It was past one in the morning and the Kane Manor was fully lit; even Mr. Howard, the house manager, had been roused.
Mr. Howard brought Alexander’s coat and the boy’s slippers. Alexander slipped into the coat, let a cigarette glow in his fingers, and asked lightly, as if the night were nothing more than a small annoyance, “You’re the new tutor for Ethan, right? What’s your name?”
He frowned, trying to place her; Sophia looked back at him blankly.
“I… I can’t remember,” she said.
Laughter — cold and unbelieving — came from the boy at her side. Clearly he didn’t buy it.
Sophia spoke seriously. “I think I fell down the stairs and hit my head… and I lost my memory.”
Father and son exchanged looks that screamed ‘who do you think you’re fooling?’ Sophia swallowed and offered an apology. “Mr. Kane… I’m sorry. My head is muddled. I don’t know how I ended up trying to… seduce you. I was wrong. Please forgive me. I promise I’ll pack my things and move out of the Kane house first thing tomorrow.”
Outside a crack of thunder split the sky — thunder rolling over the East River — and everyone flinched. Rain was coming.
Alexander, legs crossed, studied her. He’d finished his cigarette and held the crushed butt between his fingers while he scrutinized the woman in the revealing dress. She bent forward slightly, exposing the elegant slope of her neck; a few loose strands clung to her pale skin, forming a stark contrast.
For reasons he didn’t fully understand, Alexander felt that same intense familiarity he’d felt earlier — that tiny gesture of twisting her hands, the defeated expression. Something about her behavior echoed someone from his past.
He finally spoke. “So I hear you want to be Mrs. Kane?”
The corner of his eye lifted as he watched her reaction. His voice, silky and dangerous, made her feel exposed, like prey beneath a predator’s gaze.
Sophia stiffened at the phrase “Mrs. Kane.” Two seconds of shock made her delay, and that hesitation annoyed him.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she lied, forcing a stiff smile. “I was being absurd. I don’t expect to be Mrs. Kane. Who am I to think that?”
Alexander didn’t believe her. “You don’t want it?” he asked, leaning in as if to test her.
“No, Mr. Kane. I don’t want it,” she said, putting on an exaggerated expression of self-awareness. And she meant it — or at least she did now. Whatever past longing she might once have had for him had been extinguished long ago, snuffed out the day she’d been accused and humiliated when she’d told him she was pregnant.
She let her gaze drop to hide the bitter smile forming in her eyes. A man like Alexander Kane — untouchably at the top — could never belong to someone like her.
The rain grew louder, drumming against the window. Kane Manor felt cavernous and empty aside from the storm.
Alexander’s voice cut through the hush, laced with scorn. “You’ve got enough theatrics to make it in show business. What happened to the groveling you used to do at my door? Where’s that obsequious charm now?”
His body leaned forward; in his dark eyes Sophia detected contempt. “Trying to act in front of me now — isn’t it a little phony?”
She opened her mouth but found no answer.
“You know better than to think you can replace the favors owed here,” he went on. “Your brother stuffed you into the Kane household after he tried to save Ethan once — I know what’s going on. But I keep things separate: he’s his own man, you’re yours. We’ll settle the debt with your brother. Tell him to get a grip on reality and stop daydreaming.”
A thunderclap sounded as if to punctuate the sentence, and Sophia’s face went white.
No matter how much time had passed, Alexander still had the ability to freeze people in their tracks. When she finally came to, she realized the two of them had already gone. Only dutiful Mr. Howard remained, escorting her back to the room.
Alone on the bed, Sophia’s head spun. In a matter of hours her life had been turned upside down: from a drifting, untethered ghost to a scheming woman crouched at Alexander Kane’s door. The phone she’d opened with a fingerprint told her the name of the body she now inhabited — Vanessa Cole — and that she’d come to tutor Ethan Kane. But whoever had owned this life had eyes on something else; her phone was full of Alexander Kane’s preferences and photos — his face was the wallpaper.
Sophia snorted. Didn’t anyone do their homework? If these people didn’t even know Alexander’s First Love, what right did they have to dream of replacing her?
She was still thinking when the phone rang. The voice on the other end was panicked and vicious, launching into a tirade before she could speak.
“You useless thing! You were only supposed to sleep with him, and you can’t even do that right. What use are you to the Cole family? You’d have been better off dying in the State Foster Home back then!”
“You—” Sophia started, but the caller cut her off.
“You little bitch! Don’t give me excuses. I don’t care what you do — you get Alexander under your skin. Otherwise, don’t ever expect to see your remaining family again.”
The line went dead. The screen went black. Her mind reeled. Too much had happened in too short a time.
She turned over in the soft bed and couldn’t shake the image of Alexander’s cold, slicing mockery. Who could understand? She’d tangled with this man before she died. She’d finally been given another life, and the first face she saw was his.
