Some memories sleep quietly. Others wear silk and wait for your return.
The room was silent except for the soft flutter of candlelight.
Ava stared at the dress on the bed.
Black velvet. Crushed roses stitched into the fabric. A neckline that once made headlines.
Her fingers hovered over the fabric.
"It feels… warm," she whispered.
Liam looked uneasy. "You don't have to put it on. This could be a trap."
"It already is," Ava said softly, lifting the dress. "This dress remembers. And I think… it wants me to remember too."
She stepped into the bathroom, heart thudding like a war drum.
Each movement felt familiar muscle memory guiding her.
The zipper slid up too easily. The dress molded to her like skin.
Ava looked into the mirror
And it wasn't her reflection staring back.
It was Isabella.
Same face. But older. Wiser. And blood… on her lips.
The candles flickered.
The air turned cold.
Then everything shifted.
Flashback. The Night She Died.
Music swelled in the distance violins crying.
Isabella ran down a marble hallway, her heels echoing like a countdown.
She burst into her private study, slamming the door behind her.
The room smelled of burnt paper and betrayal.
On the floor lay a shattered wine glass… and Liam's silver chain.
She dropped to her knees, sobbing.
But then footsteps.
Slow. Confident. Cruel.
Celeste entered, wearing a blood-red gown.
"Looking for him?" she asked sweetly.
"Where is he?" Isabella hissed.
Celeste twirled the chain around her finger. "Gone. You should've let him go. You never understood how dangerous love could be."
Isabella reached for the gun hidden in her drawer but Celeste was faster.
A soft pop. A muffled scream.
The bullet hit Isabella just above the heart.
She collapsed.
But as her vision blurred, she saw a third person step into the room.
Vincent.
He stood over her body, calm and cruel.
"She'll remember all of this one day," he said coldly. "And it will break her again."
Celeste bent over, whispering, "That's the price of loving someone who was never meant to live past you."
Darkness swallowed her.
Present.
Ava screamed.
The mirror in the hotel room shattered, shards flying like angry stars.
Liam rushed in and caught her as she collapsed.
"Ava! Talk to me what did you see?"
She looked up at him, face pale as moonlight.
"She didn't just kill me," she gasped. "They both did. Together."
Liam's face twisted in horror.
But neither of them noticed the red smear on the mirror… slowly forming into words.
"Do you remember dying now?"