The Body Swap That Made Her a Billionaire—and Me Awake Chapter 05

The Body Swap That Made Her a Billionaire—and Me Awake Chapter 05

Lena Thorne had been locked away inside the Hatfield family private cell, the estate’s most secure

underground holding space.

Sunlight never reached this damp, gloomy basement, where plump rats scurried across every shadowed

corner.

Yet the surveillance feeds showed Lena felt almost no panic at all.

Leaning against the cold concrete wall while trapped inside Evelyn’s soft, gentle features, she wore an eerie,

sneering grin on her lips.

She knew full well the hex was still in her possession.

Whenever she wanted, she could recite its incantations and force their bodies to switch back.

“Go ahead, beat me, yell at me all you want,” Lena muttered through gritted teeth, rubbing the bruises on her

cheek.

“This body belongs to that bitch Evelyn anyway. The harder you hit it, the more she suffers.”

“Once three months pass and things calm down, I’ll swap back and be a billionaire’s wife again.”

Lost in her delusion, she had no idea fate had already sealed her doom.

A flash of golden light flickered, and floating comments popped into view:

[She’s delusional. I’m dead.]

[She doesn’t know that hex can’t be used again for three full months. The warlock built that into the spell.]

[Exactly. Soul swapping goes against the rules of magic. Every extra day in the wrong body makes the rejection worse.]

[She just shot herself in the foot. She’ll lose her mind when she realizes she can’t swap back.]

I stood by the second-floor window, staring at the scrolling text, my brows furrowed tight.

No swapping back for ninety days.

That meant I was stuck wearing Lena’s hated face inside Hatfield Manor for three long months And

surviving that stretch would be far from easy.

“What are you staring at? Hurry up and prepare the young master’s medicine!”

A shrill voice sounded behind me.

Marge Hale, the head housekeeper, stormed over with a basin of bloodstained gauze.

She deliberately rammed her shoulder into mine as she walked past.

I stumbled back two steps and said nothing.

Marge rolled her eyes and grumbled openly.

“I’ll never wrap my head around Kayden’s choices! He tossed aside the girl who looked after him for three months just to keep a shady social climber like you under his roof.”

“Everyone knows what Lena Thorne is-a gold-digging social climber. Now she thinks she can marry into the family. Absolutely shameless.”

Her insults grew nastier, but I held no resentment.

From every outsider’s perspective, I was the cruel, money-hungry Lena Thorne.

Meanwhile, the kind-hearted “Evelyn” was locked in the basement cell.

Arthur Hatfield loathed my supposed identity with every fiber of his being.

He’d issued multiple orders to kick me off the estate, even plotting to have me killed and disposed of.

If Kayden hadn’t threatened to harm himself and overruled the whole household to keep me by his side, I would have been dead long ago.

Even so, daily life remained brutal.

The staff made my life difficult in petty ways: oversalting my food, cutting off my hot water, soaking my

bedsheets on purpose.

I endured it all silently.

Compared to the crushing despair of having my life stolen by Lena in my past life, these hardships meant

nothing.

Deep in the night, Hatfield Manor fell quiet.

I’d just finished tending a fresh burn on my hand-deliberately inflicted by a servant-when my bedroom door slid open without a sound.

A tall, broad shadow slipped inside.

Before I could cry out, a warm, large hand clamped over my mouth.

His other arm wrapped around my waist and pressed me flat against the door.

A familiar cool scent mixed with faint medicine washed over me. It was Kayden.

He’d just finished his physical therapy. Tiny beads of sweat glistened on his forehead.

His dark eyes blazed in the dim light, fixed on my face.

I let out a muffled sound and tried to push him away.

No matter how sure I was of his feelings, he was staring at Lena’s face. Awkward unease twisted in my

chest.

Instead of letting go, Kayden pulled me tighter.

He lowered his head until his nose nearly touched mine, his warm breath brushing my cheeks.

“Quit squirming,” he rasped wearily. “Just let me hold you.”

My body went rigid.

Kayden’s gaze drifted down to the raw burn on my hand.

His brows snapped together. Anger flashed in his eyes.

“Did they do this to you?” he ground out.

I shook my head. “I accidentally burned myself.”

“You’re lying.”

Kayden took my wounded hand, but his touch was impossibly gentle.

He pulled a tube of prescription topical healing salve from his pocket and carefully applied it to my blisters.

The cool cream dulled the sting at once.

“I sent Drake to investigate,” Kayden murmured while tending my injury.

“I’ll find the warlock who made that hex. I’ll reverse this swap and get you back into your real body.”

Staring at his focused face, hot tears stung my eyes.

“But everyone thinks I’m a terrible person. They believe you’ve lost your mind,” I whispered.

Kayden’s hands stilled.

He lifted his head and looked deep into my eyes. Then he slowly stretched out his pinky and hooked it firmly around mine.

“I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I trust what I feel.”

“I’ve remembered every single thing they’ve done to you.”

“Hold on a little longer, Evie. Once I find the truth, everyone who hurt you will pay ten times over.”

He said Evie-the nickname only Evelyn used.

In that instant, all my hurt and awkwardness melted away.

He’d seen my soul beneath this borrowed, hated face.

Right then, dense lines of comments flooded my vision, urgent and frantic:

[Don’t keep digging, Kayden! Get her out of there fast!]

[They have no idea about the real curse!]

[That warlock said this forbidden hex feeds on the soul. Once activated, it forces the two souls to fuse.]

[If the swap isn’t undone in three months, it locks permanently. They’ll never switch back.]

[Worst of all, the fusion causes worse and worse physical rejection. Evelyn could die any day.]

A cold dread sank deep into my bones.

Permanent fusion? Deadly rejection? Death?

I shoved Kayden back and clutched my chest. A faint, sharp pain flared there, like a thousand tiny needles pricking my soul.