Part 3Seven Years Stolen: I Took Back My Body from the Girl Who Ruined My Life

"Ms. Vance, Mr. Vance is currently in a meeting with a client. It's really not a good time for him to see you." Ms. Hayes, his secretary, looked at me with profound discomfort, desperately trying to get me to leave.

I had been sitting in the waiting area for half an hour. My patience was completely gone.

When I stood up, a flicker of relief crossed Ms. Hayes's face, but it quickly morphed into frantic pleading as I walked past her.

"Ms. Vance, please! He really is with a client! Please don't make this difficult for me!"

I kept walking straight toward Connor's office doors, patting her on the shoulder to comfort her. "Don't worry. It's fine. If he gets mad, I'll take full responsibility. I really do have an absolute emergency."

"If he fires you over this, come find me. I'll pay you double your salary and employ you for the rest of your life."

Ms. Hayes didn't believe a single word I said. She looked at me like I was handing her Monopoly money.

"Connor."

I shoved the heavy oak doors open. There was no client. The massive office was entirely empty except for him.

Unless he was having a business meeting with a ghost.

I gently pushed Ms. Hayes back out into the hallway and shut the doors.

It was just me and him.

I hadn't seen him in so long. That thief hadn't visited my childhood home or seen my family in three or four years.

The brother sitting in front of me had clearly lost the reckless, youthful energy of his twenties. He looked mature, seasoned, and commanding.

Especially his hairline—it was noticeably receding.

I suppose that was the standard price of being a highly successful CEO.

"What, you learned a new trick?

"Spit it out. How are you planning to manipulate me this time?"

Connor looked me up and down, a sneer of pure contempt curling the corner of his mouth.

"How is Noah? Where is he? I need to see him."

"You actually have the nerve to ask to see him? Haven't you destroyed him enough?! I swear to God, I have no idea how the Vance family produced a sociopath like you."

Connor's emotions instantly flared, the veins on his neck pulsing with rage.

"Connor, I have something incredibly important to tell you. You might think I'm clinically insane, but every word I say is the truth.

"Seven years ago, when I got into that car crash, my body was stolen by a girl named Evelyn Harper. She wore my face and did all those horrific things.

"From the second I woke up from that coma, that person was not me. Every word she spoke, every action she took—none of it was me."

Connor's furious expression cracked slightly. He walked over to me and pressed the back of his hand against my forehead.

"You don't have a fever. Why are you spewing this psychotic sci-fi garbage?"

"You don't have to believe me right now, but every single word is true. Just watch me. Watch the way I speak and act from today onward, and compare it to the girl from the past seven years. Tell me we aren't two completely different people."

I knew this was an impossibly hard truth to swallow. But it was reality.

The only way I could prove it was through my actions.

Seeing my desperate, deeply sincere expression, Connor hesitated.

After all, we had lived together for 23 years. He knew exactly what his real little sister was like better than anyone on earth.

When "I" woke up and acted like a different person, they probably assumed the traumatic brain injury had drastically altered my personality. No one in their right mind would ever assume a literal body-snatching had occurred.

That was exactly why, even after "Evelyn" went nuclear and cut ties with the family, my parents and brother still secretly protected her from the shadows.

Because I was their blood. I was the daughter they had cherished for 23 years, the little sister Connor had spoiled his entire life.

The most hilarious part? Evelyn genuinely believed that all her success was due to her own "hard work" and "magnetic personality."

And Liam Sterling, the A-list actor she chased down and married, was just her ultimate trophy.

"So what? What did you actually come here for today?"

His eyes were still suspicious. He probably still thought this was just another one of my pathological lies.

I was a bit disappointed, but I told myself to be patient. It would take time.

"I want to see Noah. I can't reach him.

"I need your help."

Hearing that, Connor's expression turned to ice.

"You're pregnant with another man's baby, and you want to go see your first love?"

His gaze dropped to my stomach.

I grabbed Connor's wrist and started dragging him toward the door.

"What the hell are you doing?! Let go of me!"

I looked at him, my voice completely unwavering. "I'm getting an abortion."

With another man's child in my womb, I had absolutely no right to go see Noah.

"Are you joking?" Connor tried to wrench his arm away, entirely refusing to believe I would actually do it.

That girl, Evelyn, was a rabid, borderline-psychotic superfan of Liam Sterling. Her entire brain revolved around him.

Based on the unhinged things she had done in the past, no one would ever believe she would willingly abort Liam's child.

But I wasn't her. And this child was not something I ever wanted.

This pregnancy was the biological proof of my violation.

From the exact second I reclaimed my body, I knew this child was not going to survive.

"You've completely lost your mind," Connor said, looking at me in absolute, horrified shock.

"I am not crazy. I am perfectly lucid."

I stood in the doorway, gripping Connor's arm like a vice.

"Connor. If something goes wrong during the surgery, please tell Mom, Dad, and Noah exactly what I just told you.

"Tell them I love them."

Without another word, I pulled the heavy glass doors open and walked resolutely out of the office.

I was going to surgically excise every single brand that parasite had left on me, and I was going to rebuild myself from the ground up.