He Let Me Die Twice

When the Kane brothers turned eighteen, my father asked my adopted sister, Bianca, and me to choose one of them as our personal guard. Their father had died protecting mine, and my family had raised them inside the Moretti estate ever since. Gabriel chose Bianca. I was left with Julian—a silent, deeply traumatized boy everyone believed had lost his voice in the shooting that killed his parents. For seven years, I took him to specialists, learned sign language, and trained to protect myself because I didn't want my family to cast him out for being unable to speak. Then our yacht sank. Julian tore the last survival suit from my body and gave it to Bianca. As I drowned, he spoke to me for the first time. "I'm sorry, Elena. I want Bianca to live. If we have another life, I'll repay the one I owe you." When I opened my eyes, I was back on the day we chose our guards. But this time, I would never choose him again. Chapter 1 The Kane brothers stood before my father in the Moretti council chamber, waiting for Bianca and me to choose our personal guards. I stared at them without speaking. Bianca glanced at me and pressed her lips together. "Fine. I'll take Julian," she said. "Elena is more vulnerable than I am. Gabriel is stronger, so he should protect her." She stepped away from Gabriel and moved gracefully to Julian's side. Gabriel's expression changed at once. I barely noticed. I was still trying to understand how I had returned to this exact moment. The same thing had happened in my first life. Gabriel and Bianca had chosen each other the moment they met. When Bianca noticed me hesitating over Julian, she offered to switch guards. Back then, I had believed she was genuinely trying to give me the stronger protector. I refused because I didn't want her to sacrifice anything for me. More importantly, I couldn't bear the thought of Julian being sent back to the brutal training compound where he had spent most of his childhood. Seven years later, when the Moretti yacht sank in the North Atlantic, Bianca played the same trick again. She kept saying she couldn't take my thermal survival suit. But she never stopped Gabriel and Julian from pulling it off my body and fastening it around hers. Gabriel was a certified rescue diver. A section of floating wreckage was within Bianca's reach. She could have survived without my suit. But Bianca knew me too well. She knew I would never stand there and watch someone sacrifice herself for me. She only had to offer. I would always be the one who refused. She lost nothing and still walked away looking selfless. Not this time. "All right," I said. Bianca's smile froze. Julian looked at me sharply. Shock flickered across his face, followed by something much harder to read. "No." My father's voice cut through the chamber. He looked directly at Bianca. "You are the eldest daughter of the Moretti family. Your safety comes first. Julian can't speak. If something happens, he can't even call for backup. I won't entrust your life to him." A small trace of relief passed over Bianca's face. She wiped the corner of one eye and opened her mouth. "But Elena—" "I can speak." The low male voice turned my blood cold. Every person in the chamber fell silent. Julian raised his head. In my first life, he hadn't spoken once in seven years. I had taken him to trauma specialists from Boston to Zurich. I had spent thousands of hours learning sign language so he would never feel alone. I had told him jokes every night, even though he never laughed or answered. He had let me believe the shooting that killed his parents had stolen his voice. Now, the moment there was a chance he might become my guard again, he finally chose to speak. I stared into his gray-blue eyes. That look didn't belong to a nineteen-year-old boy. It belonged to a man who had already watched me drown once. Julian had come back too. So this was how he intended to repay the life he owed me. Given another chance, his first decision was still to avoid becoming mine. He didn't know I no longer wanted him. "If you're concerned about my combat ability, Don Moretti, you can test me again," Julian continued. I didn't doubt his ability. After I died in our first life, my soul remained on the freezing water long enough to watch him protect Bianca until the rescue team arrived. He moved with a speed and precision I had never seen before, driving a speargun bolt through an attacking shark before it could reach her. Meanwhile, I had spent years learning to shoot and fight because I was afraid my father would send my supposedly helpless guard away. Julian had never needed me to protect him. He had only allowed me to believe he did. My father ordered one of the family's senior combat instructors forward. The fight lasted less than a minute. In three moves, Julian put the man flat on his back and pinned his arm behind him. My father's expression shifted. Bianca's disappointment disappeared just as quickly. Julian had always been the more handsome of the two brothers. If everyone hadn't believed he was mute and emotionally damaged, Bianca might have chosen him from the beginning. My father considered the brothers for another moment before nodding. "Fine. Julian will protect Bianca." He turned toward Gabriel. "You'll be assigned to Elena." Gabriel looked at me. His gaze stopped on the scar running from my left cheek to behind my ear. The disgust on his face lasted only a second, but it was impossible to miss. Then he dropped to one knee before my father. "Don Moretti, send me back to the training compound." The entire room went silent. Gabriel lowered his head. "I would rather go back than serve Elena." Chapter 2 "What exactly are you saying?" My father's expression darkened. "You would give up fifty thousand dollars a month and return to the Sicily training compound just to avoid protecting her?" Gabriel's gaze settled on the scar running from my left cheek to behind my ear. He didn't even try to hide his disgust. "I'm not worthy of serving Miss Elena." I almost laughed. I had carried that scar since I was ten, when I stepped between Bianca and a rival gunman. Ever since then, people had looked at my face and decided I was the less fortunate Moretti daughter. Perhaps Julian had felt the same way in our first life. "Gabriel, you can't abandon my sister." Bianca grabbed his arm and tried to pull him to his feet. Gabriel looked up at her, his devotion written plainly across his face. "I never came here for her." I said nothing. Bianca quickly hid the flash of delight in her eyes. When she spoke again, she sounded offended on my behalf. "No. You can't do this. I won't let you go back there and suffer just because you refuse one assignment." "There's a simple solution," I said. Everyone turned toward me. I looked at Bianca. "She can keep both Kane brothers. That seems to be what all three of them want." Color rose in Bianca's cheeks. "Elena, what are you implying?" From the moment the brothers entered the room, she had barely taken her eyes off either of them. Gabriel was taller and more imposing, but Julian was more handsome. If everyone hadn't believed Julian was mute and emotionally damaged, Bianca might have chosen him from the beginning. My father studied me carefully. "You truly don't want either of them?" "No." I glanced at the two brothers. "Neither one interests me." They both looked at me. Gabriel seemed offended, as though he couldn't understand how the woman he had rejected had found the nerve to reject him first. Julian's expression was more complicated. He remembered our first life. He remembered how desperately I had protected him and how easily I had surrendered my life for Bianca. Perhaps he had expected me to fight for him again. I didn't care enough to find out. My father tapped one finger against the table. "And your safety? Can you guarantee it without a personal guard?" "Probably not." My answer caught him off guard. I turned toward Lorenzo, my older brother, who sat at my father's right hand. "Assign me to Lorenzo's division. He controls the ports, hotels, and logistics companies, and he already travels with a full security team." Lorenzo finally looked up from the file in front of him. "I'll be safer with his team," I continued, "than with a man who would rather return to the training compound than protect me." Gabriel's face tightened. I didn't look at him again. In my first life, I had spent seven years begging one of the Kane brothers to stay. This time, I was walking away from both of them. Chapter 3 In my first life, I had devoted everything to Julian. I found his doctors, paid for his treatment, and spent years protecting him from a world I believed he couldn't face alone. I never paid attention to the Moretti family business. Bianca and I had never been treated the same. My father always claimed he loved us equally, yet the family trust held shares for Lorenzo and Bianca, not me. Bianca collected enough in annual dividends to live in luxury without working a day. Meanwhile, I had needed my father's written approval every time I paid one of Julian's medical bills. If I wanted a place in the Moretti family, I could no longer wait for someone to offer it to me. I had to earn enough power that they couldn't ignore me. Lorenzo didn't even meet with me when I first joined his division. He had his assistant give me a minor position and an office no one else wanted. I didn't complain. I studied the financial records, learned the port operations, and quietly handled every assignment they left on my desk. In my first life, I had never discovered what I could do. This time, even I was surprised by how naturally the work came to me. Three months later, I convinced a notoriously difficult investor to finance a logistics project Lorenzo had been trying to save for nearly a year. For the first time, my brother invited me into his office. He gave me a welcome dinner three months late and transferred several struggling accounts into my hands. Moretti Logistics had reached a bottleneck. Lorenzo needed someone who could produce results. He might have preferred Bianca, but he could no longer afford to overlook me. Gradually, people stopped referring to me as the scarred Moretti daughter. My name began appearing in investment reports and board memos. At family events, businessmen who once stared at Bianca's face started asking for my opinion. Bianca noticed. When I returned to the estate one evening, she was waiting for me in the conservatory. Gabriel and Julian stood behind her. "Elena, don't you think you've been drawing too much attention lately?" she asked. I frowned. "You've been appearing at negotiations, dinners, and company events almost every week. I'm not trying to discourage you, but your recent success has more to do with luck than experience." She gave me a concerned smile. "If something goes wrong, it won't only embarrass you. It will damage the Moretti name." I said nothing. Bianca's gaze drifted toward the scar on my face. "And you already attract the wrong kind of attention. If you keep acting so aggressively, men may find you difficult to approach." She glanced meaningfully at Julian. "I think you should stop bothering Lorenzo. If you want something to do, you can work with my foundation instead. I'll take care of you." I looked directly at her. "You're afraid I'm taking attention away from you." Her smile disappeared. "Elena, how could you think that?" "What position are you giving me advice from?" I asked. "As Dad's favorite daughter? As a shareholder in the family trust that excluded me?" Her face stiffened. "You've benefited from this family your entire life. What gives you the right to stand above me and tell me not to fight for my own place?" Her eyes immediately filled with tears. "Elena—" "And since you brought up my scar, perhaps we should finally discuss how I got it." The conservatory went quiet. "When we were ten, I stepped between you and a rival gunman. Then you shoved me into the shattered car window so you could get away." Bianca's lips parted. "The surgeons needed forty-seven stitches to close my face. You walked away without a scratch." "It was an accident," she whispered. "An accident ruined my face. It didn't stop you from accepting the trust shares and family position that should have been mine." "How can you say that?" Her voice trembled. "Dad only gave them to me because you weren't interested." "I wasn't interested then. That doesn't mean I surrendered them forever." A tear slipped down her cheek. I felt nothing. "You don't need to cry. You aren't the person who was hurt. Go back to being the family's princess and leave me alone." I turned to leave. Bianca covered her mouth as a sob escaped. "That isn't what happened. I was only worried about you. You're my sister. How could you believe I would ever deliberately hurt you?" Her shoulders began to shake. "That's enough." Gabriel crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. He glared at me over her head. "You've gone too far." Bianca caught his sleeve and shook her head, tears still falling. "Don't. I'm fine. Elena is angry, that's all." Julian had remained silent until then. I saw the sympathy in his eyes as he looked at Bianca. Then he turned to me. "You were out of line," he said. "Apologize to her." For a moment, I thought I had misheard him. "You kept your voice from me for seven years, and now you're using it to order me to apologize to Bianca?" His expression tightened. "I don't want either of you hurting the other." "No. You just don't want her to get hurt." I stepped closer and made him look at me. "You watched me die for her. You came back knowing exactly what your choice cost me, and you're still more concerned about her tears than the scar she left on my face." Julian went pale. Bianca hurried to defend him. "Elena, that isn't fair. He was only trying to—" "I wasn't speaking to you." I looked from Julian to Gabriel. "Teach your guards to remember their position. Neither of them has the right to order me around." Gabriel's jaw tightened. Julian said my name, but I had already turned away. I walked out without giving any of them another chance to speak. Chapter 4 I twisted my arm free and shoved Gabriel back. "Keep your hands off me." He stumbled half a step before regaining his balance. "And what does Bianca being kidnapped have to do with me?" "You still have to ask?" Gabriel's eyes were bloodshot. He looked as though he hadn't slept all night. "If you hadn't said those things to her, Bianca wouldn't have run out of the estate crying. She wouldn't have been alone when our enemies took her." His voice hardened. "This happened because of you. Now you're going to help bring her back." The bedroom door slammed against the wall. Julian stood in the hallway, his face pale. "Did they find Bianca?" "No." Gabriel seized my wrist again. "But the kidnappers offered an exchange." He raised my arm as though I were something he had already captured. "They'll release Bianca if we give them Elena." I stared at him. "You expect me to trade my life for hers?" "You caused this," Gabriel said. "Taking her place is the least you can do." "Let go of me." I struck him across the face. The sound echoed through the hallway. A red mark appeared on Gabriel's cheek, but he showed no regret. His grip only tightened. "My father brought you into this family and paid you to protect us. You don't get to put your hands on me." "This isn't my decision." Gabriel looked directly into my eyes. "Don Moretti approved the exchange. Lorenzo did too. The cars are already waiting downstairs." For a moment, I couldn't speak. My father and brother had decided to hand me over before anyone had even told me Bianca was missing. Gabriel turned toward Julian. "Help me." I fought with everything I had learned in my first life. I drove my elbow toward Gabriel's ribs and nearly broke free, but Julian was different. I had seen what he could do when he stopped pretending to be helpless. If he helped Gabriel, I had no chance. Julian came toward us. I looked up at him, and for the first time since returning to this life, I let him see me plead. "Julian, help me." He stopped. "You said you owed me a life. Help me leave now, and I'll consider that debt paid." His throat moved. Conflict flashed across his face as he looked from me to Gabriel. For one second, I thought remembering my death might finally be enough. Then Julian closed his eyes. "I'm sorry." He stepped behind me and pinned both of my arms against my back. Gabriel forced me to the floor. My shoulder struck the hardwood, and Julian's polished shoe stopped inches from my face. A plastic restraint tightened around my wrists. I stopped fighting. In our first life, Julian had taken the last survival suit from my body and given it to Bianca. In this life, I had offered to forgive the life he owed me. He still chose her. And this time, he wasn't acting alone. My father had approved the exchange. My brother had arranged the cars. Gabriel and Julian were only carrying out the order. The entire Moretti family had decided Bianca was worth saving. And I was the price they were willing to pay. Chapter 5 They put me in an unmarked armored SUV. Gabriel rode in the lead vehicle while Julian sat beside me, personally making sure I couldn't escape. After the gates closed behind us, he cut the restraint from my wrists. "You remember our first life too," I said. Julian was silent for a moment. "Yes." "And you're still just as cruel." His expression tightened. "I'm sorry." I slapped him. His face turned with the force of it. Dark hair fell across his eyes, hiding whatever emotion passed through them. "Those are the three words I need least from you in either lifetime." Julian didn't defend himself. After a moment, he reached for my hand and held it tightly. "I swear this is the last time." I tried to pull away, but he refused to release me. "Bianca is my responsibility. Let me bring her back and fulfill my final duty as her guard. The moment she's safe, I'll return for you." I looked at him coldly. "This is only a temporary exchange," he continued. "I won't let them truly hurt you." "You let me drown in our first life." His grip tightened. "And now you're personally delivering me to the people who demanded me. Tell me what's different this time." His face lost some of its color. "This time, I'll come back." "And if they hurt me before you do?" Julian covered my hand with both of his. "They won't. I promise. If anyone touches you, I'll make them pay for it." I laughed softly. For seven years, Julian had never spoken, and I had learned to interpret every glance and movement for him. Now he could finally say everything I had once wanted to hear. I no longer believed a word. The exchange took place in an abandoned freight yard outside the city. Bianca appeared between two armed men with her wrists tied in front of her. She had no visible injuries. Her hair was still clean, and when we passed each other, I caught the faint scent of her perfume. Then she saw the Kane brothers. "Julian! Gabriel!" Bianca broke into a run. I turned instinctively. Julian reached her first. He crossed the marked boundary and caught her against his chest. His arms closed around her so tightly that his hands began to shake. Gabriel immediately cut the ropes from her wrists and wrapped his coat around her shoulders. Julian lowered his head to examine her face. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should have protected you." Something inside me still hurt. I had already accepted that no one would choose me. I had told myself that watching it happen again wouldn't matter. Apparently, some wounds didn't care what I had accepted. A hand caught me from behind. I opened my mouth to call Julian's name, but a cloth was forced between my lips before I could make a sound. The kidnappers dragged me backward. Julian was still holding Bianca. Gabriel stood beside them, shielding her with his body. Not one of them looked back. Chapter 6 They kept me in a windowless room for three days. By the third morning, there was almost no unbroken skin left across my back. The leader swept everything off the table. "Aren't you Vincent Moretti's daughter? Why hasn't your family sent a single dollar? Are you even a real Moretti?" I tasted blood when I smiled. "The Moretti family only has one real daughter." It just wasn't me. He grabbed a syringe and came toward me. "This will make every nerve in your body hypersensitive. Call your family. If they send the money now, I'll let you go." He pressed the needle against my neck. "If they refuse, I'll send them all ten of your fingers." "No—" The needle pierced my skin. Every wound across my body erupted at once. My back arched against the restraints, and a scream tore out of me. "Call." He shoved a phone into my hand. For three days, the kidnappers had tried every member of my family. My father had hung up. Lorenzo had refused to pay. Bianca had never answered. Only Julian remained. I called him. He picked up almost immediately. "Elena?" Music thundered through the phone. I heard laughter, applause, and champagne glasses clinking in the background. "Julian." I clung to his name like it could still save me. "Bring the money now. They injected me with something, and they're going to cut off my fingers." He didn't answer. My breathing turned ragged. "What are you doing?" "It's Bianca's birthday," he finally said. "She's already been through enough. I can't ruin tonight for her." I stared at the phone. "What do you mean?" "Hold on until the party is over. I'll come for you afterward." The kidnapper picked up the bolt cutters. "Julian, they're doing it now." "Elena, it's only one more night. Don't make this harder than it has to be." The kidnapper gave a cold laugh. Even he no longer expected anyone to come for me. My entire body shook. "You promised you wouldn't let them hurt me." Julian fell silent. In the distance, Bianca called his name, and the guests began counting down to her birthday dance. "Be good," he said quietly. "Hold on a little longer." The call ended. "Julian?" I called again. His phone had been turned off. The kidnapper forced my hand flat against the table. Then the steel door crashed inward. Gunshots tore through the room. The men guarding the entrance dropped before they could raise their weapons. A man in a long black coat walked through the smoke and came directly to me. Dante Russo. The Don of the Russo family and the Morettis' most dangerous enemy. He cut through my restraints himself. "My people spent three days searching for you. We found this place less than an hour ago. I told you we could move immediately, but you insisted on making one final call." His gaze settled on my injuries, and his expression turned lethal. "Now do you finally see them clearly?" I nodded. My father had hung up. My brother had refused to pay. Even Julian, who remembered watching me die and had sworn he would never let me be hurt again, had asked me to endure one more night for Bianca's birthday. In our first life, he had taken away my survival suit. In this life, he had chosen to let me die again. I removed the obsidian necklace bearing the Moretti crest and dropped it into the blood at my feet. "Burn this place," I said. "Leave the body we prepared." Dante held my gaze. "Are you certain?" I looked at the Moretti crest one last time. "The Moretti family already abandoned her." My voice didn't shake. "Now let her die." That night, Elena Moretti died in the fire. The woman who walked out was the one the Morettis' greatest enemy had personally come to take home.