the mahogany table tremble.

Hazel Ortega stood in the doorway. Her face was pale, devoid of makeup, and her eyes, usually warm and gentle, were as cold and hard as chips of ice.

She walked straight to the head of the table, where her father sat, his face a mask of confusion.

"I want to break the engagement."

Her voice was flat, without a trace of emotion. It cut through the quiet hum of conversation about the upcoming merger between Ortega Corp and the Watts empire.

Her father, Richard Ortega, stared at her. "Hazel, what are you talking about? Don' t be ridiculous. Dominic will be here any minute."

"I am not being ridiculous," she said, her gaze sweeping over the assembled family members. "I will not marry Dominic Watts."

"This isn' t just about you, Hazel," her father said, his voice rising. "This is about a merger that has been in the works for a decade. It' s about the future of this family."

That life had ended the moment she confronted him and her stepsister about their affair. The confrontation had turned ugly, and in the chaos, a fire had started in her art studio.

The last thing she remembered was the searing pain as he left her to burn, and then… a black, silent void. Until she'd woken up with a gasp in her own bed this morning, the sun shining, the birds singing, and the calendar showing a date from two years ago. It wasn't a dream. It was a second chance.

She remembered the fire. The acrid smoke filling her lungs, the searing heat on her skin. She remembered screaming for Dominic, her fiancé, the man she had loved since she was a child.

He had been there. He had stood outside the door of her art studio, his face illuminated by the flames. And with him was Julia, her stepsister.

"Dominic, please! Help me!" she had screamed, her voice raw.

Julia had clung to his arm, her face a picture of false terror. "Dominic, it' s too dangerous! You' ll get hurt! We have to go!"

And he had listened. He had looked at Hazel one last time, his eyes filled with a pity that cut deeper than any flame, and then he turned and ran, leaving her to die.

The memory was so vivid it made her stomach churn. That was the price of her gentle nature. That was the reward for her unconditional love.

"He doesn' t love me," Hazel said, her voice still unnervingly calm. "He' s in love with Julia."

A gasp came from across the table.

Julia Norman, her stepsister, looked up, her wide, innocent eyes filling with tears. "Hazel, how can you say such a thing? Dominic adores you. I… I' m just your sister."

"Don' t you dare call yourself my sister," Hazel snapped, her voice finally cracking with a sliver of fury.

"Hazel, that' s enough!" Richard Ortega slammed his hand on the table.

Julia started to sob quietly, a delicate, heartbreaking sound that always worked on the men in this family. "Dominic has been so worried about you since your accident. He' s been calling every hour. He stayed up all night just to find that limited-edition pigment you wanted for your new painting."

Hazel almost laughed. The pigment. Yes, he had found it for her.

He had also found a rare diamond for Julia.

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