Chapter 1

Before my arranged marriage meeting, my cousin stopped me.

She slipped the phone out of my hand and spoke in that soft, coaxing voice people use with little children. "Lily, honestly? A family like the Lewises is never going to accept someone like us. You're way too trusting. If you actually go through with this, they'll eat you alive."

I opened my mouth to answer, but then, right in front of my eyes, a line of semi-transparent text drifted past.

[Here it comes. The evil cousin is finally about to guilt-trip Lily into handing over her engagement to the reborn heroine.]

[It's honestly hilarious that Lily still thinks her cousin gives a damn about her.]

[Then again, what can you expect? The girl's got all the luck in the world, a useless, pampered princess who doesn't deserve half of what she has, including the very marriage contract the heroine spent her whole past life begging for.]

I stared at those lines of text, and I could feel the blood run cold all the way down to my bones.

Claire Summers must have taken my silence for agreement, because she bent down to straighten the hem of my dress and lowered her voice even further. "Just do what I say. Delete the Lewises' number. Don't go tonight.

"I'll go in your place and call the whole thing off, so you won't have to spend the rest of your life wishing you had."

The comments in front of my eyes started scrolling faster.

[Call it off? She's not calling anything off. She's going so she can swoop in and meet the male lead herself.]

[In the past life, the side character was stupid enough to give up her engagement right here, and the heroine walked right into her shoes and married into the Lewis family. After that, her life just took off.]

[Come on. Delete it already! The second she does, the heroine can get to the hotel and meet him tonight!]

I lifted my head and looked at Claire, that familiar, tender face, and suddenly, I didn't recognize her at all.

She's my aunt's daughter. Five years ago, after my parents died, she came to live with us, and she has been nothing but thoughtful ever since, always looking after me, always there when I needed her.

When I was a kid and my classmates turned against me, she was the one who stood up for me. When my mother got sick, Claire ran around handling everything without a word of complaint.

I used to think of her as more of a sister than any real sister I could have asked for.

And now, the comments were telling me that she was about to steal my life from right under my nose.

*****

"Lily?" Claire waved a hand in front of my face when I didn't respond. "Trust me. I would never do anything to hurt you."

I smiled slightly and handed her my phone. "Okay."

She couldn't quite hide the flash of excitement in her eyes.

Right there in front of her, I opened the chat pinned at the top of my list and deleted the contact labeled "L."

Claire exhaled, visibly relieved, her voice warm with affection. "See? That's the right call. Those big rich families might look all glamorous on the outside, but inside, they have all these soul-crushing rules. With the way you are, if you actually married into one, they'd eat you alive."

Just then, another translucent line of text drifted across my vision. [Looks like Claire's in the clear.]

[Lily is way too gullible.]

[Honestly, with that kind of intelligence, she deserves to be cannon fodder.]

I tucked my phone back into my hand and nodded obligingly. "You're always looking out for me. No one's ever been this good to me."

Claire's smile grew even warmer as she looked at me. "Silly girl. If I don't take care of you, who will?"

After she left, I shut the door and calmly opened another messaging app, then added back the person I had just deleted.

Fortunately, I had never been naive enough to rely on only one means of contact.

He accepted almost instantly.

L: [?]

I typed back: [Sorry, accidentally deleted you earlier. See you tonight at eight, The Grand Regency Hotel.]

A brief pause of two seconds, then his reply came through.

L: [Alright.]

Another message followed immediately.

L: [What color will you be wearing?]

I thought about it for a moment, then took a mirror selfie that showed nothing below my collarbone: a white silk gown with an unassuming pearl brooch pinned just above my chest.

It was the only one of its kind in the world, something my mother had left to me.

I sent the photo.

L: [Got it.]

L: [There's no way I'll mistake you.]

I stared at the words on the screen for a second and then allowed myself the smallest of smiles.

Outside the door, Claire was speaking in a voice so hushed that I wouldn't have been able to make out anything at all if not for the sliver of space beneath the doorframe.

"Don't worry," she murmured. "She already deleted him."

"Right. White dress, pearl brooch? I've got it. Leave it to me."

I turned off my phone and lifted my gaze to meet my own eyes in the mirror.

What she didn't know was that I could now see the commentary floating before me.

What she also didn't know was that from this moment forward, I had no intention of following the script she had written for me.

By six o'clock that evening, Claire appeared at my door with a bowl of oatmeal in her hands.

"Here, Lily," she said gently. "Eat a little something to settle your stomach. You've been looking off all day, so if you're not feeling well later, just let me go to the Lewis family's in your place. I'll explain everything for you."

I looked up at her.

She was wearing a crisp new white dress, cut to fit her curves more closely than mine and with a neckline that dipped just a little lower than necessary. Draped around her neck was the diamond necklace I had reported missing last month.

When she caught me staring at it, she touched the stones lightly and smiled as if nothing were amiss. "You said you didn't like it anymore," she explained breezily.

"You left it right on the vanity. I thought it went perfectly with what I'm wearing today, so I borrowed it for the evening."

I smiled back. "It looks beautiful on you."

The commentary flickered into view once more.

[Claire is already replicating Lily's exact outfit for tonight.]

[Once she throws on a mask and lets her hair down, Charles won't be able to tell the difference at first glance.]

[This is exactly how Claire stole her place in the last life.]

I looked down at the bowl of oatmeal and gave it a gentle stir with the spoon, watching as a few crushed sleeping pills surfaced from beneath the thick mixture.

The commentary kept rolling across my vision.

[Drink up, Lily. One bowl and you'll be out cold until tomorrow.]

[Claire's being much more careful this time around. Sedate her first and then go in pretending to be her.]

[But isn't Lily being a little too quiet?]