Reborn as the Discarded Fiancée of the Ruthless CEO

PROLOGUE: The Life That Ended Unmourned I was lying on the pavement, and I couldn't remember how I got there. There had been a car. Headlights. The screech of tires that came too fast, too deliberate. My body hurts everywhere and nowhere at once. This was how it ended, then.. Twenty-eight years of breathing, and this was all I got. A wet street. Darkness creeping in from the edges. No one is coming to help. I should have known it would end like this. I was never meant to matter. The Ashbournes made that clear the day Seraphine came home. Their real daughter. The one they had been searching for. I watched my bedroom become hers. My place at the table disappeared. My name turned into a mistake they wanted to forget. "You took what wasn't yours," they said. As if I had chosen to be found as a child. As if I had asked to be loved, then discarded. They married me off to Rowan. My adoptive brother. A merger disguised as a marriage. He never touched me except when the cameras were watching. Never spoke to me except to give orders. I was a signature on papers I never read, a face for transactions I never approved. Every document they shoved in front of me became another chain. When the empire started crumbling, they needed someone to blame. Of course, it was me. The fake daughter. The outsider. The one who had already been erased from family photos. They threw me out with nothing. No money. No home. No identity that wasn't tied to their name. I survived in the shadows, in shelters, doing work that paid just enough to eat. I stopped looking in mirrors. I stopped hoping. And now this. The headlights hadn't swerved. They had aimed. Someone arranged this. Someone wanted me gone, not just forgotten. The thought made me colder than the rain ever could. My vision was blurred. I tried to hold on, but there was nothing left to hold onto. My life had been nothing but taking up space I wasn't meant to occupy. Then, through the haze of pain, I remembered him. The stranger from two years ago. I had collapsed outside a clinic, too sick to stand, too broke to pay. He had covered everything. Never asked my name. Never wanted anything back. He just looked at me like I was a person, not a problem. Like I mattered. I wished I had thanked him. I wished I had fought back. I wished I had lived, instead of just surviving in the margins of someone else's story. The regret tasted bitter. The darkness tasted like nothing at all. Then it swallowed me whole. And then, impossibly, I opened my eyes. Reborn at the Edge of Betrayal Elowen's POV "Miss Elowen, you need to wake up. The guests will be arriving soon." The voice pulled me from the darkness. My eyes snapped open. I knew that voice. Margaret, the head maid. But Margaret had been let go years ago, after Seraphine came home. I sat up so fast my head spun. This wasn't possible. My bedroom. Not the shelter cot I'd been sleeping on. Not the cold pavement where I died. My actual bedroom, the one they took from me. Pale blue curtains. White furniture. The morning light streaming through windows I thought I'd never see again. My hands were shaking. I looked down at them. No scars from sleeping rough. No calluses from desperate work. These were the soft hands of someone who had never gone hungry. "Miss Elowen?" Margaret's concerned face appeared beside the bed. "Are you feeling ill?" "What's the date?" My voice came out hoarse. "September fifteenth, miss. Your engagement announcement is tonight, remember?" September fifteenth. The date burned into my memory. The day my life became a cage. That day, I smiled and nodded while they sold me off to Rowan as a business asset. I threw off the covers and ran to the mirror. Twenty-three. I was twenty-three again. Five years before, everything fell apart. Five years before, they threw me away. Five years before, I died on that street. "This can't be real," I whispered. But the face staring back at me was younger, unmarked by suffering. I touched my cheek. Solid. Real. I was back. The memories crashed over me. Everything that would happen. Everything they would do to me. Rowan's cold indifference. Garrick's anger when the deals went bad. Maribel's accusations. Seraphine's pitying looks never came with help. The illegal transactions they'd force me to sign. The threats. The isolation. The car that didn't swerve. "No," I said out loud. "Not this time." Margaret looked alarmed. "Miss, should I call the doctor?" "I'm fine." I turned to her, and something in my chest hardened into steel. "What time is the announcement?" "Seven o'clock, miss. Your mother wants you downstairs by six to review your speech." My speech. The one where I thanked the family for this wonderful opportunity. Where I called Rowan my beloved. Where I sealed my own fate with pretty words and a fake smile. "Tell her I'll be down at six thirty." Margaret's eyes widened. "But miss, she specifically said.." "Six thirty, Margaret." She hesitated, then nodded and left. I could hear the nervousness in her footsteps. Good. Let them be nervous. I dressed carefully. Not the pale pink gown Maribel had chosen, the one that made me look innocent and obedient. I found a deep emerald dress in the back of my closet, one I'd bought myself and never worn because Maribel said it was too bold. Perfect. When I walked downstairs at exactly six thirty, the family was already gathered in the sitting room. Garrick, the patriarch, stood by the fireplace in his tailored suit. Maribel sat on the sofa, dripping in pearls. Rowan lounged in an armchair, looking bored. And Seraphine, sweet, precious Seraphine, perched delicately on the window seat like a painting. They all looked up when I entered. "You're late," Garrick said immediately. "And that's not the dress your mother selected." "I prefer this one," I said simply. Maribel's lips thinned. "Elowen, tonight is important. We discussed this. You need to look appropriate, not like you're trying to draw attention." "Isn't an engagement announcement supposed to draw attention?" Rowan snorted. "She has a point, Mother." "Stay out of this, Rowan," Maribel stood, smoothing her skirt. "Elowen, go change. Now." I met her eyes. In my first life, I would have obeyed immediately. Apologized. Made myself smaller. "No." The word hung in the air like a slap. "Excuse me?" Garrick's voice dropped dangerously low. "I said no. I'm wearing this dress." Seraphine shifted uncomfortably. "Elowen, maybe you should just.." "Stay out of this, Seraphine." I didn't even look at her. Maribel's face flushed red. "How dare you speak to your sister that way?" After everything we've done for you, you ungrateful." "Everything you've done?" I laughed, and it came out bitter. "You mean keeping me around until she comes back? Using me as a placeholder?" "That's enough," Garrick stepped forward. "You will apologize to your mother and your sister. Then you will go upstairs, change, and remember your place in this family." My place. My place had always been nowhere. "We'll discuss this later," I said calmly. "The guests are arriving." And they were. I could hear cars pulling up outside, voices in the foyer. The staff rushed to accommodate you. The performance was beginning. Garrick looked like he wanted to argue, but appearances mattered more than anything to him. He nodded stiffly. "This conversation isn't over." "No," I agreed. "It isn't." The next two hours passed in a blur of false smiles and hollow congratulations. I played my part. Shook hands. Accepted compliments on what a lovely couple Rowan and I made. Watched Seraphine charm everyone while Maribel beamed with pride. Then came the moment. Garrick stood, calling for attention. The room quieted. Crystal glasses paused mid-sip. All eyes turned to the front of the room where I stood beside Rowan. "Thank you all for coming tonight," Garrick began, his voice warm and commanding. "The Ashbourne family has always valued tradition, loyalty, and strategic partnership. Tonight, we're pleased to announce the engagement of my son, Rowan Ashbourne, to my daughter, Elowen." Applause erupted. Rowan reached for my hand. I pulled it away. The applause faltered. "I refuse," I said clearly. You could have heard a pin drop. Garrick's smile froze. "What did you say?" "I refuse the engagement." I looked around the room at all the shocked faces. "I will not marry Rowan." Gasps rippled through the crowd. Maribel grabbed my arm hard enough to bruise. "Have you lost your mind?" she hissed. I pulled free. "No. I've found it." Garrick's face turned purple. "You will not embarrass this family. You will accept this engagement, or.." "Or what?" I faced him without flinching. "You'll throw me out? Erase me? You were going to do that anyway." "Elowen, please." Rowan stood, actually looking concerned for once. "Let's talk about this privately." "No. We're done talking." I looked at each of them. Garrick, Maribel, Rowan, Seraphine. All the people who would destroy me. "If you force me into this, I will destroy this family myself." The room erupted in whispers. Garrick stepped toward me, fury radiating from every pore. I smiled calmly and added, "And I have proof."