The vast whiteness of death faded. Familiar scenery materialized around me—distant, yet achingly real. My body felt weightless, but the phantom sensation of concrete shattering my bones still crackled through my nerves.
Her voice. I froze.
Before I could speak, Natalie Fox's tone shifted. Disgust dripped from every syllable.
"Actually, don't bother coming!" she snapped. "Evan Dickerson, as of today, we are done. We're breaking up!"
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone.
Natalie had been reborn too.
In the previous timeline, her delusion had driven her to assault Carter Walker, the heir. When I arrived at the scene, panic clawing at my chest, the air was thick with the metallic tang of blood.
Natalie had stood there, fingertips and collar stained crimson. Behind her, a man lay crumpled on the floor, his face deathly pale, his breathing shallow.
The moment she saw me, she burst into tears.
"Evan! Only you can save me! Please!"
When I hesitated, she dropped to her knees. Her face contorted—anxiety, fear, desperation all bleeding together.
"Director Wang just cast me as the third female lead. I'm about to be famous," she sobbed. "I can't go to prison. Help me, okay?"