Chapter 1

I peeled the bandages off my bionic eyes and could see again.

My husband, Ivan Henson, cradled my face in his hands, thrilled. The instant our eyes met, he jerked back as if he'd been shocked.

His face went white. He dropped to his knees and knocked his head against the floor, over and over, begging me to divorce him on the spot. He'd walk away with nothing, he said. He just wanted out.

That same night I rushed to my best friend for help. The video call had barely connected when she screamed, smashed her phone, and blocked me for good.

Even my greedy, bloodsucking parents, after they saw my eyes, slipped poison into my water glass before the night was over.

Reborn, I woke on the day the bandages came off.

This time, I clamped my hands over my eyes and lied that the surgery had failed.

Ivan held me, aching for me.

But a second later, a gust of wind knocked my dark glasses off.

Ivan met my eyes.

His whole body shook violently, and he shouted it again: "Alison Fox, please, let me go. Let's get a divorce!"

......

The smell of disinfectant kept crawling into my nose.

The surgeon held a pair of medical scissors, the cold metal touching the bandage against my cheek.

"Miss Fox, relax. We're taking the stitches out now."

The scissors snipped. Layer by layer, the bandage came away.

Light stabbed in through the seam of my eyelids.

A shudder ripped through me. Every hair on my body stood on end.

I had been reborn.

I knew it for certain. I was back on the day I got my sight again.

My husband, Ivan, stood beside the bed, both hands gripping my shoulders.

His palms were warm, slick with excited sweat.

"Ali, don't be scared. Whatever the result is, I'm right here with you."

His voice was full of tenderness, but my heart twisted into a knot, and even breathing came with a sharp sting.

I could not understand it, no matter how I tried. A man who loved me down to the bone.

We'd been together seven years, married for three.

After the car accident that left me blind, he cared for me day and night without rest. He even sold off his shares in the company, all to scrape together the fortune it cost for the blindsight bionic-eye surgery.

In my last life, I'd opened my eyes full of hope and looked at him first.

But the instant our eyes met, his face went bloodless.

He screamed in terror, his knees slamming onto the tile, and he beat his head against the floor for me, again and again.

He scrambled out of the room on all fours, and that same night had a lawyer deliver divorce papers. He was willing to leave with nothing, as long as he could get away from me completely.

In despair I went home to my parents for help, and they dropped poison into my water glass.

Dying, I coughed up mouthfuls of black blood and stared at them.

Their faces were full of terror. They cowered in the corner, trembling, calling me a monster.

Why?

If the surgery had worked, why did everyone who saw my eyes end up terrified out of their minds?

Until I understood the truth, I could not repeat the same mistake.

I had to keep it from Ivan.

"Doctor, stop!"

I shoved the surgeon's hand away and clamped my hands over my eyes.

"It hurts! My head, it hurts so much!"

I let myself fall back onto the bed, curling up in pain.

Ivan panicked and lunged to hold me.

"Ali! What's wrong? Doctor, check her, quickly!"

The surgeon frowned and scanned the readings on the monitors.

"There's an abnormal fluctuation in the brainwave activity. The optic nerve may be rejecting the newly implanted chip."

I kept my eyes shut, tears sliding from the corners.

"Ivan, I can't see anything. Just a wash of blood red. It hurts."

His eyes went red with the pain of it. He pressed my head against his chest.

"No more looking. We're done looking! Doctor, wrap the bandages back on and give her something for the pain!"

Once the bandages were back in place, I put on a wide pair of black glasses.

Ivan handled the discharge paperwork and led me out of the hospital, careful with every step.

The early-autumn wind carried a thread of chill.

As long as Ivan never saw my eyes, everything could stay the way it was.

I quietly clenched my fists.

Back home, Ivan settled me on the couch and turned to go make me some porridge in the kitchen.

Listening to the sound of chopping from the kitchen, my strung-tight nerves eased just a little.

I felt my way into the bathroom and locked the door behind me.

The bathroom light was off. Pure darkness.

I took a deep breath, took off the glasses, and slowly unwound the bandage from my eyes.

I opened them.

The me in the mirror had clear, bright eyes, and deep in the pupils there was a faint flicker of a ghostly blue light.

I could see.

My vision was even sharper than before I went blind. I could make out every vein in the marble of the vanity.

These were, plainly, a beautiful pair of eyes.

No deformity. Nothing frightening about them at all.

I leaned in close to the mirror, studying my own pupils this way and that.

Nothing happened.

Just then the anti-slip mat under my feet slid.

My ankle twisted and I crashed to the floor, my knee striking the edge of the tub.

A loud bang.

Ivan heard it from outside and slammed the bathroom door open.

"Ali!"

He reached out and flicked on the ceiling light.

White light flooded the whole room in an instant.

There was no time to get the glasses back on. On instinct I lifted my head and looked at Ivan in the doorway.

Our eyes met.

Ivan's steps stopped dead.

Every trace of color drained out of his face.

He stared into my eyes, his throat working hard, a strange gurgling sound coming out of him.

His legs buckled, and he dropped to his knees with a thud.

The nightmare of my last life was playing out again, exactly the same.

Cold all through, I reached out in despair. "Ivan..."

"Don't come near me! Don't kill me!"

Ivan clutched his head in both hands and backed away in terror, his spine pressed hard against the door frame.

His teeth chattered, tears and snot smeared across his face.

"Alison, I'm begging you, let's get a divorce!"

"The money's all yours, the house, the car, everything. I'll get out right now, just please, let me go!"