Landon Kirby had never trusted luck. Every step of his life had been a choice carved out of chaos, not chance. But this time, fate seemed to have turned its back on him. When Hope allowed Ryan Clarke to take his body, Landon made what he thought was the only move left—a sacrifice meant to save her. Instead, it broke something vital inside him. The trust he’d built, the love he’d held, all burned away until only cold resolve remained.

He refused to linger in that grief. Not when something deep within him stirred again—his soul being drawn from the quiet limbo he’d come to accept.

The process was costly, a pull between worlds that left a faint echo of pain in its wake. Somewhere, life exchanged hands, and through that mysterious balance, Landon felt the spark of breath return. In a flash of warmth and light, he was here again. Reborn. Awake. Changed.

When consciousness finally settled, he found himself in an unfamiliar room, the air still and humming with unseen energy. A woman sat nearby—calm, watchful. Her expression carried both curiosity and concern, as if she too could feel the weight of his return.

He blinked, gathering fragments of thought. No more chasing ghosts. No more bending himself into someone else’s story. He had walked through loss and come out tempered by it, not broken. The fire that had once burned for others now burned for himself—quiet but steady, unyielding.

This was no second chance born of mercy. It was reclamation. For the first time, Landon Kirby would live his own life—on his terms, and no one else’s.