Reborn Heiress: Telepathic Hearts She Conquers

The sensation of free-falling vanished the second Alyssa's back slammed into the manicured lawn of the Hamptons estate.

A sickening, wet thud echoed through the night air.

Agony ripped through her nervous system. Hot, thick blood erupted from her nose and mouth, instantly soaking the front of her expensive white silk nightgown.

The estate's motion-sensor floodlights snapped on. The harsh, clinical white light illuminated the gruesome scene on the grass.

Bridget, the senior housekeeper, dropped the silver tray in her hands. The metal clattered against the stone path as a piercing scream tore from her throat.

On the second floor, Julian Gallagher shoved open the French doors of his balcony. He wore a dark blue silk robe. His eyes locked onto the bloody heap on the lawn, and his entire body froze. His breathing stopped.

Katie rushed out right behind her husband. The moment she saw the blood pooling around Alyssa's head, her knees gave out. She collapsed onto the freezing marble floor of the balcony, her fingers digging into her collarbone.

Tristan leaned halfway out of the window from the adjacent room. His jaw dropped. He stared down at the fake sister he had always despised, his chest heaving with rapid, shallow breaths.

Estelle covered her mouth with both hands. Tears spilled over her eyelashes, her small frame shaking violently from the shock.

Four private bodyguards dressed in black sprinted from the shadows. They formed a tight, trained perimeter around the body, their hands hovering near their waists.

Julian swallowed hard, fighting the sudden urge to vomit. His hands shook uncontrollably as he pulled out his phone, his thumb hovering over the screen to dial 911 and his crisis PR team.

Before his thumb could press the first digit, the index finger of Alyssa's right hand twitched.

Deep within her dying cells, the apex predator instincts from a zombie-infested apocalypse violently hijacked her nervous system.

Alyssa's eyes snapped open.

There was no glassy stare of death. Instead, her pupils dilated, radiating the extreme, feral hostility of a cornered beast.

Her vision was blurred with blood. She blinked hard. She didn't see rotting corpses or mutated flesh. She saw clean people in pristine clothes.

She dragged a harsh breath into her lungs. There was no stench of decaying organs. Only the salty breeze of the Long Island Sound and the smell of freshly cut grass.

Devastating pain screamed from every bone in her body. She realized instantly that this new vessel had no genetic enhancements. It was pathetically weak.

Bridget saw the dead girl's eyes open. The housekeeper scrambled backward in pure terror and fell hard into a thorny rosebush.

Up on the balcony, Katie gasped, her fingernails digging so hard into the railing they nearly snapped off.

"That's impossible!" Tristan yelled, his voice cracking. "That's a medical miracle! Or she's a damn zombie!"

The lead bodyguard flinched. His hand instinctively went to his Glock, his fingers unsnapping the holster's retention strap.

Alyssa pressed her bloody palms into the dirt. She ignored gravity and the screaming pain, forcing her upper body off the ground.

The displaced bones in her right calf ground together. The sickening crunch of cartilage and bone echoed loudly. Fresh blood spilled over the grass.

Alyssa didn't even blink. Her face was a mask of cold, dead calm as she scanned the perimeter like a slaughtering machine assessing threats.

A massive wave of memories crashed into her brain. She recognized the faces staring at her. The Gallagher family.

To avoid getting shot by the men in black, she stopped trying to stand. She shifted her weight, dropping into a single-knee defensive crouch.

Julian lowered his phone. The vein in his neck pulsed.

"Is this another one of your sick, twisted stunts to stay in this family?" Julian roared, his voice shaking with a mix of fear and rage.

Alyssa didn't answer. She looked down at her own hands. They were pale, soft, and completely free of calluses. Disgust curled her upper lip.

What a useless piece of trash, Alyssa sneered in her mind. This pathetic body couldn't even survive three seconds against a mutated rat.

Suddenly, a sharp, mechanical echo laced with heavy static exploded simultaneously inside the minds of every Gallagher family member.

My pelvis is shattered into powder, and it hurts like a bitch.

Julian dropped his phone. Katie stopped breathing. Tristan gripped his hair. Estelle whimpered.

The entire family turned pale as corpses, staring at each other in absolute, paralyzing horror.