That afternoon, Gabriel had to go into the office for an important matter. He wanted to bring Hazel along, but she refused. She much preferred the quiet of staying at home.

In the end, Gabriel couldnt win her over. Reluctantly, he left for the office alone, though not without giving her an exhaustive litany of instructionseverything from dinner preferences to the specific drawer where her hair ties were stored. It seemed endless.

Finally, Hazel had to physically usher him out the door. If not for her intervention, he might have lingered at the threshold for another half hour, rehashing all his anxieties.

Shaking her head, she thought to herself, Gabriel will always be Gabrielhopelessly verbose.

But Hazel had her reasons for staying behind. Once Gabriels car disappeared down the villas driveway and merged onto the road, she summoned the butler to the study.

Were you with the Jennings family ten years ago? she asked, her tone direct.

Yes, maam. The butlers reply was polite and matter-of-fact.

Of course, Hazel already knew this; Gabriel had told the butler earlier that afternoon to defer to Hazel in all thingsan official declaration, as it were, of Hazels standing as the rightful mistress of the Jennings household. She was now, unquestionably, the woman of the house.

How has Mr. Jennings' relationship with the children been all these years? Hazel asked with straightforward intent.

When Andrew visited earlier, father and son hadnt exchanged a single word. The heavy silence between them gnawed at her, revealing depths of estrangement she hadnt entirely foreseen. Hazel suspected Gabriel had been holding something back when he dismissed the tension as mere misunderstandings.

The butler hesitated for only a moment before answering. I arrived after the young master and young lady had already moved out. Mr. Jennings himself rarely returned either

He was telling the truth, cruel as it sounded. This house was only lively these past few days because Hazel had returned. On the rare occasions Gabriel was present, he would hole up in the bedroom at the front of the third floora ghostly relic of the former mistress. Hed remain there alone for an entire day, vanishing soon afterward for days or even weeks at a time.

The estranged sons and daughter werent much better. The eldest rarely visited overnight; the younger two, when they came at all, were more inclined to stay at their separate lodgings near their schools. The old manor had ceased to feel like a home long ago.

Listening to this, Hazel sighed and rubbed her temple. What a mess fractured hardly began to describe it.

But Hazel was no longer devastated by such grim realities. Shed stopped expecting the Jennings family to conform to any idyllic fantasy. No matter the wreckage, she was back nowand nothing was going to push her out again.

Seeing there was little more she could glean from the conversation, Hazel was ready to dismiss the butler when he suddenly added, with palpable sincerity in his voice, Maam, since youve returned, Ive seen Mr. Jennings smilea genuine, joyful smilefor the first time in ten years.

Hazel froze, her lips twitching involuntarily. Here it comes, she thought dryly: the obligatory starry-eyed butlers commentary from every domineering CEO romance ever written.

She barely stopped herself from scoffing aloud. Spare me the melodrama of some brooding tycoon falling hopelessly in love, she thought. Everyone knows the original wives in those stories only meet tragic ends.

Meanwhile, Gabriel sat inside his stretched black business car, absently flipping through a stack of documents as the city blurred past the windows. His expression, composed yet impenetrably cold, created a quiet tension that was suffocating the two assistants seated across from him. They exchanged quick, nervous glances.

In the corporate world, Mr. Jennings never needed to raise his voice to assert control. His mere presence silenced rooms, and his calm yet cutting observations made any employees blood run cold. A slight shift in his gaze said more than any reprimand possibly couldand most learned quickly never to repeat their mistakes.

Yet the butler hadnt been exaggerating earlier. His praise wasnt flattering hyperbolejust plain truth. Around Hazel, Gabriel was an entirely different man from the one his employees knew, even from what most of the household staff had witnessed. It was a version of himself made visible only to her, private and unguarded.

At that moment, Gabriel made a call to Andrew, his tone as clinical as ever. Dont disturb her for the next few days.

Andrew sneered on the other end. What exactly are you so afraid of?

Gabriels response was unflinching, the words landing like cold steel. If you push her away and she disappears again, youll regret it.

Whatever Ellis had been about to say, the warning froze it in his throat. His face went pale.

Until I figure out whats really going on, no one can predict what might happen next, Gabriel continued. Can I make myself clearer?

Andrews silence was answer enough. Gabriel ended the call without further ceremony, brushing a hand over his brow. The tension in his voice fell heavier as he barked his next order: Notify all department headsmandatory meeting at two.

Understood, sir, one of the assistants replied immediately.

Just then, a message chimed on Gabriels phone. He picked it up, seeing a short update: Maam has retired to her room. She appears to be resting.

A slow exhale left his chest. He glanced outside, his gaze turning obsidian. Whether by malice, misfortune, or forces beyond understanding, Gabriel swore he would never let Hazel vanish from his life again. Never.

She was his. Even if the rest of the family resisted the reckoning, Gabriel wouldnt. Not anymore.

The vision of her crying, that night in the bathroom, had settled it in his mind: Hazel was back.

All the secrets swarming in the shadows could wait. What mattered most now was preventing the pain of losing her a second time.

His aides exchanged uneasy stares. Though they knew little of the details, it was clear Mr. Jennings had become dangerous.

Upstairs alone, Hazel wasnt sleeping. Instead, she logged into her old social media accountsWeChat, Twitter, email things she hadnt touched since reuniting with her eldest son.

Fifteen years. Long enough for her to be legally declared dead, long enough to make her return an impossibility in the eyes of the world. Every step she took now had to be deliberate. Her bizarre story of time displacement would be understood inside her family, but any outsider would brand her insane.

Thankfully, Gabriel had preserved her accounts meticulously. Nothing had been deleted, frozen, or terminated. Even her phone numbera familiar string of digits unchanged for over a decaderemained intact. Logging into WeChat, she found one unread message waiting: a terse note from Daisy Hart seven days ago, consisting of three simple words: I miss you.

Daisy had been Hazels university roommate and closest co-conspirator in founding a cosmetics company together after graduation. Wherever the company stood now, Hazel couldnt imagine.

Curiosity piqued, she closed WeChat and opened Twitter, searching for Daisys profile by handle. In the years since they last spoke, Daisys follower count had ballooned from a modest ten thousand to an impressive half-million. According to the bio, Daisy was now chairwoman of Northstar Cosmetics. Clearly, business had been booming.

Hazel smiled faintly. Evidently, shed had a decent eye for investments back thenafter all, their partnership had functioned with Hazel in the role of financial backer.

But her smile didnt last.

Reading through Daisys tweets, Hazel quickly discovered the recent onslaught of public backlash in the comments. Disturbed, she dug deeper, tracing mentions of Northstars apparent fall from grace.

It didnt take long to find the trail. Northstar Cosmetics had suffered a product scandal of staggering proportions, with issues ranging from contamination to chemical overuse. Predictably, social media exploded.

Yet for reasons she couldnt fathom, her name had somehow been dragged into it.

One viral expos chronicled the companys early history, pointing to Hazelthough long presumed deceasedas the source of the product formula behind the debacle. The narrative painted her as a well-meaning co-founder whose misguided legacy left Daisy scrambling to uphold a sentimental liabilitya disastrous one, in hindsight.

Hazel stared in disbelief. What in the world

No amount of rereading helped make the accusation less surreal. Shed never even formulated a recipe in her life!

Barely had she wrapped her head around the mess when Daisys official apology statement went live, loudly doubling down on the same story. Despite carefully worded contrition, the subtext was plain: Hazel, conveniently absent for fifteen years, made the perfect scapegoat.

Hazel rubbed at her temples. Fifteen years away, and here she was, saddled with a disaster she had no hand in.

Well, she muttered aloud, theres my welcome-back party.