There were two things Melissa Chaba was certain of:
1.She was dead.
2.She wasn't supposed to wake up again.
And yet here she was gasping, choking, and blinking up at a ceiling that looked like it belonged in a public hospital.
Her throat burned. Her vision swam. She coughed hard and rolled slightly but froze the second she felt the pressure in her abdomen.
Something moved inside her.
What the hell..?
She yanked the sheet down and stared in horror.
A stomach. Round. Tight. Huge.
Pregnant.
Heavily pregnant.
"No. No, no, no!"
Her voice cracked as panic flooded her chest. Her body felt all wrong. Lighter. Softer. Younger. Her hands were slender, with long, manicured nails and a silver ring she'd never worn in her life.
This wasn't her body.
A voice screamed in her head: You died, Melissa. You were hit. You were bleeding. You..
The door flew open.
A nurse rushed in, startled but relieved. "Naledi! You're awake! Thank God. We thought you might lose the baby."
Melissa turned her head slowly.
Naledi?
The name echoed like a bad dream. She remembered the scandal. A girl. An influencer. Pregnant by Max Botho, Botswana's coldest billionaire and Gaborone's finest walking problem. The man Melissa had been building a case against for six straight months.
She had the files. The contracts. The whistleblower testimony.
And then…
Tires. Headlights. Blood. Silence.
Melissa's heart pounded in her ears as the pieces clicked. This wasn't just some freak accident.
She'd been silenced.
But someone or something had decided she wasn't done yet.
The nurse pulled up the file and tapped at the tablet. "Vitals look good. You're lucky. Passed out right at the Game City parking lot. Could've been worse."
Melissa's eyes narrowed. She didn't pass out. This Naledi girl must've. And now Melissa was stuck in her body. Eight months pregnant. Abandoned. And pregnant with Max Botho's baby?
The devil really didn't sleep.
The nurse kept talking. "We've been trying to reach the father, but his PA said they'd 'handle it privately.'" She rolled her eyes. "Typical rich-boy nonsense. No calls. No visits. Not even flowers."
Melissa's lips curved into a slow, dangerous smile.
"Oh, he'll visit."
The nurse looked confused. "What was that?"
"Nothing," Melissa said coolly, shifting in the bed and placing a hand on her belly. The baby kicked, and for the first time, she didn't panic.
This wasn't a curse.
This was her comeback. Max Botho thought he'd erased her.
Instead, he gave her leverage. A child. A second life.
He didn't remember the night he got Naledi pregnant. But now he'd have to remember her. Not as a mistake. Not as a forgotten fling. As the woman who came back from the dead to ruin him. Melissa turned to the nurse with ice in her veins.
"Call him."
"Sorry?"
"Max Botho. Tell him the mother of his child just woke up… and she remembers everything."