Emma Rhodes has been dead before. In another life she was Celeste Laurent, a famous actress drowned by her fiancé. But death wasn't the end. She woke up in a child's body, trapped in a family that would become her prison.

For sixteen years, Emma watched her stepmother Juliette poison her mother, push her down the stairs, and marry her father. She endured the cruelty of her stepsister Evelyn. She learned to be invisible.

Then her father's debts caught up with him. The man who owns the debt is Nicholas White, a billionaire CEO of the largest entertainment empire in the city, and the most dangerous man alive. He doesn't want money. He wants Emma.

The marriage contract is signed. Emma becomes Mrs. White, a pawn in a game she doesn't understand. But Nicholas has secrets too. He is the Ghost, a shadow king who controls the underworld. And for fifteen years, he has been hunting the man who murdered his mother, the same man who killed Celeste Laurent.

He doesn't know Emma is Celeste reborn. He only knows that when he looks at her, something in him recognizes something in her.

As Emma steps into the spotlight, building an acting career that terrifies her enemies, she and Nicholas are drawn into a war against Juliette, her mysterious backer Viktor Cross, and a criminal organization called the Consortium. Trust is earned in blood. Love grows in the darkness between revenge and survival.

But Viktor knows what Emma really is. He calls it the Echo Phenomenon. And he doesn't want her dead,he wants to own her.

Emma died once. She won't die again.

Three days later, Emma walked into White Entertainment's casting offices for the first time.


She wore a simple black dress, her hair pulled back, her face bare of makeup. No designer labels. No Nicholas White on her arm. Just her, a headshot she'd had taken at a studio in the village, and the hope that she still knew how to do this.


The receptionist looked up, unimpressed. "Name?"


The woman typed, then frowned. "You're not in the system."


"I'm here to see Daniel Cross about the lead in Fractured Light."


"Daniel Cross doesn't see unsolicited… "


She turned. A man stood in the doorway, mid-forties, sharp suit, salt and pepper hair, eyes that missed nothing. Daniel Cross is one of White Entertainment's most successful producers.


"Daniel." Emma extended her hand. "Thank you for seeing me."


Daniel shook it, his gaze curious. "Nicholas mentioned you might be interested in acting. I didn't expect you to show up without an entourage."


"I don't need an entourage. I need a chance."


He smiled. "Hm.. I like that. Come on in ."


He led her through a maze of corridors, past offices and editing bays, into a small theater with red velvet seats and a single chair on stage. A camera was set up in the back, its red light blinking.


"The role is Maya," Daniel said, handing her a script. "She's a woman who discovers her husband has been lying to her for ten years. She confronts him in this scene. You have five minutes."


Emma took the script. She read the scene once, then set it down.


Daniel's eyebrows rose. "You don't need more time?"


"I've been playing this role my whole life," she muttered to herself 


She stepped onto the stage, and for the first time in sixteen years, she let herself become someone else.


The scene was raw, visceral. Maya's husband had stolen her money, her dreams, her identity. Emma channeled every moment Juliette had ever stolen from her, every lie Evelyn had ever told, every silent scream she had buried in this body.


When she finished, the theater was silent.


Daniel stared at her, his face unreadable.


"No one." Emma stepped off the stage. "I was born with it."


Daniel was quiet for a long moment. Then he laughed.


"You're going to be a problem," he said. "The role is yours, Darling…I'll forward the script to you."


Chapter 16 - Chapter Sixteen